The best places in Illinois to find work aren’t Chicago or other large cities further south in Illinois, but in the suburban towns.

Job seekers in Illinois shouldn’t be looking at the state’s major population centers if they want to find jobs, according to an analysis of the best cities to find employment.

The booming economy not only has more people getting jobs but more people quitting their current positions for greener pastures. Financial site WalletHub analysed 121 cities in Illinois in terms of not only their availability of jobs, but what they pay and how much it costs to live where the jobs are. Surprisingly, nearly all of Illinois’ biggest cities, Chicago, Peoria, Decatur, Kankakee, Champaign and others, all lost out to smaller suburban Chicago towns.

Analyst Jill Gonzales says the larger cities may have jobs, but they’re often not balanced with the higher taxes and other costs involved with living there.

She says millennials have begun to pass on finding work in these larger cities and start their careers in suburban towns, like St. Charles, which topped the list.

94.1 WGFA