By Adam Studzinski
NORMAL – The Town of Normal has found itself near the top of another national rankings list.
Normal was recently listed 3rd on College Values Online rankings of the 50 Best Small College Towns in America.
“I’m kind of flattered by it, that we rank so highly on it, because there’s a lot of nice communities on that list as well,” Mayor Chris Koos said.
The list gave credit to Normal’s low crime and unemployment rate, along with its reasonable cost of living. It also cites the town’s 24 parks and the 24-mile Constitution Trail.
“We place a lot of emphasis on our park systems and especially Constitution Trail,” said Koos. “We’ve found as we extend the trail into new areas usership goes way up.”
Koos added being on this kind of list helps put the town “on the map.”
“The more that people know about our community, and the more we keep showing up on these lists, people are going to be scratching their head and saying: ‘I wonder what’s going on there. It might be worth a look,'” he said.
Normal was the highest ranked Illinois city, but three others made the top 25; Urbana was 24th, Evanston 17th and Carbondale 15th. The top ranked city was Laramie, Wyo.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].
