|
|
| *Travel Tips>>>Chicago Travel Tips |
How is the cost of living in Chicago and surrounding area? |
Travel Info Looking to relocate somewhere in the next year or so. We have 5 children and my husband is into Marketing. Thanks in advance for the responses. Travel Tips It's pretty cheap considering the size of the city. Living downtown will be expensive, but that's because it's downtown. You can find cheaper housing away from the main area, like the north, northwest or southwest sides. For instance, there are rental one bedroom apartments on the north side of the city with a view of the lakefront and parks for a little more than $800. Just do a little research and you'll find something. There are a lot of housing price comparison sites on the web. Gas prices are high here but the city has pretty good public transportation that can get you to practially any point in the city and even beyond. Food prices are kept in a reasonable range by the fact that there are thousands of stores, large and small, fighting for your food dollar so they're always competing with prices. Can't speak much to utilities, because I only pay electricity, but it cost me living in my one-bedroom apartment about $30-40 a month. As for how things are in the burbs, someone else will have to address that. I live in the city. But from what I see, prices may be vary between the city and burbs. For instance, they may pay less for gas because the city taxes it here, but they may pay more for food because there's less competition. And there may be more municipal taxes for things like police and fire that we don't have here in the city./ Others The cost of living in Chicago is a bit high. However, bear in mind that so much of the cost is due to location where you rent/buy your home, do your shopping, etc. For example, a three bedroom apt. near downtown Chicago (Loop Area) may run you up wards of $3K a month. The further you move away from the loop area the lower the prices will go. Stay away from the college campus areas too. They are quite expensive do to the "captive" audience of students. Chicago is a GREAT place to live!! Good luck to you in Chi!!! Well, my daughter just transferred schools from Boston to Chicago, and she says it's cheaper here. She just got a studio in Lincoln Park (De Paul Unive-not a slum) for $710.00 a month, so...... It's not cheap, but not as bad as some other cities. The cost of housing has more than tripled since I left Chicago in 1998. When I lived there, I rented a huge two bedroom apartment (sunroom, living room, dining room, bath, kitchen and 2 bdrms - all very large rooms) for $450 per month. The apartment was in a nice location near campus. I know now that you can't find a studio apartment for this anymore. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't afford to move back! The cost of living IN Chicago is very high. Gas prices within the city limits of Chicago are the highest in the US. If you wanted to live in Chicago and have a bedroom for all 5 of your kids you would have to spend $1,000,000 minimum if you don't want to live in the ghetto. You probably don't want to live in the city with 5 kids. The West suburbs(Oswego, Plainfield, Plano) have the best value on housing(decent houses from $250k) but are a bit far from downtown. Naperville is a very nice, large suburb and was once voted as the best city in the US to raise children. The North suburbs are more expensive, but offer easier commutes into the city. South suburbs are cheaper, but not as nice. |
| Tags |
| General - Travel Atlanta Austin Boston Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Dallas Denver Detroit |
Travel Info Categories--Copyright/IP Policy--Contact Webmaster |