#3 – The 25 Best Small College Towns – MSN Money (2016)
#15 for Best Cities for New College Grads Nationally – Zumper(2016)
#1 Most Educated City in Illinois, and one of the most educated in the country – Yahoo! Finance (2016)
#7 – Best Small Cities for Educated Millennials – Business Insider (2015)
Google eCity Award – Bloomington Named the Strongest Online Business Community in Illinois (2015)
# 25 – Best Small Places for Business and Careers – Forbes (2015) Forbes considered 12 metrics in compiling the rankings, including past and projected job growth; the cost of doing business and the cost of living; income growth; educational attainment; projected economic growth; quality of life issues, such as crime rates, cultural and recreational opportunities and net migration patterns; and the number of highly ranked colleges in an area.
# 11 – Fastest-Growing Cities – NerdWallet.com (2013) Read coverage from The Pantagraph, with comments from Illinois Wesleyan economist Michael Seeborg.
100 Best Communities for Young People – The America's Promise Alliance and ING (2011) Bloomington-Normal was the only community in Illinois to receive the designation.
# 17 – Geekiest City – Forbes (2011) Based on "Science and Engineering Indicators 2010," where the National Science Foundation ranked the top cities by percentage of workers with jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.