I'm a native New Yorker, which means I'm practically required to diss Chicago, and even I think this ranking's unfair.

Unlike several other cities on the list (Stockton, Modesto, Flint...) Chicago has superb universities, restaurants, performing arts, public transportation, an international airport, and a sense that you're in a place where something's happening. Does that count for nothing with Forbes?

Clearly, if the pollsters have bothered to visit Chicago anytime between, say, May and October they'd understand that it's one of the best cities anywhere in the world. The qualitative benefits of the city -- its architectural beauty, friendly people, proximity of lake/beach to downtown, ethnic diversity, etc. -- far outweigh any negatives they think they can quantify.

Things like the weather, traffic and sales tax? I prefer to think of those as crowd control...

Sorry to take the negative side on this, but I found myself agreeing with the Forbes ranking. Well, maybe Chicago doesn't deserve the #3 spot, but I think it has earned its place on the list.

I'm a native Texan who has lived in downtown Chicago for the past 17 years and I am tired of the things that Forbes highlighted. Yes, summers are nice here, but summers are nice in other cities, too.

I love my condo, which is good because I doubt I could sell it in this market. I think about moving all the time, ideally to a smaller town with a more temperate climate and no property taxes (hello Austin!).

The main reason I haven't left Chicago yet are my friends. I use to travel all the time for work and realize how important those relationships are -- it can be really hard to just plop yourself down in a new place and expect to have a good social life. If I could swing it financially, I'd love to keep my place and spend the summers here and the rest of the year elsewhere.....

Chicago, consider this a sympathy card and a love letter from one of your biggest fans in St Paul, MN. You are the purlgreyhound family's favorite destination for an urban vacation. We love your arts, your culture, your restaurants, your sophistication-tempered-with-Midwestern-common-sense. And your weather, frankly, is better than ours.

Just as soon as we can afford it, we'll be back.

Chicago is fantastic because:

Our weather, high sales tax, political corruption, etc... weed out those who don't have the brass and character to stay.

We're a tough town; we endure brutal weather, laugh off political corruption and venture out to the 'burbs for shoping...

Forbes is just jeaolous.

P.S. Forbes, you're not welcome here anymore so don't come a knocking when you want to do a "most livable cities" issue 'cause we'll be busy... ;)

Forbes proved recently with its article on the 'snooty business' of graphic design that they are a joke.

This ranking just cements that with me.

Forbes is a joke.

Chicago is a WONDERFUL city and I have loved living here! I grew up in Michigan and have visited many other cities around the U.S.

Most of my friends and colleagues also have wonderful things to say about Chicago.

It's a beautiful city (green space and architecture). Relative to many other large cities, the people are warm and friendly. There's a great job market for folks with advanced degrees.

We have an amazing ivy-league like university (University of Chicago), as well as several other STELLAR colleges and universities.

Arts and culture is very strong here and there are fabulous restaurants.

The weather is intense, yes, but downtown is beautiful at any time of year.

I highly recommend living here. If we leave the city, it will only be for a lower cost of living and to closer to our family.

just one reason... the summertime is so sweet.

chicago has one of (in my opinion THE) best art museums in america. not to mention the other bad-ass museums.
if i ever venture back to the midwest.. i'd live there.
my friends and I used to take the south-shore train to chicago from south bend (IN) to skate.

i grew up in chicago and am considering moving back (if i can bear the weather again). PIZZA! you can't get better pizza anywhere. The lake, the friendly and funny people, the architecture, the art, the universities, the museums, the grittyness and character, the gangster history, the jazz, the summer festivals, the picnics on the beach, the wholesome midwesternness, the neighborhoods, the great old buildings, the summer storms, second city comedy, the way so many people get outside and enjoy public space together, the ethnic diversity, the nature preserves right in the city. I hate the weather, the suburbs, the traffic and the lack of mountains, and o'hare, but even with all that, i have to say that chicago is one of the best cities in the nation, at least. I don't know what Forbes is talking about (and are they counting students moving back home after college/grad school as part of their move-out rates? b/c there are a lot of schools in chicago).

dog parks
beer gardens
block parties
the children's theater at Lifeline
brunch at Victory's Banner
playing hooky from work to sit in the bleachers at Wrigley
days like yesterday
Bell school
Craigslist - most of my furniture came from CL!
the Elbo Room
Lollapalooza
actually, all live music
Margie's Candies
President Obama
summer
the dog beach at Montrose
Lincoln Park Zoo
Pilsen's galleries
the MCA
movies in the park
Brew & View
the Tiny Lounge (it's back!)
the Hamlin park pool
my 1800sf duplex apartment that's $1800 a month
Bears games
ice skating at Warren Park
Millenium park, all summer
Buckingham fountain
$5 movies at the Davis
the Long Room
playing hooky to be an extra in a movie
Michigan Ave when they put up the Christmas lights
canoeing down the Chicago river
Venetian night
parades
St. Patty's Day
And when the Cubbies win the World Series, where else on earth would you want to be?!

