Where to live in CHI??? (Chicago, Normal: apartment, home, safe area)

[BPEisME]

I'm a 22 year old college graduate who's being offered a job in Dolton, IL. I want a safe, affordable place to live without too long of a commute to work. I need a 2 bedroom apt, preferrably for under 900/mo. Any suggestions as to a safe area to look into? Or preferably an apartment building?

Thanks!

[emathias]

Originally Posted by BPEisME

I'm a 22 year old college graduate who's being offered a job in Dolton, IL. I want a safe, affordable place to live without too long of a commute to work. I need a 2 bedroom apt, preferrably for under 900/mo. Any suggestions as to a safe area to look into? Or preferably an apartment building?

Thanks!

Dolton is a south suburb. This is the Chicago city forum. While a few posters in this forum might be able to offer suggestions, most are mostly familiar with the City proper, and especially more central neighborhoods.

You need to both better define your criteria if you are seeking to live in the city and reverse commute to Dolton, and also probably move this to the Suburbs forum if you're not really wanting to live in the city. The most young-person-friendly parts of the city are pretty far from Dolton.

[chet everett]

Dolton is a depressed industrial area immeadiately outside the city limits due south. None of the surrounding areas have much to offer a college grad.

Pilsen is a nieghborhood south and a bit west of the Loop. I generally do not care for the mix of people but it would be conveneient to your work, has a growing base of resturants / nightspots and quite a few younger college grads. Too many of the newer residents are of the self-congratulatory type that like to proclaim their multi-cultural cred for living in an area with a predominantly Hispanic population and a large percentage of the Hispanic population seems very absorbed by a "separatist" streak that is enabled by the density of native language businesses...

The affordability has been, until recently, among the better deals close to the Loop. Now you might not be able to get quite as much as in years past before the area was as "hot" but my sense is that $900 ought to get a decent place. Parking is not as hectic as in other parts of Chicago and you will definately want to drive to Dolton from south of the Kennedy/Eisenhower/Dan Ryan interchange mess as having to traverse that daily would turn your 20 mile / 30 minute drive into something that may be only 5 miles longer but nearly double in travel time.

I might explore Bridgeport but frankly I think you will find the slightly further south location a detriment for a new comer to Chicago. The right out of college crowd is far and away a "Wrigley Field" crowd and being close to the Sox would not be a plus. The traditional Bridgeport resident is mostly family oriented and kind of isolated. Even the new construction in Bridgeport leans toward family sized places and prices are high.

[ChiNaan]

Both Pilsen and Bridgeport are decent neighborhoods where you can get what you're looking for in that price range, and both are great spots from which to commute to the south burbs if one wants to live in the city, because they're south of the worst of the downtown traffic, and near the Dan Ryan. Pilsen has a bit more of the young college-educated crowd, but Bridgeport's appears to be growing. (Besides spillover of artist-types from east Pilsen, Bridgeport also has some tech types due in part to being walking distance from IIT.)

Bridgeport is a slightly better location for the commute, particularly on evenings when northbound traffic is backed up at the Ryan/Stevenson interchange. That doesn't happen horribly often, but just often enough to be annoying. There's nothing like flying most of the way back from work only to be stuck a mile or two from home for 10-15 minutes. On those days I sometimes wish I lived in Bridgeport rather than Pilsen. Once I'm actually in Pilsen, though, I get over it quickly. It's a good place to be.

[marothisu]

define "long commute"? Dolton is a southern suburb. If you want to live in the city in a decent/coolish area then yes..Pilsen or Bridgeport but that's like a 20 mile commute either way.

Otherwise, I'd ask in the suburbs forum...

[Prost]

In my opinion, the Dan Ryan is really the only "true" reverse commute. In the morning, south-bound is very open, as well as the Bishop Ford, unless there's an accident. Coming home may have a bit of a jam around U.S. Cellular, but it's still not bad. I made that drive a lot. The key is to avoid the Kennedy, so that would limit your search to a neighborhood south of 290.

I lived in the South and West Loops, both of which would be out of your price range. Maybe Pilsen? Not sure what the rents are there.

[marothisu]

^ I agree with Prost. It is pretty wide open south of Bridgeport everyday. Pilsen you could get a 2 bedroom for $900/month I think. Not sure how many are available, but I know it's definitely possible. Same as Bridgeport.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Pilsen you could get a 2 bedroom for $900/month I think.

For sure-- a fairly nice decent-sized one, even. You could probably get a small dumpy one $600. Generally speaking the further east (closer to the expressway) you go, the less you get for your money, though.

Originally Posted by Prost

In my opinion, the Dan Ryan is really the only "true" reverse commute. In the morning, south-bound is very open, as well as the Bishop Ford, unless there's an accident. Coming home may have a bit of a jam around U.S. Cellular, but it's still not bad. I made that drive a lot. The key is to avoid the Kennedy, so that would limit your search to a neighborhood south of 290.

I still make it a lot, and I agree with all of that. Even the evening jams around White Sox are rare. Normally it doesn't jam up until you get to 22nd or so. The only times it has truly sucked for me are when Obama is in town. Oh, and one time when the Sox and Bears were both playing home games on the same Monday night. That's about it.