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Moving to Chicago, IL
SigmaCondition
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey guys.
I'll try and keep this short, so as to not test our already limited attention span.
24 yr old living in Buckhead (Atlanta), Ga.
I've got a pretty good job opportunity that will have me pickup and move to Chicago, IL at a considerable pay raise and the chance for lots of travel (good). What I'm wondering is this. Does anyone that reads these forums live in that area? I'll be working near N. LaSalle and West Wacker St. (I can't make these things up). Any idea what the reasonable rate for a 1 bd/ba in a decent area is? Nothing too crazy, just somewhere that I wouldn't be embarrassed to bring a girl back to.
I'm really just trying to get a feel for the area, and get a general idea of what I should expect as far as prices go if I decide to move.
Thanks in advance guys.
I'll try and keep this short, so as to not test our already limited attention span.
24 yr old living in Buckhead (Atlanta), Ga.
I've got a pretty good job opportunity that will have me pickup and move to Chicago, IL at a considerable pay raise and the chance for lots of travel (good). What I'm wondering is this. Does anyone that reads these forums live in that area? I'll be working near N. LaSalle and West Wacker St. (I can't make these things up). Any idea what the reasonable rate for a 1 bd/ba in a decent area is? Nothing too crazy, just somewhere that I wouldn't be embarrassed to bring a girl back to.
I'm really just trying to get a feel for the area, and get a general idea of what I should expect as far as prices go if I decide to move.
Thanks in advance guys.
SigmaCondition on
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Posts
So now for the good news.
That's an awesome area. right on the river, just north of Millennium Park. Unless they're giving you 6-figures, you may find it difficult to live right there. Certainly can live in a near-by neighborhood Lincoln Park (maybe), Lincoln Square, Lakeview (Wrigley Field) and take a bus/walk to work. The public transportation is pretty good.
Prices - For a decent neighborhood 1BR/1BH, $900+/month. More like $1000+. And that's with street parking. Living expenses are probably comparable to Atlanta. Link to our old rental company, including prices:
Very exciting. Feel free to ask anything about ChiTown. Aside from the asston of snow we got this winter, it's a great city.
What would be a "young" area that you could suggest I look for as far as lodging?
Thanks for responding. I'm kind of flying blind here, and I need to be pretty set on an answer by Monday. They want to fly me in that week to interview, and I feel that I should atleast have some info going into it.
Thanks man,
Chicago isn't really going to be that much more expensive than Atlanta. Based on this (http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html), if you make say $50,000/yr in Atlanta you'd need to make about $58,000 in Chicago to maintain the same standard of life.
Edit: It's really hard to say how much you'd need to live "comfortably" because that differs so much for everybody and also changes based on other bills and whatnot. I worked with a lot of recent college grads who were making about $25,000/year and were fine with their bills/rent and going out pretty regularly. You should really calculate about how much you need per month now (without rent) then add about 900-1000 for rent and then just a bit more to account for general price differences.
I'd say definitely do it, unless you're absolutely in love with Atlanta (or the south in general). I loved Chicago while I was there and would still be there if my job hadn't moved.
It's sprawly. It's big city mixed with midwest which equals sprawl. The sprawl, mixed with the fact that it's a major hub for both cars, trains, and planes, means that it's also busy and congested.
The weather can really suck. Again, it's in the midwest AND has lake effect shit. You can get dumped on with snow, there's regularly odd winds, rainstorms can just circle overhead, etc.
It's a big city, so it can be somewhat impersonal.
That's pretty much all there is for the bad stuff. The counters is that there's actual real public transit, which if you can live by or use really makes the congestion almost not an issue. The weather sucks but you acclimate after a year and can appreciate the variety. One time I drove into chicago seeing a HUGE thunderstorm approaching, only to have a double rainbow just pop out over the city as I approached on I90. Still, your first year will be rough coming from Atlanta, and I'd suggest buying some long underwear and a set of undershirts for when it's cold/windy.
It's truly an awesome place to live if you love going out. The theatre stuff is great, lots of comedy clubs and other hotspots, and surprisingly unpretentious about it. I personally have no interest in living there, but it's for the same reasons I'm not interested in NYC, SF, or LA -- too big.
You must not have been anywhere near Wicker Park. :P
I live in Lakeview right now which has a lot of really nice parts. Wrigleyville is in Lakeview and although it's a good time, it can be a bit much with the drunken rowdiness and all. I live a bit further south-- my street is shady, tree-lined, and packed with young professionals out walking the dog and whatnot. I live right by the Belmont Red Line and it probably would take me about 15-20 minutes to get to where you're working. Lincoln Square is pretty far away and it's by the Brown Line, which gets you to the same place but it has a lot more stops. Also, if you're out late at night, God only knows when the next brown line train is gonna show up. Lincoln Park is really nice but it skews to a really young crowd since it's the home of DePaul-- it'll be a bit pricier I think and you'll be surrounded by a bunch of 19 year old girls in $2000/mo apartments.
There's a lot of construction going on on the L so you'll run into slow zones and some occasional inconsistency, I think there are a couple brown line stops shut down right now, but it's normally pretty good. They just had a big funding crisis and were threatening to cut like half the bus routes but that seems to be taken care of.
That sounds about right.
$60k plus to live in a decent place, could probably have a car if your other bills were kept in check. More is always better, of course.
We lived in Ravenswood, which is about 15min* drive from downtown, or 5min* drive to the Cubs. Walking distance to an El station, multiple bus lines. Lakeview is right next door, and slightly better area, in general.