I think Forbes was at the same party Phelps was enjoying.

Chicago is a great city with:
1.Friendly people
2.great public trans.
3.wonderful for walking
4.spectacular museums, including the Art Institute
5.some of the best universities in and near
6.great medical facilities
7. the Lakefront and many public parks
8.fantastic music
and much more if you would only open your eyes and ears to it.

I've lived in Chicago for 4 years. I was born and raised in Flint, Mi (number 6) and lived in Detroit for 4 years while attending college. I love my home towns but I nearly fell out of my chair seeing that Chicago beat out Flint on that list. Has anyone at Forbes been to Flint, ever?! Sure Chicago has it's down sides, but it's pro's out number it's cons, no doubt about it. The rating was ridiculous! Forbes should watch the Chicago episode of Anthony Bourdain No Reservations and get a clue.

Population goes down when neighborhoods gentrify. A factory that used to employ 100 workers now houses only 12 couples. Tenements that used to house large families get replaced by huge private homes.

It may not be fair, but it hardly means the rats are jumping ship.

I visit family in the Chicago suburbs somewhat frequently. Of Chicago proper, I really like the train system, the museums, the park system and the universities. The suburbs are kind of depressing, like everywhere. On the drive from the airport you see the same mini-mall about 20 times. I really really really dislike the tollroads on holidays -- 50 bazillion cars creeping along at 2 mi/hr. I guess the ezpass works well most of the year, but not on holidays.

keep 'em coming, i might have to move to chicago this year. forbes kind of scared me.

I should add that any list of miserable cities that does not include Houston, Texas is pretty suspect.

I loved living in Chicago (I'm a New Yorker now). The winters may be brutal, but the city is fantastic. I love the rat patrol guys in streets and sanitation, because they cleared the city of rats in a remarkable span of time. I love the trees and parks and Daley's whole green initiative. He may be a despot, but a mayor who plants trees and mandates green roofs is better than a mayor who builds more ugly condos. I love the Ando room at the Art Institute and the Calders at MCA. I love the many colors of Lake Michigan, even the frozen winter grays. And I loved the University of Chicago, where Obama used to teach and I learned to think.

The loop is where you find the dog-eat-dog mentality that forbes is talking about, the neighborhoods aren't. Places like the Merchandise Mart and the Mag Mile is what breeds this kinda crap (if you ever make it to one of the upper floors, see how much people care about each other up there). Chicago is one of the only cities that I have found that you can strike up a conversation with anyone while waiting for the bus, and they won't get angry at you.

They probably visited during the winter, I would invite them to come back during June and write the same review, and no, the summers in Chicago are unlike the summers anywhere else, you don't know until you are here.

I just left Chicago for good 4 months ago (had enough of winter) but there A LOT of things I miss about Chicago now that I am gone. The most obvious are the cultural and culinary resources. But what I miss most are the people. Chicagoans are down to earth and real in a way that people on the West Coast are not (I live in Seattle now). I have come to expect a certain kind of honesty and ethic from the people around me and when it wasn't here in the population of Seattle - I really noticed it. I think this attitude is what keeps people in Chicago in spite of the gawd awful winters. If only Chicago were a little further south...

If Chicago did not have those cold cold winters I would suspect many more people would live there.

It is a fantastic city, easy to get around, architecture is great and I think it has a fun young vibe and nice people.

My only negative towards it is you have to travel far to get into the woods and nature.

I grew up 25 miles south of Modesto, California, in Merced and went to college in Fresno. I can safely say that many of the San Joaquin Valley towns are miserable. The unemployment rate is high, which made it difficult to find work. The summers are terribly hot - constant triple digits - and not much as far as entertainment.

My only visit to chicago was very enjoyable. I truly don't see how chicago got into the mix of Stockton and Modesto. Go figure.

In my opinion everywhere is quite miserable, why are they focusing on anywhere in particular?

Chicago could lower their taxes and that would be great if my rent didn't raise either. I do feel like I am getting killed on prices during a hurtful time, as if Chicago acts like nobody is broke right now.

