The state of well-being for Illinois residents is not so well.
That’s the conclusion of a report published Friday by the Boston Consulting Group, which finds Illinois badly lagging most other states, ranking 34th overall on the well-being score card.
"Given our wealth level, we are probably the worst-performing large state," said Marin Gjaja, a senior partner and the head of the Boston Consulting Group’s Chicago office.
The study attempts to break down well-being by grading the 50 states in four categories: economics, investments, sustainability and equality. While well-being — the state of being happy, healthy or prosperous — may seem hard to measure, the consulting group’s methodology has quantified the concept and come up with a comparative ranking.
Massachusetts leads the nation in well-being, followed by New Hampshire, Utah, Vermont and Minnesota, according to the report.
At the other end of spectrum, Louisiana ranked dead last in the well-being rankings.
For Illinois, the worst area was economics, where the state ranked 44th.
Employment distress worse among black residents in Chicago, study says Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
Though the jobs plight of rural white America has been a focus of the national conversation since Donald Trump was elected president, a study shows that in Chicago employment distress is far worse among black residents, who are much more likely to be unemployed or not in the labor force at all.
…
Though the jobs plight of rural white America has been a focus of the national conversation since Donald Trump was elected president, a study shows that in Chicago employment distress is far worse among black residents, who are much more likely to be unemployed or not in the labor force at all.
… (Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz)
"The key findings there are we have declining revenues, poor fiscal management and we’re last in the nation in pension funding, bond rating and migration ratio," said Justin Manly, a partner at the consulting firm in Chicago.
Illinois also did poorly in sustainability, ranking 38th. It was dragged down in that category by such factors as violent crime, low voter turnout and poor air quality.
The state ranked 39th in equality, with "pervasive" racial and income disparity, according to the report.
The brightest spot for Illinois was investments — putting resources toward education, health care and infrastructure — where the state ranked 17th.
"We are best on investments in education and health care," Manly said. "We are not doing well on infrastructure investments."
A private management consulting firm, the Boston Consulting Group is based in Boston and has had a Chicago office since 1979. The firm, which does significant pro bono work, published the well-being report to coincide with the launch of its Center for Illinois’ Future. The center was created to coordinate those pro bono efforts to focus on issues that are most important to Illinois, Gjaja said.
"It’s our commitment to the community in which we live; to find a way to give back and have an impact in a state and in a city that are really challenged right now," Gjaja said.
Chicago is 78th in the U.S. for family-friendliness, study says Heidi Stevens
You want family-friendly? Check out Overland Park, Kan. Or Madison, Wis. Or Plano, Texas.
Or one of the 74 other U.S. cities ranked family-friendlier than Chicago by WalletHub.
The personal finance site analyzed the 150 most populated cities based on 36 metrics, including affordability, school…
You want family-friendly? Check out Overland Park, Kan. Or Madison, Wis. Or Plano, Texas.
Or one of the 74 other U.S. cities ranked family-friendlier than Chicago by WalletHub.
The personal finance site analyzed the 150 most populated cities based on 36 metrics, including affordability, school…
(Heidi Stevens)
"Hopefully, over time, we can use this as a way to hold ourselves accountable, to see if we are actually making progress," Gjaja said.
In 2010, Boston Consulting Group helped create a new rating system for Illinois public schools — the Illinois School Report Card — which provides a comparative online snapshot of key information for every public school in the state. The new report cards were adopted by the state in 2011.
The state rankings are based on a methodology the consulting group developed to conduct worldwide analyses of countries. Next up, it is producing a well-being report for Chicago, seeing how the city ranks against other major metros across the country, Gjaja said.
The full Illinois report is available at www.tinyurl.com/j5x9etb.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @RobertChannick
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