in illinois' case, our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th largest cities (aurora, joliet, and naperville) are now just satellite cities enveloped within the massive chicagoland juggernaut, so they're not really standalone cities.
the largest city in illinois not within chicagoland would be rockford. the second largest metro area entirely within illinois* is peoria.
i can't think of any reason why someone from outside the region would want to visit rockford or peoria instead of chicago, unless they have family there.
i'm not trying to shit on rockford and peoria, it's just the truth.
(*) the metro east area of metro st. louis and the quad cities metro area are larger, but those metros extend substantially into other states.
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"Missing middle" housing can be a great middle ground for many middle class families.
Last edited by Steely Dan; Mar 27, 2019 at 9:08 PM.
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