But I do love living here, so apparently its a price you have to pay.

I spent four years of college in Chicago, and by the time that was up I needed to spend some time back on the East coast. But it is a great city and I am considering moving back there eventually. What people have written about the summers is right. Everyone was SO happy after getting enough sun to get over our S.A.D., and there were tons of free and cheap things to do, especially with very accessible parks. It also has the best mexican food in the US outside of the states directly bordering mexico (much better than anything you'd find in NYC for example), and the best soul food outside of the south. It took some time to get used to NYC again after living in a city with such clean open space. (since it was re-built after trolleys were invented, its much less cramped than eastern cities.) Plus, its fantastic being near so much water. Every time I feel a strong, cold wind I get nostalgic!

I'm going to have to move out of Chicago pretty soon (for work) but I have to say that bar none, there is no other city in this country I would want to raise my children in. I agree wholeheartedly with mariekemc re: Chicago folks vs. people anywhere else - the only other place I've found folks as consistently awesome as Chicagoans is in Germany.

And Tequila Red, you forgot the outdoor seating at Moody's Pub.

God, I cannot believe I am moving.

I think a reason for the decline in population was the demolition of public housing. The worlds largest public housing project was torn down and many of those people had nowhere to go. So many of them moved to the suburbs where more landlords accepted section 8 vouchers. At it's peak there were 27,000 residents in the Robert Taylor Homes (this excludes the many many other public housing projects across the city). 2300 mixed income residences have been built to semi-replace them.

Chicago's winters are horrible. But for $715/month I live in a 800sq. ft. studio apartment where I don't pay for heat and it's always very toasty. I live 2 short blocks from the train, and my apartment has a full sized washer and dryer. Yes, winter sucks here, but once I'm home I couldn't be any more comfortable at this price.

Chicago has so much going for it: The the parks, museums, libraries, architecture, and universities, are truly wonderful, as is its setting on Lake Michigan.

I really love Chicago and feel closely connected to that city through longstanding family connections. To be perfectly honest, however, the public transportation, though better than in most US cities, still leaves something to be desired. It is slow, expensive, and inconvenient, and it takes hours to get from one neighborhood to another if you don't have a car, and if you do have a car, parking is a nightmare.

Also, there seem to be many more desperately poor people, concentrations of bad neighborhoods, and sinister panhandlers than in other cities. I don't feel as safe in Chicago as in, say, New York. and neither to my relatives who live there.

The city could probably be fixed by a massive influx of money invested in its social capital: more police, better schools, social services, and a well thought out trasportation plan.

I'd also like to add that Chicago has the most exquisite architecture. I pass the Mies Van de Rohe designed campus of IIT on my way to work. The campus is surrounded by gorgeous greystone mansions that have been converted to beautiful apartments and condos. Once I'm downtown the design and details of the Monadnock building, the Harold Washington Library, and the lofts and apartments in the old print shops in Printers Row bring beauty to gloomy days like today. Chicago is the most beautiful city in America, and you don't have to be rich to enjoy it!

I think the thing I most missed when I left Chicago was the seasons here. Even the crappiest and most bleak part of winter (which we finally just passed -- I hope) isn't so bad when you think about last Friday, when everything warmed up and it seemed like everyone was happy and glad to be alive. You just don't feel renewed like that when it is always temperate and every month just seems to blend into the next.

And as a side note, there's much worse weather in Madison and much more sinister panhandling in SF. And my house (which in fairness is barely in the city limits) is about a three minute walk from the forest preserve.

I moved to Chicago from DC about a year and a half ago, and I'm not loving it yet. The infrastructure seems to be crumbling, and it's too gritty for my liking. Also, I haven't noticed that the people are any friendlier, as some posters have stated. Property taxes here are about 3 times what I paid in DC. Don't even get me started on the El. I don't think Chicago is the third most miserable city, but I am finding that my overall quality of life is worse here than it was in DC.

I'm a born-and-raised Chicagoan, so there's probably healthy bias in this statement, but I call B.S. on this one. The setting, culture, and people of this city are unparalleled. I love to travel, domestically and abroad, and have a list of favorite cities as long as my arm, but I will always come back to Chicago.

