Chicago named best city for fun seekers by Time Out readers
Chicago has outranked international destinations like London and Paris and snagged bragging rights to being the best good-time or "most fun" city in Time Out's international survey which polled thousands of city-dwellers in the know.
The reasons for Chicago's strong performance are many. Residents in Chicago give their city top marks for its food and dining scene. It also ranked No. 1 when it comes to “great places within walking distance from my home.”
Unlike other major metropolises, a night out in Chicago won't empty the wallet -- particularly important given the plethora and variety of things to do.
The results also show that Chicagoans are friendlier than residents of other big cities, with 63 percent of locals saying they struck up conversation in the week before being polled. That compares to London's 40 percent.
Overall, the top 10 list of most fun cities is dominated by cities in the US and Europe. Rounding out the top five spots are Melbourne, Lisbon, New York and Madrid.
For the city index, 20,000 people were polled in 18 cities where Time Out is published.
Respondents were asked to rate their cities based on six key characteristics: dynamism, inspiration, food and drink, community, sociability and affordability.
In addition to being the highest-ranked European city, Lisbon is the city where locals are most likely to know their neighbors and bump into friends randomly, making them the least likely to describe the city as “lonely” or “overwhelming.”
In other categories, New Yorkers are most likely to go out than any other city's inhabitants at 6.4 times a month while locals in Barcelona work the least hours.
Meanwhile, compared to the other 17 cities, Chicagoans were the happiest with their work/life balance (58 percent), and also hit the gym more often than others.
Here are the top 10 most fun cities according to readers of Time Out:
1. Chicago
2. Melbourne
3. Lisbon
4. New York
5. Madrid
6. Mexico
7. Sao Paulo
8. Los Angeles
9. Barcelona
10. London