I think your decision has been made, :winky:
* All distances in Chicago and suburbs are given in units of time, usually to-from "The City". As in, "Yeah, it takes me 40mins to get to Woodfield from the City." Or, "I live in a corn field in Crystal Lake and it takes me 3hrs to get to a hospital."
If anyone else has anything to add, It would really help.
One final question, I've got a car now, is there any reason i should expect to not keep it? I know parking in "the city" is different than in Atlanta, but is it bad enough that I should scrap the ride?
Thanks,
Summertime not really a problem, winter can be if you've got just street parking. On the crappiest days we'd have to park two blocks away. Some have it worse, but YMMV.
That really depends on what you other bills are. 35k a year would never have been enough for myself (alone even) but I have very large student loan payments every month.
If you want to live in the city you'll want to stay away from downtown, or most of the near northside neighborhoods (wicker park, lincoln park, edgeview). Places like Roger's Park, Ukranian Village, and Humboldt Park will tend to have lower rents and are developing regions. I've known a few families that lived in Rogers Park and loved it.
I actually wasn't suggesting that you'd need this to live -- it was just a number I picked out to demonstrate the difference. As I suggested it totally depends on how much debt/bills the person has. I knew a bunch of people who lived comfortably on under $30,000/yr. I personally lived in a nice place for just under $40k.
And for the op... http://gis.chicagopolice.org/CLEARMap/startPage.htm
Yes, too expensive downtown and in most of the trendy northside neighborhoods.
You really need to add up what your monthly expenses will be (estimate if necessary, not including rent) and then look around at apartments (craigslist is a good resource for this) to figure out what types of rents you could afford. For my wife and I, our electricity averaged around $50/month (heat was gas, and included in rent, oven was gas). Satellite or cable really depends, but will start around $50/month and go up for better packages. Internet also depends... DSL can be as low as maybe $40/month (because you'll need at least a local phone line as well), cable would probably start similarly. Gas is ridiculous right now and I highly recommend public transit (though I'm not sure what happened to the price raises they were supposed to be implementing for public transit in the past month). According to the CTA website a 30 day unlimited pass is still $75 which will be cheaper than gas+parking. Food obviously depends on how much you eat, but shouldn't change too much from what you spend now. The unknowns for me are obviously insurance and tuition. My health insurance was covered by my job so I'm not sure what the out of pocket cost would be aside from expensive. How much is the tuition expected to be?
I know $35k would not have been near enough for my wife and I to live there, but we have pretty substantial monthly student loan payments so it's hard to say.
I have flown through Chicago many times. I spent new years this year there and go once or twice a year to hang with family.
Chicago is by far one of the most single friendly cities I have ever been to. The women are very nice approachable and pretty. For a city in the midwest it has women you think you would only find in Miami or LA. And they are spunky too. Something to do with living in the windy city. I have never failed to meet someone or have a great evening whenever I go out in Chicago it rocks.
I am living down on the gulf coast currently and regularly miss the parties and atmosphere of Chicago. If you get a place downtown and have any game at all I think you will find it MUCH better than Atlanta in the lady department. Having been on the prowl in both cities I can say without question chicago is better.
Lincoln Park is expensive, as is actual downtown Chicago. Basically don't live anywhere south of Chicago, the south side isn't the friendly side. North of Lincoln Park is your best bet, gentrification is taking over like mad and buildings are being rehabbed everywhere.
Cars have actually gotten broken into where I work, and that's right near downtown in the north side, so it goes to show it depends on the a**hole you're dealing with. It's a big city, like New York, these things can happen.
But other than that, Chicago is a blast to live in and spend time in. And to me, both the North side and the South side. If you have the money, live on the North side though. Heh.
Be sure to stop by Al's Beef on 169 W. Ontario, Gino's East right across from Al's beef, and The Billy Goat on 430 N. Michigan Ave at Lower Level.
The Billy Goat is a really fun place but don't be expecting the best burger you ever had or anything. The Weiner Circle is another cool place to swing by a couple times and grab some mediocre food from an... enthusiastic staff. It gets a little mean-spirited late at nights though.
Improvolone-- I think you can get by on 35k. A lot of the mid to far north side is gentrifying. Rogers Park is way the heck up there, it's practically in Evanston. It's very suburban. I go to school there every day and it seems very detached from the city, but it's probably the best price/square footage ratio off the red line. A few neighborhoods to keep in mind: Ukrainian Village, Roscoe Village, Lincoln Square, Uptown (might be getting pricier now but it's a nice spot), Edgewater. Remember that this city is huge-- there's a lot of variation within neighborhoods. I live in Lakeview and while it's frightening to look at the prices for apartments here on Craigslist, the prices decrease drastically the further you get from Lake Michigan. Two of my friends lived in Logan Square last year and they were 3 blocks away from some gang shooting. This year they moved to the other side of Logan Square and it's all very up-and-coming, cheap rent (I think they're paying 750 for a 1br with heat and electric included), somewhat trendy shops and restaurants, and no run-ins with shady types to speak of.
MichaelLC: I lived in Crystal Lake and I'll have you know I could get to a hospital in under 15 minutes!
Sorry, I should have clarified - I meant a human hospital, not a veterinary clinic.
One of my co-workers live in Crystal Lake and we always give each other shit about where we live. He still tries to convince me it's a modern metropolis. Filthy lies.
I know it's not that bad, and you can get a lot more house out there. It's more the illusion/possibility of being 30 mins. to the city from the closer suburbs, even if we never go.