The magazine says the west suburb has good neighbors, affordable housing and a giving spirit.
"I'm not surprised," said 20-year resident Sharon Cornwell. "It's just a great community."
As the Fox River winds its way through the center of St. Charles, the east and west banks offer striking architecture, excellent dining and a historic shopping district.
"It really confirms that everyone's contributions are recognized and confirms what we've all known all along which is St. Charles is a terrific place to live, work, and raise a family," said Mayor Donald DeWitt.
The town takes pride in its award-winning park district and its river, which fosters outdoor recreation for families and tourists. Pottawatomie Park and its stately pavilion grace expansive, lush lawns.
Family Circle looked at 2,500 communities with populations between 15,000 and 150,000, then they narrowed it down to 1,000, and then to ten, finally ending up with St. Charles at number one.
The town believes friendly neighborhoods with affordable housing, spacious land, and innovative blue ribbon schools helped earn St. Charles the number one recognition.
"It is a great town, it's a wonderful place to raise families, our businesses are phenomenal," said Lori Hewitt, CEO of the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce. "High school is great, grade schools are great, we're rated very highly in our schools, the parks are phenomenal, business is great - they give back to the community."
First Street boosts a $100-million development project, showing that the business community is thriving, and so is tourism with venues like Pheasant Run resort.
"From a business perspective, both during the day and at night it's just a fabulous town," said businessman Kyle Witt.
"The families that live in this community have very deep roots. We have two and three and four generation families. This is not just another west suburban bedroom community. This is people's homes. That leads to a volunteer spirit that really gets people involved in what goes on in our community," said DeWitt.
Founded in 1834, the riverfront community is rich in history and cultural institutions, with plentiful opportunities for work and fun.
