Potential Move to Bradley/Bourbonnais (Chicago, Kankakee: apartment, violent crime, hotel)

[StevieV610]

My wife and I may be moving to the Bradley/Bourbonnais/Manteno area as part of a job relocation to Kankakee. We have read through a number of forum posts here on City-Data and have tried to do due diligence when it comes to scouting the various neighborhoods in the area.

Essentially, we are looking to potentially purchase a house within the next 3-6 months (after initially staying in a month-to-month apartment during our initial transition). We stayed a few days in a hotel during the interview process and tried our best to get a feel for the area and feel fairly comfortable about the majority of the areas mentioned. We were curious, however, as to how far "south" in Bradley is generally considered a relatively safe place to live. In essence, is there a "dividing line" between parts of the area that would be safe to walk our dog in the evenings vs. those where maybe that wouldn't be the best idea?

We have looked at various house prices online and it seems that those south of "North Street" in Bradley are far less expensive than those just across the road, but were curious to learn as much about the area as possible for the purposes of our potential relocation.

Thank you in advance for your responses.

[bcurtis8511]

I've lived in Bradley for most of my life, and a majority of my family lives here. I'm not sure where you're coming from, but for the most part Bradley is a safe place to live. We live in East Bradley, South of North St and East of rt 50. Most homes are older, but its a lot of families. The parks are nice, especially the new one on North St. East and Central Bradley will probably have the lowest taxes until you get into the new construction neighborhoods on the north east part of town. The only real crime you hear about in Bradley is the occasional car or garage broken into or a bike or grill stolen from the ally. There aren't violent crimes in the area, and I cannot remember the last home invasion I've heard of. There isn't any place in Bradley I would caution against as far as being "seedy" or "ghetto" except maybe the first few blocks behind the bars (Looney Bin and Shooters) on Schuyler. I'm sorry I'm not sure of the exact street names, but they are right by the above mentioned bars. But above all, its not a town that you have to lock all your windows and doors because crimes so bad.

There are a LOT Of bars in town. I'm not sure why that is, but Broadway seems to be mostly just bars. Which is fine if that's your thing, but its not the only thing going on in town. During the summer there are many free local concerts at Perry Farm or out by Kankakee Community College. There is also blues bands that play on Thursdays in the winter. Its called Friends of the Blues, and that is also free. There is a music festival that is free to attend in downtown Kankakee in July every year, and the BBQ festival is also in early July, that does have an entry fee though. The Kankakee Farmers Market is very nice and runs Saturday morning by the library in Kankakee.

I'm not sure if you have children or not, but the schools are pretty good. Traffic is going to start getting really bad the next few weeks with the Bears training camp starting up at Olivet, but it ends quickly. I'd be happy to answer any other question you have. Like I said, I've lived here for most of my life and 95% of my family as well as my husbands family live here and have made our lives here.

[holl1ngsworth]

None of the towns discussed so far are technically "Chicago Suburbs." If you want more/better answers, post this to the "Illinois" forum instead.

[Idon'tdateyou]

They consider themselves Chicago suburbs. I live about 20 minutes north of there and do all my shopping in Bradley and Bourbonnais. Those are good areas. Kankakee has some questionable areas though.