Why the Best:  Beautiful town on gorgeous lake (Michigan), home of one of America's best universities (Northwestern), minutes from one of America's best cities (Chicago). Evanston is near perfect. Cosmopolitan enough to offer cutting edge culture. 1st run and classic-art movies, thriving arts and music festivals, original theater and dance, great restaurants, good club and bar scene.

Evanston is a haven for social and political action -- Amnesty Int'l, Code Blue-Darfur, Neighbors for Peace, countless other activist organizations have bases there. It's got public clubs and committees to satisfy every passion (from chess and astronomy to knitting and bottle cap collecting).

Great housing. Great schools. Great community spirit. And the town is located on the shores of "The Lake" which offers almost everything any great ocean-beach-front resort can offer except the poisonous jelly fish.

On top of all that, for the sports-fan enthusiast, Evanston and Northwestern are home year-round to big-time Big 10 college athletics. Michigan, Ohio State football. Indiana, Illinois basketball.

It's not cheap to live in Evanston. It also gets really cold in the winter. (Hey, we didn't promise perfection!) But, for us, Evanston is a home run. Definitely, a Burbia Best Town. ...read about other towns