SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — Springfield was featured in a national publication as one of the best housing markets.

An article in the Wall Street Journal published earlier this month listed Springfield, Illinois as number 17 out of 300 for towns on the WSJ/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index for Winter 2023 for the best “housing markets expected to provide a strong return on investment and offer a nice place to live.”

This is the seventh list by newspaper. It weighs factors of economic health and real-estate markets like real estate supply and demand, unemployment rates, average work commute and wages.

Springfield was the highest ranked metropolitan area in Illinois, and the only one in the state in the top 50.

“As mayor, I know Springfield is a great place to live, work, and raise a family,” Springfield mayor Jim Langfelder said. “But having an outside entity include Springfield in an index such as this helps residents understand our community value and that Springfield is moving in the right direction.”

Local economic development officers at the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance say being featured in the article will help attract more businesses.

“Over the last year alone, SSGA has conducted more than 90 business retention and expansion visits in our community and this is the kind of data employers care about,” SSGA CEO Ryan McCrady said. “In addition to that, we already know we have more than $1.5 billion in economic development opportunities coming to this region over the next few years. We hope this article makes people proud to live in Springfield.”

The full WSJ article can be found here.