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I grew up in Kenosha and lived there until I was 39 so I say Wisconsin. However, people are nicer in Wisconsin. Milwaukee especially has a smaller town attitude which is good.
There seems to be many Chicago transplants living in St Louis. Many of the neighborhoods have similar architecture. Both where part of the great migration. Some refer to St. Louis as Chicago south.
For NW Indiana not to be included in the poll, do you consider it part of the Chicagoland area and thus too close? IF it was included in the poll , it would be my choice.
Yep NW Indiana would have been too close, Gary really looks like miniature Chicago but with Indiana license plates
I voted "Southern Wisconsin", because it was the best available option, but my real vote goes to Northwest Indiana. It's part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and far more NWIN people commute to Chicago for work than SWI people. In fact, Hammond and other nearby towns use Chicago's Madison street as the starting point for their building numbering systems, with the leading 1 removed. (In other words, what would be 11000 in Chicago becomes 1000 in Hammond.) If that's not cultural alignment with Chicago, then I'm Kamala Harris.
Central Illinois is the worst of both worlds: groupthink liberalism of Chicago and judgmental conservatism of small towns; my happiest moment of going there was getting on I-57 northbound. And Southwestern Michigan is too far away geographically from Chicago to share in its cultural values. I remember my road trips to that region well enough not to say the word "Bears" when I go there. But I love the region's evergreen trees and conservative politics.
Last edited by MillennialUrbanist; 12-11-2022 at 09:28 PM..
There seems to be many Chicago transplants living in St Louis. Many of the neighborhoods have similar architecture. Both where part of the great migration. Some refer to St. Louis as Chicago south.
Nothing else in Missouri resembles Chicago.
Lee's Summit & Parkville can easily be Metra suburbs.
Parts of KCMO resemble Chicago's South and West sides more than residents of either city will admit.
With that said, my answer to the question is Central Illinois. As much as either side would like, you can't the Illinois out of Chicago, and you can't take the Chicago out of Illinois.
To most Chicago is Illinois and vice versa. Chicago's UBER centralized nature, with most NATIVES seeing Chicago as the center of the universe (Chicagoland) support this.
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But I love the region's evergreen trees and conservative politics.
