Welcome to I Like Illinois

Looking for some fun? Illinois is the place to be

• Tourism
• Most Fun State
• Rankings

Illinois is known for its accolades and for holding many titles. Thanks to a new WalletHub analysis, Illinois can now boast that it is the third most fun state in the country. Only trailing behind California and Florida, Illinois ranks number three in the “Entertainment and Recreation” category and number two in the “Nightlife”’ category.

In order to determine the most fun states in America, WalletHub compared the 50 states across two key categories, “Entertainment & Recreation” and “Nightlife.” With fun and affordability in mind, WalletHub compared 26 key indicators of enjoyable experiences that won’t break the bank. These range from movie costs to accessibility of national parks to nightlife options per capita.

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Northwestern University’s The Garage named a top entrepreneur organization by TIME Magazine

• Northwestern University
• Time Magazine
• The Garage
• Startup Companies
• Incubators
• Accelerators

TIME Magazine recently released its inaugural ranking of the top 80 startup incubators and accelerators in the United States, which included The Garage at Northwestern University.

The Garage was ranked No. 5 on TIME Magazine’s list, behind New York’s TechStars, Massachusetts’ MassChallenge, Florida’s Tampa Bay Wave and California’s Y Combinator. The list included six organizations that are headquartered in Illinois, with The Garage being the highest-ranked of them. The other Illinois-headquartered organizations that were included on TIME Magazine’s list are The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (No. 7), mHUB (No. 14), the University of Illinois Research Park (No. 27), MATTER (No. 61) and 1871 (No. 63).

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Artist of the Month: Gene Deitch

Gene Deitch was born in Chicago, Illinois on Aug. 8, 1924, later moving to California with his family and attending school in Hollywood. Deitch’s passion for the arts and drawing was apparent as a kid, making his first animated cartoon when he was only 13 years old. However, after graduating high school, the United States was in the midst of World War II, and Deitch ended up working for North American Aviation. He used his artistic talent to draw industrial parts and catalogs in aircraft factories. He was eventually drafted and served for about a year before he contracted pneumonia and was honorably discharged. This moment allowed Deitch to pursue his artistic career, which originally consisted of mostly music and sound engineering.

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Illinois listed as easiest state in the nation to afford a new home

A new report reveals that prospective homebuyers in Illinois are more easily able to afford a new home than homebuyers in any other U.S. state are.

Visual Capitalist ranks Illinois as the easiest state in the nation for typical homebuyers to purchase a new home. According to the report, Illinois households have the largest income surplus among the states where median incomes are high enough to cover the cost of a median-priced home.

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