Gov. Bruce Rauner has been telling us how lousy it is to live in Illinois, what with its awful business climate and terrible economics, for so long that we almost started to believe him. Then, the helpful folks at Nationwide (“Chicken parm you taste so good” – yes, the insurance company with the annoying TV jingle sung by Peyton Manning) jerked us back to reality with the latest on the housing market. For whatever reason, Nationwide periodically fi gures out the best and worst housing markets in the United States, and Springfi eld, Illinois has the healthiest, most sustainable housing market in the entire nation, edging out Springfi eld, Ohio (ranked seventh), Milwaukee, Wisconsin (third), and Niles-Benton Harbor, Michigan (ranked second). The Midwest rules when it comes to the housing market, sayeth the pros at Nationwide who credit – listen closely, Mr. Rauner – “solid employment growth, a recent pick-up in household formations and sustainable house price gains.” Labor markets are particularly important, Nationwide says – you want lots of jobs and home prices that don’t outpace salaries. When you look at maps of the nation that are helpfully color-coded in the company’s report issued last week, with green being good, we stand out like Kermit the frog on the map titled “Unemployment Rate Change.” On the other hand, there is New Orleans, which fi nished 400th – dead last – in Nationwide’s ranking as well as bunch of places in Texas that rounded out the bottom 10.