Living in a major metro with midwestern people is the best of both worlds, and this is the only place in the country where that vibe exists. It's a wonderful melting pot of amazing architecture, universities, theaters and museums, and yes, food (and are there bigger food snobs anywhere? We're culinary elitists, and proud of it.). Every non-native friend or family member who visits remarks on the friendliness and approachability of the people. The summers are more beautiful here than anywhere else in the U.S. And there's the Sox factor.

tarynitup makes an excellent point - with rolling gentrification and the loss of public housing, many many people were forced to flee to the suburbs. And most of those people are back in the city weekly, even daily - to work or to play, because they're still Chicagoans at heart.

How does the sense of "midwestern wholesomeness" jibe with our history of corruption?

I've lived all over the country and I love Chicago, but the people here are no more "wholesome" than they are anywhere else. Let's not be smug.

Perhaps it has something to do with falling house prices in the suburbs as opposed to a healthier Chicago real estate market? Or does it take into account all the Chicagoland suburbs? I have not read the article.

I'm a midwesterner through-and-through, so I don't think I would find a major city on either coast nearly as enjoyable. Chicago is tough, without being brutal. The architecture is incomparable. The green spaces are well-maintained and very widely used. It is a central location to anywhere else in the country, which makes vacationing easy. I can't imagine living anywhere else at this point in my life.

This question has come at just the right time...after we've had a taste of spring weather and we can see the light at the end of the (winter) tunnel.

Forbes "Best Places to Live" lists heavily feature soul crushingly bland, upper-income, new exburbs. To each their own, but I wouldn't take their "worst cities" rankings too seriously.

Chicago is fantastic; the exact opposite of where I live now. We have good weather and little else. Chicago has terrible weather 4 months a year, but everything else an urban heart desires. There are many winter days that I would gladly trade flip-flops for frosty civilization.

chicago public radio show Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!

my boyfriend and i live in Iowa and we took a little weekend vacation to Chicago to see that show and spend some time wandering around. what i've always loved about Chicago is the midwest mentality packed into a big city. i love the Art Institute, the food and an overall sense of community that i never felt growing up in Dallas (and Dallas is just as corrupt as Chicago!). that's what has always drawn me back. granted, i don't ever plan on living there but that's mainly because i can't stand the winters anymore.

as for the "miserable" rating- those lists are stupid and they're just getting people defensive or scared so they can sell magazines (and the "best places to live" lists are just as dumb). it's easy to sell bad news lately now that the majority of us are down on our luck.

Seriously, Chicago ranked #3 on the most miserable list? While Chicago is dramatic and attracts a certain type, I've never been happier anywhere else. When it's hot, it's blistering; when it rains, it pours. When it's 80, dry and sunny, everybody is outside, drinking and laughing and piling onto the beach. The people are guarded but ultimately open to anybody (President Obama's rise through Chicago politics being one example). The restaurants are incredible, the architecture is breathtakingly beautiful and the friends you'll meet will be the best you'll ever have. The sales tax sucks certainly, but I'll take another couple points on sales tax in return for Chicago's housing prices.

Tate
www.strangeclosets.com

Its completely arbitrary because 'miserable' is a feeling.

How did they really measure miserable? The only way would be a mass poll of a city's citizens on how they feel. The article did not say this was conducted, it just based its report on statistics, however did not provide any correlation between the two. Its completely arbitrary because 'miserable' is a feeling.

I want to see the list of America's Most Happiest places to live....I'm sure Chicago is also on that list.

forbes can suck it... because Chicago ROCKS

I moved to Chicago this past fall from Seattle, and I gotta say: I love it. The people are AMAZING, the cost of living is significantly lower than Seattle, the food is to die for, the art community is amazing...it's awesome. And the weather? Not that bad. You just have to know how to dress for it. (This, coming from one of those "always cold" people.)

Oh, and here's another reason why Chi-town is incredible, summed up in three words: Obama and Oprah.

I heard about this article and didn't know it came from Forbes, which has just made me disregard it entirely. If I am trying to start a family, attend a college here, look for jobs, try to find a neighborhood to live in etc etc- I don't read Forbes.

That said, this weekend I'm going to enjoy some Indian food and go see some theater and then go to bed in my large, cheap apartment, Forbes.

Lived in Chicago for 28 years and love it to death. The people at forbes must be a bunch of wimps! This is the toughest city alongside NYC. With all it's beuty, attractions and achitecture you will probably not want to be anywhere else in the country (atleast not April - Dec.). If you can't handle this place you more than likely are not geared for a big city.

Forbes can juggle these ......

