Thinking of moving to Illinois (Chicago, Carbondale: sales, 2014, apartments)

[personone]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

$800 per month is like a trailer or a studio apartment...

Ahhh I thought on quick read he meant a $800K budget for a house. If it’s as you said, that significantly lowers options lol.

[Chi-town]

People.... IL is a Big state. Chicagoland low chance. Heck, My hometown in PA still has under $600 apts. A few under $500. Small city depressed. No Uber some want. Just need more people.

Depressed areas have low cost even in IL I would think.

Just sure $800 is waaay low for larger urban areas.

[jasperhobbs]

Originally Posted by Chi-town

OP...if those trying to change your mind cause they have baggage leaving Chicagoland and IL. They cannot be too happy in their new choice. If they were? They would fully have moved forward and boast for thier new Texas region vs diss their former.... think about it.

Hope you do not get that way in a move. There can always be moving home too. Irony is telling someone stay in a better topography state and they chose another flat region for themselves...

Most Southern and conservative is southern IL. Always was from earliest statehood era. Northern IL less. Rural far more then larger urban areas. All states similar in that. Northern IL was originally part of WI territory including Chicagoland before a city.

College cities more uber usage maybe and less far right.

I retired to my home state of PA and county. In the mountains and far more conservative. Does not matter if IN, OH or PA or IL. To a large degree a TX too. I see less Trump signs now though and Confederate ones that they want it more to just say I am a redneck....

Cities less Conservative and rural areas moreso. Good luck in any choice. The political divide only gets worse. One must adjust and keep oneself from extremism.

Most rural of any state will be the cheapest. Nothing new in that or that states differ in that. Having many pets can be best more rural also.

Great post.

[Drewjdeg]

What about Carbondale? Never been there, but it seems cheap and left leaning. And it has a university - which means there might be some gig work.

[lepoisson]

Originally Posted by Chi-town

OP...if those trying to change your mind cause they have baggage leaving Chicagoland and IL. They cannot be too happy in their new choice. If they were? They would fully have moved forward and boast for thier new Texas region vs diss their former.... think about it.

It's kind of like when you have a bad experience at a restaurant, you tell people about it so they don't make the same mistake you did.

Chicago is a really cool city and some of the best years of my life were spent there, but buying a home there wasn't going to be a good idea and the winters wore me down. If the weather was slightly better, the city was better managed, and taxes were lower, I would have stayed Chicago.

Although I like Chicago as a city, I do not like Illinois. There is really nothing to do in the state except for a few places. The same can't be said about states like Wisconsin and Michigan which have many nice towns. IL is a really poorly managed state that is very dysfunctional. Most people who live there are from there originally and don't know what it's like living somewhere else. I honestly can't understand why someone would want to move there unless it's to the Chicagoland area. There is nothing downstate that you can't get in surrounding states (which have a lower cost of living and are in better functioning states).

[CyclingChemist]

Originally Posted by pythonis

We are obviously on a budget but we just have to getfo of TN. Right now we are in a 3/2 with a fenced in yard and 1 car garage for $800.
Any ideas? Chicago is a big no, BTW.

Due to the high property taxes $800 will get you a room or maybe a studio. I don't think a leftist town where you can rent a 3 bedroom anything exists in Illinois, not even Englewood, Austin, other city neighborhoods were gang shootings are a leading cause of death.

[jasperhobbs]

Originally Posted by CyclingChemist

Due to the high property taxes $800 will get you a room or maybe a studio. I don't think a leftist town where you can rent a 3 bedroom anything exists in Illinois, not even Englewood, Austin, other city neighborhoods were gang shootings are a leading cause of death.

So, you are saying rightie towns have cheap rent. Link please.

[CyclingChemist]

Originally Posted by jasperhobbs

So, you are saying rightie towns have cheap rent. Link please.

Some of the rural towns in Illinois away from Chicago have lowish rent but the OP specified he did not want to live in a conservative area, which as others have stated, most of Illinois outside of the Chicago area and some other urban pockets like E. St Louis are probably as conservative as TN.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...16476098_zpid/

If OP wants to live in a leftist area he is going to have to pay for leftist taxes which means no $800 rental house, try $800/mo just in property taxes.

[Kmanshouse]

Some mediocre college town not near a big city might fit your budget and political leanings.

Your situation is hard to solve. Even in the Chicago suburbs, $800/m won't get you much. Can you increase your budget? Any rural place is likely to have Trump flags still hanging around...though I think it's fewer now than it was a few years ago. SW Michigan near the wine country there had TONS of Trump flags going in 2020. And Michigan went for Biden.

Most democratic strongholds are in inner cities or affluent areas where there won't be any housing for $800.

[GraniteStater]

That reminds me of my drive yesterday in northern Indiana, lots of 2024 Trump signs out, plenty of people detached from any reality it would appear.

Bloomington/Normal is not overly Democratic but very affordable, and has more new job growth with the Rivian facility. Food delivery apps and Uber are growth industries in any college town metro area that has younger demographics.