Best cities for sports in Illinois

BookrGo Best Sport Cities ranking: we rank the cities of Illinois by their 0-10 sports score, which combines density of centers per resident, variety of sports, listing quality and real activity. To keep the comparison fair, we measure every city's offering with the same sources of national coverage. An honest way to see where it's easiest (and hardest) to find somewhere to play.

525 scorable cities in Illinois.

#	City	Score /10	Centers
1	Niles	9.0	78
2	Deerfield	8.7	101
3	Algonquin	8.7	88
4	Glenview	8.6	181
5	Highland Park	8.5	134
6	Jacksonville	8.5	43
7	Peoria Heights	8.5	20
8	Crystal Lake	8.4	155
9	Loves Park	8.4	73
10	Addison	8.4	68
11	Arlington Heights	8.3	194
12	Moline	8.3	95
13	Hoffman Estates	8.3	87
14	Woodstock	8.3	43
15	Lake in the Hills	8.3	38
16	Northbrook	8.2	175
17	Morris	8.2	44
18	Springfield	8.1	310
19	Bloomington	8.1	222
20	Champaign	8.1	184
21	Palatine	8.1	160
22	Buffalo Grove	8.1	106
23	Pekin	8.1	83
24	Wilmette	8.1	74
25	Marion	8.1	58
26	Morton	8.1	44
27	Rockford	8.0	269
28	Plainfield	8.0	134
29	Wheaton	8.0	114
30	Westmont	8.0	84
31	Lake Forest	8.0	83
32	Naperville	7.9	453
33	Aurora	7.9	240
34	Evanston	7.9	195
35	Mundelein	7.9	109
36	Oswego	7.9	108
37	Edwardsville	7.9	106
38	Gurnee	7.9	103
39	Lake Zurich	7.9	83
40	Channahon	7.9	34
41	Dixon	7.9	29
42	Elgin	7.8	150
43	Frankfort	7.8	82
44	Galesburg	7.8	67
45	Effingham	7.8	44
46	Glendale Heights	7.8	41
47	Lake Bluff	7.8	39
48	Fox Lake	7.8	35
49	Antioch	7.8	33
50	Lincolnwood	7.8	31
51	Taylorville	7.8	29
52	Waukegan	7.7	106
53	Bolingbrook	7.7	93
54	Olney	7.7	30
55	Wauconda	7.7	29
56	Countryside	7.7	28
57	Herrin	7.7	27
58	Franklin Park	7.7	25
59	Metropolis	7.7	14
60	Peoria	7.6	243
61	Orland Park	7.6	135
62	Park Ridge	7.6	95
63	Carbondale	7.6	89
64	Grayslake	7.6	77
65	Romeoville	7.6	55
66	Charleston	7.6	50
67	Alsip	7.6	30
68	Sterling	7.6	25
69	Lyons	7.6	19
70	Rochester	7.6	11
71	Schaumburg	7.5	223
72	Elmhurst	7.5	134
73	Decatur	7.5	118
74	Libertyville	7.5	109
75	Vernon Hills	7.5	102
76	Urbana	7.5	100
77	Des Plaines	7.5	98
78	Barrington	7.5	92
79	Skokie	7.5	84
80	McHenry	7.5	78
81	Alton	7.5	73
82	Freeport	7.5	66
83	Granite City	7.5	52
84	Homewood	7.5	49
85	East Moline	7.5	44
86	Hinsdale	7.5	42
87	Lincoln	7.5	35
88	Monmouth	7.5	27
89	Evergreen Park	7.5	27
90	Rantoul	7.5	21
91	Mendota	7.5	19
92	Chicago	7.4	4478
93	Normal	7.4	109
94	Quincy	7.4	104
95	Tinley Park	7.4	97
96	Woodridge	7.4	68
97	Huntley	7.4	48
98	Rolling Meadows	7.4	44
99	Northfield	7.4	43
100	Belvidere	7.4	38

How do we calculate the score?

Variety (25%) — how many different sports the city covers.
Quality (20%) — richness of each center's information.
Activity (20%) — real user interest over the last 30 days.
Scale (15%) — number of centers in the city.
Density (10%) — centers per resident (dampened).
Courts (10%) — total capacity: number of courts.

Each section is measured as a percentile against the other cities in the United States and combined into the final score, on a 0-10 scale. Variety and density are measured with a uniform instrument (only sources with homogeneous national coverage) so that no city is favored by having a more complete open catalog. We only score cities with population data and a presence in those sources.