Reply Illinois has plenty of tourism draws — including Galena (pictured) — but how does it stack up when compared to other states? (Bob Stefko/Illinois Office of Tourism) ILLINOIS — The timeless debate of which of the 50 states is the most popular, and where Illinois ranks, continues with a recently conducted survey shedding new light on the subject. A "best state" survey conducted in March by YouGov, a London-based research data and analytics group, asked more than 1,200 Americans to choose the better of two states in a series of head-to-head matchups. Illinois was chosen 44 percent of the time it came up in the survey, ranking 39th among the 50 states and District of Columbia.