Study: Arlington Heights, Schaumburg among most livable small U.S. cities

The nearly neighboring villages of Arlington Heights and Schaumburg are tied at number 25 in a national ranking of the most livable small cities in the U.S.

In the third annual study from SmartAsset, the personal finance technology company compared 287 cities with at least 65,000 residents but fewer than 100,000 across 10 metrics related to home affordability, health care accessibility, income equality, entertainment options and commute times.

Bloomington, at number 11, is the only Illinois community that ranks higher than the two Northwest suburbs. The tie between Arlington Heights and Schaumburg is the only one among the top 25, indicating that they scored the same average ranking across all metrics.

For housing costs as a percentage of household income, Arlington Heights came in at 19.58% and Schaumburg at 19.91%. On percentage of residents below the poverty line, Arlington Heights was 3.7% and Schaumburg 4.7%.

Other areas where they scored exactly the same was concentration of health care facilities at 11.34% and concentration of entertainment establishments at 1.58%.

Arlington Heights residents have an average commute to work of 28 minutes, while for Schaumburg residents it's 31.6 minutes.

Though Cheektowaga, New York topped the list of most livable small cities, Midwestern municipalities are strongly represented among the top 25.

The full report, including key findings and information on its methodology, can be found at smartasset.com/checking-account/most-livable-small-cities-in-the-us-2020.