Seattle to Chicago? (Waukegan, Arlington Heights, Schaumburg: apartments, rental, houses)

[sbdude76]

I have an offer to move from Seattle to Chicago and have a few questions for forum members. While I am familiar geographically with Chicago having been there for business trips - I don't have any local knowledge so appreciate any help.

1. Cost of Living - Some websites say Chicago is as expensive as Seattle, some say it is 20% cheaper. Does anybody know the real answer? For work/life balance purposes I am moving to a lower stress position (approx 50k pay cut)
2. Housing - In about a year we are looking to purchase a home with a decent school district within 30-40 minutes of O'Hare. Seeking a 4br/2ba, budget would be about 450,000. What areas would be good... ideally we would rent in that area for the first year.
3. Traffic - Is Chicago traffic really that bad? I've heard some peoples nightmares..

Also in general what are folks opinions about making such a move? Everybody I speak to say that moving from Seattle to Chicago is kind of crazy and web searches seem to correlate. Any opinions to the contrary?

Thanks.

[chirack]

1. cost of living varries a bit in this area. $450 buys a bigger place say in the south burbs tham say in the north or northwest burbs.

2. There are lots of areas(mostly the burbs) where you can find good schools. The are good schools in the city but the process does not favor people who are moving in. We kinda need more info in what kind of place you want. More urban? More Suburban Rural?

3. It can be bad but depending on what you are doing when you might not have to drive. Where are you working? If you are working downtown(the loop) then there is lots of public transportation there. If you are working in the city elsewhere then you need to choose an area that is not too far(i.e. You don't want to want to be say in the far south burbs if you need to go to O'hare but some of them could be fine for say Midway).

[sbdude76]

Thanks chirack

1. I'm looking in the northern burbs 100%. My previous work took me between Northville/Schaumburg and in my travels between the two locations those areas looked pretty nice (not sure if they are within 30 min of O'Hare though)

2. For homes, I'm looking for burbs... not urban for sure. If we can get a bit rural within a 30 min commute of O'Hare that would be ok.

3. I work next to O'Hare and will be travellng extensively so I guess to refine my question any place in the north burbs of O'Hare with good schools and nice housing (affordable too).

[knitgirl]

Originally Posted by sbdude76

Thanks chirack

1. I'm looking in the northern burbs 100%. My previous work took me between Northville/Schaumburg and in my travels between the two locations those areas looked pretty nice (not sure if they are within 30 min of O'Hare though)

Do you mean Northbrook or Northfield? I don't believe we have a Northville in IL. I'm not sure about current home prices, but I think Arlington Heights, Palatine, Mt. Prospect would all be decent possibilities for you.

[sbdude76]

Sorry I meant Northbrook...

Anybody have insight? The cost of living and commute really concerns me since my wife and I are looking at a 50k pay cut.

[tompope]

Originally Posted by sbdude76

Sorry I meant Northbrook...

Anybody have insight? The cost of living and commute really concerns me since my wife and I are looking at a 50k pay cut.

What sort of insight are you looking for? Northbrook is a quiet, mostly rather upscale suburban community. It's very nice if you like that kind of thing. Most of the newer, more modern houses there would certainly tend to be well over $450,000, but there are still some of the smaller, older homes that I'm sure could be had for that. I used to know somebody who used to live on Waukegan Road in Northbrook in a little, modest, mid-century 4-bedroom ranch house, for example, and I'm quite certain that something like that would be well under $450K. I don't know about typical rental rates in Northbrook, but I'm confident that they're not cheap.

Northbrook is widely regarded as having an excellent school district, too. As far as a commute, Northbrook isn't too far from O'Hare, but not super-close either. As a result, the drive between them is hardly the worst commute in Chicago, and during non-peak times you can get from one to the other in just a few minutes, but traffic is likely to slow you down at many other times. It's a simple, drive, though, just a straight shot down the Tri-State Tollway (I-294).

Is this helpful to you?

Also, you might want to try posting this (if you haven't already), in the separate "Chicago Suburbs" forum. You might get a little more vigorous response there, but we're happy to try to help you here, too.

[emathias]

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and have a brother who still lives in Seattle.

Originally Posted by sbdude76

...
1. Cost of Living - Some websites say Chicago is as expensive as Seattle, some say it is 20% cheaper. Does anybody know the real answer? For work/life balance purposes I am moving to a lower stress position (approx 50k pay cut)

I think the difference is that the entire metro region of Chicago is bigger, and has some severely downtrodden areas. When you look at the overall averages, they are lower than Seattle because of that. However some agencies have attempted to control for that by providing an estimate for Chicago that really only includes areas that working professionals would be likely to choose. In that second sense, Chicago and Seattle are pretty close overall in cost and it would come down to a comparison of individual suburbs or neighborhoods. Both are big enough to have a number of options, though.

Originally Posted by sbdude76

2. Housing - In about a year we are looking to purchase a home with a decent school district within 30-40 minutes of O'Hare. Seeking a 4br/2ba, budget would be about 450,000. What areas would be good... ideally we would rent in that area for the first year.

I'll have to let people who know the suburbs better than I do answer that, but I think you'll be able to find something in that range, especially if you're okay with older stock and/or maybe converting an unfinished basement.

