Chicago Is Named The Best City In America To Be A Hermit

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 4, 2016 6:40PM



Estately

Chicago is so overstuffed with entertainment options and volunteer/civic-outreach opportunities that you almost have to try to be disengaged. But given the state of things, its impossible not to feel the urge to retreat and isolate every now and again. Luckily, Chicagoans live in the very best city in America to go JD Salinger, at least according to Estately’s new study, “The Best US Cities for Today’s Urban Hermits.”

The key here appears to be the “urban” qualifier, as true Thoreau-types obviously have thousands of better remote-backwoods options than the third largest city in America. Estately, on the other hand, is interested in a more contemporary definition of solitude, namely by ranking internet speeds, percentage of at-home workers, variety of food and alcohol delivery option and—a more universal criterion—housing affordability.

By that definition, Chicago ranks No. 1, scoring best in the nation for alcohol delivery and Grubhub options (not surprising since, you know, Grubhub is based here) and near the top in "lower costs of housing by square foot" (which seems odd, so more on that in a second). We got a score of 41 and 44 (out of 100), for fast internet speeds and number of home-based workers, respectively.

Here’s the full Top Ten:

1) Chicago, IL

2) Austin, TX

3) Washington, DC

4) San Francisco, CA

5) Denver, CO

6) Dallas, TX

7) Tampa, FL

8) Miami, FL

9) Los Angeles, CA

10) Phoenix, AZ

Bringing in the very rear, at No. 100: Honolulu. Even paradise has its downsides.

You can see the full rankings and scores per benchmark here. Internet speeds were ranked using the Ookla Net Index; at-home workers were calculated with 2012 US Census data; food delivery is based on Grubhub; and alcohol delivery takes into account the six major options (Drizly, Saucey, Minibar Delivery, Thirstie, Klink).

As for housing affordability, real-estate blogs are notorious for requiring several grains of salt—any listing represents a series of biases and drawbacks. And you don’t see too many people rallying in Daley Plaza and Uptown because rents are too low.

That said, at least we have lots of in-home food and beer delivery options when it all pushes you into Greta Garbo mode.