I have a huge, beautiful 1-bedroom apartment from 1912, with most of its original, beautiful woodwork, an eat-in kitchen, a separate dining room, a GIANT basement storage, in a hot yuppie neighborhood (Andersonville), all hardwood floors, for $770 per month. I know my neighbors by name. I ride my bike 4 miles to work (25 minutes) through a funky, eclectic northside neighborhood (Lawrence Ave from Uptown through Albany Park) and I can honestly say that the winters are my FAVORITE time of year! (You just have to wear the right clothes, dummy.) I've truly never once cared what the sales tax rate was, and the "political corruption" is one of my favorite elements of public spectacle. I'm not originally from here, but if you had told me as a kid or teen how great my adulthood here would be, I never would have believed that life could be so awesome. This Forbes ranking is much more of a negative reflection on Forbes than it is on Chicago - just like a man who would call Marilyn Monroe fat, or claim that Barack Obama is a muslim or a communist.

Needless to say, compared to other "world class" American cities (NY, LA, SF, Boston, Miami, Seattle, YourTown, etc.) Chicago's cost of living is dirt cheap. Friends in NY and SF regularly guess my apartment would go for $3000. My aunt back in economically depressed, impossible-to-find-a-job Rochester NY says that even apartments in Rochester can go for $770.

To the fellow who asked "why are people moving": Well, FWIW, all of America's large cities are suffering population loss, mostly to their own suburbs and exurbs, but also to smaller cities in the south and west where there are more entry-level jobs. Compared to all of these other large cities, our loss of population to our own suburbs is more or less average. But compared to all of the other Northern Industrial cities (Buffalo, Detroit, Rochester, Cleveland, Eerie, Gary, etc.) Chicago's overall RETENTION of population has been remarkable.

Besides the population loss due to Section 8 housing moving to the suburbs (already mentioned), I think it may also be true that many working class families are being priced out of some neighborhoods, and when they move, they may move to another neighborhood, or just as likely to a convenient suburb.

Look at the 3rd map, Net Internal Migration, to see what I mean:
http://www.newgeography.com/content/00325-restless-americans-migration-and-population-change-2000-2007

Whoever came up with that list obviously has never spent time here. Where to start? Our architecture is second to none in the U.S. and we actually take care of much of it. Ever been to Market Street in San Francisco? Ewww. Our lakefront parks also have no equal and anyone who complains about winter hasn't tried cross-country skiing with our fantastic skyline as a backdrop. Our restaurants are among the best in the world and you don't have to make reservations months in advance. Try going out on a whim in L.A. or New York. Our theater scene is better than anywhere else too. Broadway? Drivel for brats and blue hairs from Boca. Give me Goodman and Steppenwolf. Our summer festivals are better than all but Summerfest in Milwaukee. You want miserable? Try hosting a party for 100 in an Manhattan apartment or hailing a cab while bar hopping in L.A. Now that's miserable. Sure winter is a month or two too long, yes the sale tax is obscene and it goes without saying that our politicians are foolios (though I would rather have Blagojevich as a neighbor over Bernard Madoff). But is that any reason to leave this fabulous place? And for where? Phoenix? Dallas? Atlanta? Miami? Houston? L.A.? San Francisco? New York? All of them except SF and NYC are boring beyond belief and really, how do ordinary people afford the last two? Give me Chicago. Fabulous YET normal, there is no other city as great.

I don't live in Chicago but I've spent a ton of time there and I'm a huge fan of the city. The people are friendly, the city has character, and best of all it has great neighborhoods! If you want to get to know Chicago, don't stay in the Loop, get out into some of its neighborhoods where the real spirit of the city is.

If they rated Chicago as worse than Flint that's enough proof for me that they have no idea what they're talking about.

People either love or hate Chicago. There seems to be no middle ground.
I love it!
Winter is bad there, but you get over it.
The summers are amazing.
I moved to Austin in 2007 and it is okay, but I would move back to Chicago if the opportunity arose.
People are pretty nice in Chicago. Not as pretentious as I have seen in other areas, including my current home.

I Love You, Chicago!

chicago is the best city...i moved here in the mid 90s, and moved away twice for employment reasons...once to manhattan, and once to asia...but I keep coming back to Chicago. the winters are hard, but it takes on 60 degree day to make one realize why we live here...I'd rather take our tough winters over a humid Houston summer any day! There is something to be said about the four seasons, and i'm still grateful that this city allows me to walk out my door and go to a million places without using my car

The Music box
Summer Dance in Grant Park
The Symphony
Maude's
Mary Archie Theater Company
Mary Zimmerman
The Looking Glass
The Publican
and SO MUCH MORE:)