Originally Posted by sbdude76

3. Traffic - Is Chicago traffic really that bad? I've heard some peoples nightmares..

Not compared to Seattle it isn't. Having driven in both cities a fair bit, I'd say that Chicago's traffic is not worse than Seattle's. Both can be hellish, and I actually prefer driving here over Seattle.

Originally Posted by sbdude76

Also in general what are folks opinions about making such a move? Everybody I speak to say that moving from Seattle to Chicago is kind of crazy and web searches seem to correlate. Any opinions to the contrary?

Like I said, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and I have two brothers. One still lives in Seattle. The other also lives in the Chicago area with me. 2/3 brothers can't be wrong ;-)

Chicago and Seattle have other ties, too. You probably know Boeing moved their corporate headquarters to Chicago a few years ago. You may not know that the first major market Starbucks expanded to outside of the Northwest was Chicago.

Anecdotes aside, Seattle and Chicago are different, but if you're going to be flying to a lot of different places around the U.S. and/or world, O'Hare is better than SeaTac unless all your destinations would be on the West Coast.

Seattle beats Chicago hands-down when it comes to Nature. The Chicago area and Midwest in general is not as devoid of nature as the West Coast likes to believe, however. There are still forests and hills (no mountains, though). We have no saltwater, but the Great Lakes really are enormous inland seas.

Chicago beats Seattle hands-down when it comes to being a huge city. Seattle is no small city, but it's not huge. For relative size comparison purposes, Seattle compared to Chicago is like Chicago compared to New York. They are both of a size that can be compared, but it's still very clear which is bigger and has more urbanity.

I like both Seattle and Chicago, but the primary reason I live in Chicago doesn't really apply to your situation as you've described it. I like living here because I like living in a city. Even in the more urban parts of Seattle it felt like it was just somewhere people stayed between trips to the mountains or the beach. In Chicago, I feel like the city attracts more people for the city itself whereas Seattle attracts people for the natural environment, and I think that results in a lot of the culture differences between the two. Seattle proper only makes up 18% of its metro area. Chicago proper makes up 28% of the Chicagoland metro area. That's a substantial difference.

[coldwine]

Seattle is by far less expensive than Chicago. Rental prices are themselves very, very low. I honestly have no idea where food would be cheaper, or what utilities compare. But on a rental basis, Chicago is much more expensive. However, the upside to this is that Seattle just never offers "space". You can find very large apartments in Chicago that are spacious and (relatively) inexpensive.

Salaries are much better in Chicago. It is a local economy more heavily dominated by large megacorps than Seattle. The downside is that the tech scene in Chicago is nothing like what it is in Seattle. There are no small startups.

So, it is doable. Personally I would choose Chicago, but I prefer larger, more established urban environments. The weather is (to me) equally terrible in both places, but Seattle doesn't even get summer. It's just always cold and chilly, damp and cloudy. Chicago is like that for only 9 months of the year

[tompope]

Originally Posted by coldwine

The downside is that the tech scene in Chicago is nothing like what it is in Seattle. There are no small startups.

To be clear, it's nowhere near true that "[t]here are no small startups" in Chicago. There actually are plenty of small tech startup companies in Chicago, but probably fewer than in Seattle, and they make up a much smaller fraction of the overall local economic scene. As you say, Chicago's economy is much more dominated by big megacorporations than Seattle's, but that doesn't mean that small startups can't or don't get going in Chicago also. FWIW.

[Garfieldian]

Originally Posted by emathias

I like living here because I like living in a city. Even in the more urban parts of Seattle it felt like it was just somewhere people stayed between trips to the mountains or the beach. In Chicago, I feel like the city attracts more people for the city itself whereas Seattle attracts people for the natural environment, and I think that results in a lot of the culture differences between the two.

This. The two seem like night and day when it comes to city life/people. Chicago isn't NYC...but it has plenty of "urban people" who enjoy the big city life. Don't think Seattle really has that vibe.

Originally Posted by tompope

To be clear, it's nowhere near true that "[t]here are no small startups" in Chicago. There actually are plenty of small tech startup companies in Chicago, but a lot fewer than in Seattle, and they make up a much smaller fraction of the overall local economic scene. As you say, Chicago's economy is much more dominated by big megacorporations than Seattle's, but that doesn't mean that small startups can't or don't get going in Chicago also. FWIW.

Well I think that is what she is saying. Compared to Seattle and also the Bay Area... there might as well not be any. As a percentage of jobs, Chicago probably is more oriented to "big business, finance/accounting/law/consulting/logistics", along with a few high end boutiques who serve similar clients, than pretty much any other city, including NYC I would say. It is no wonder that the MBA's at Kellogg and Booth are geared to that local market, and Northwestern Law for instance is highly geared toward NLJ250 firms. If you aren't into the "big corporate america" scene, Chicago will be a harder city to crack. You've got a lot more "IT Workers" in Chicago than straight up software developers and engineers you might find in Seattle/Bay. Seattle probably has an overall "hipper", "laidback" vibe as a percentage. Chicago is certainly more mainstream in that sense, but also has anything and everything also, things Seattle just won't have.