Community Corner

Palatine Ranks Among Top 20 Transit Suburbs of Chicago

DePaul study lists Palatine as one of the 20 best communities when it comes to public transit within the suburbs of Chicago.

Palatine has been selected as one of the top 20 transit suburbs of Metropolitan Chicago, according to a study released last week by the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development based at DePaul University in Chicago.

The city ranks 18th among 20 suburban communities in the report and is described as "very walkable."

"Some communities with highly attractive station designs, such as Palatine, Tinley Park, and Winnetka, suffered from an absence of certain types of retail businesses near the station," the report states.

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The scores for the quality of station buildings and platforms ranged from 45 to 71 points out of a possible 80. Tinley Park earned the highest score (71), followed by Wilmette (69) and Palatine (69), according to the report.

The DePaul University team considered 45 measurable factors to rank the best transit suburbs. These factors were station buildings and platforms, station grounds and parking, walkable downtown amenities adjacent to the station and degree of community connectivity to public transportation, as measured by the use of commuter rail services.

Find out what's happening in Palatinewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Palatine ranked 15th when it comes to "community connectivity," earning a 68 out of a possible 100. Wilmette, Arlington Heights, LaGrange, and Downers Grove earned the highest scores, with more than 500 residents making weekday walking or biking trips to and from their downtown train stations, while Palatine had 337.

The team made at least three visits to each of the 25 finalists before narrowing the rankings to 20. Scores for each community were also derived from published data for all 250 suburbs in the metropolitan Chicago region.

Top 20 Transit Suburb Rankings:

1. LaGrange


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