Naperville has made its way onto more statewide and national rankings.
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Most recently, Naperville was named one of WorldAtlas’ seven Most Underrated Cities In Illinois. The publication did not provide a methodology for its determination, but cited the city’s shops, riverwalk and outdoor areas were among the factors that make the city so desirable. DuPage Children’s Museum, Naper Settlement and the city’s 72-bell Millennium Carillon were contributing factors.
The other six cities to make the list were Champaign, Evanston, Frankfort, Grafton, Peoria and Schaumburg.
Last month, Naperville was recognized by U.S. News and World Report for having some of the best high schools in Illinois, with all five high schools in Indian Prairie School District 204 and Naperville School District 203 ranking among the top 50 in the state.
Of the Naperville-based high schools, Neuqua Valley High School ranked 12th in Illinois and 340th nationally.
District 203’s Naperville Central High School and Naperville North High School were neck-and-neck on the list, with Naperville Central coming in 22nd statewide and 546th nationally and Naperville North listed at No. 26 statewide and 671st nationally.
But not all of the recent list have been positive for Naperville. LendingTree, an online insurance marketplace platform, ranked Naperville No. 4 on its list of cities with the worst drivers in Illinois. According to the report, Naperville has about 16 traffic incidents per 1,000 drivers.
Decatur took the No. 1 spot on the list for worst drivers in Illinois, coming in with 26.7 incidents per 1,000 drivers. Bloomington and Peoria took the second and third spot with 24.6 incidents and 18.8 incidents. Rockford took the fifth spot on the list with 15.8 incidents.
LendingTree draws on self-reported data from people shopping for insurance, according to Rob Bhatt, an insurance analyst with LendingTree. The data, which is from the past three years and from LendingTree’s proprietary database, includes recent traffic incidents and violations such as accidents, drunken driving arrests and speeding tickets.
“Since it’s self-reported, it’s probably a little low, but this kind of gives us a good comparison,” Bhatt said. “Obviously, you want to be on the best drivers list, not the worst drivers list.”
While Naperville may have taken slot number four on the worst drivers list, Bhatt emphasized that Naperville’s incidents rate is still considerably lower compared to Decatur and Bloomington.
“The difference between Naperville and the safest places isn’t too far off, so it’s not all gloom and doom,” Bhatt said. At the top of LendingTree’s best drivers list for Illinois is Schaumburg with 9.2 incidents, followed by Cicero at 10.2.
Traffic crashes were also notable in Naperville police’s 2024 crime data, with traffic crashes being the highest they have been since 2019. Police found that last year, there were 2,791 crashes that did not result in injuries, 457 that had injuries and eight crash-related fatalities. Crashes were up by 445 incidents over 2023.
The Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists also found that Naperville police made 258 drunken driving arrests last year, a 51.8% increase over the 170 made in 2023.
When it comes to preventing accidents, Naperville Police Chief Jason Arres previously said that traffic safety is a “partnership.” While police play an important role in enforcing the law, the best way to truly enforce traffic safety is for drivers to be aware and follow traffic laws, he said.
In March, Naperville took the No. 1 spot on Niche’s list of the Best Cities to Live in America for the second year in a row. Niche also named Naperville the city with the best public schools in America as well as the No. 1 best city across the country to buy a house and raise a family.
Niche, a website dedicated to ranking neighborhoods and schools, also recognized Naperville in its “2025 Healthiest Cities in America” list in March. The healthiest cities list examines access to fitness centers and health care professionals in a specific area alongside residents’ personal health. Factors included in the personal health assessment include obesity rates, alcohol consumption, smoking rates, among others.
For the healthiest cities list, Niche said it primarily pulled data from the U.S. Census, but also used statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and OpenStreetMap.
Naperville ranked No. 16 on Niche’s list, receiving an overall A+ grade for its health and fitness rating.
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“Naperville’s residents report lower-than-average rates of smoking, obesity and excessive drinking, while the city also benefits from strong access to physicians, mental health practitioners, and fitness and recreational facilities,” Zach Chatham, a spokesperson for Niche, said.
Those factors, combined with low uninsured rates and a relatively low premature death rate, made the city stand out, Chatham said.