Young Professional moving to Chicago! Please help (Elgin, Arlington Heights: sales, apartments)

[KBrookeJ]

Hello All,

I am relocating from Virginia for a position in Hanover Park. I am a 24 year old single female that is looking forward to this life change. I have a lot of family and a few friends already in Chicago. They have suggested that I look for housing in the Oak Park area because I will be close to the city and while it is a bit of a hike from Hanover Park there is the train alternative. Are there are any other areas that you would suggest that I take a look at? Hanover Park looks nice, but like I said I'm 24 and not really looking to be bored I want to be able to have the big city experience yet not kill myself trying to get to work each day. Please Help

Thanks (:

[chet everett]

I would give some thought to looking at towns in DuPage Co like Elmhurst, Villa Park, Lombard, Glen Ellyn or Wheaton. The reason is simple -- it is a royal PAIN to get to Hanover Park and the closer you are the the less painful it will be. Oak Park is MUCH FURTHER from Hanover Park than any other towns listed and honestly Oak Park does not have all that much going for it than the towns listed. They are are all on the UP-W line and assuming you have friends that you go out with on weekends it makes a lot of sense to consider living close to work in a town with a nice downtown. You can enjoy resturants and casual spots to hang out after work in most of the towns I suggested and some will be MUCH cheaper for newer apartment than Oak Park in addition to be a HUGE time savings day-to-day.

[KBrookeJ]

Thanks Chet,

I looked into those towns you suggested and while they look great they seem to have more of a small town family feel, not so much city like. Also, they are kinda far from the downtown chicago where most of my friends live and, where I will probably be going out on the weekends. How much of a royal pain are we talking lol and is the train not a good alternative? I am not dead set on Oak Park I have just lived in a small towns in VA my whole life they were far from major cities and I would like to experience city life and still have decent commute to work.

[knitgirl]

I think downtown Arlington Heights might work for you better than most other towns in the area. It's got a reasonably lively downtown for the suburbs. The commute wouldn't be great, but it wouldn't be awful. I use an app called Waze for directions and travel times (they also have a website). On Sunday morning, AH to HP is about 22 minutes (I did not enter addresses, so it would depend on exactly where you're coming from, going to.) It could double during rush hour. Oak Park to HP is about 32 minutes, again, could double during rush hour. To answer your question about the train, that's a reverse commute, so there are not as many trains going to HP in the morning, if you miss it, you'd be really late for work. It's not on the same train line as Oak Park, so you couldn't live there. I live on this train line. It's one of the slower Metra lines, and you'd have to get it on downtown at Union Station which would really add to your commute. There would be no point in living near Union Station.

[chet everett]

Arlington Heights is probably no easier a drive to Hanover Park than Oak Park in terms of typical rush hour travel times

It is utterly incorrect to assume that the many lovely towns of DuPage Co with a high percentage of residents relying on commuter trains to Chicago share any characteristics of small towns in rural Virginia. The relative ease of getting into Chicago both for occasional weeknight jaunts and more extended weekend adventures cannot be overstated

If the OP is unimpressed with the nightlife option available in towns close by Hanover Park I would suggest that they just endure the lengthy commute into Chicago. There is no subsitute for the variety of nightlife in places like Wicker Park. Of course having to endure probably about four hours of gouge-your-own-eyes-out levels of traffic congestion will likely whittle away at one's mental health and job performance, but hey you gotta do what your heart demands...

[4122]

You got only two choices, being near or in Chicago for nightlife, or being close to work. You can't have both if you're working in Hanover Park. I say just live in Oak Park. When you get older you can move closer to work. The commute isn't the best, but I've heard of worse. I used to have a 45 minute commute to work which is about the same distance as Oak Park to Hanover Park and the only affects it had on me was not being able to spend enough time with my kids, but you don't have kids so there's not much holding you back from the long commute.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by 4122

You got only two choices, being near or in Chicago for nightlife, or being close to work. You can't have both if you're working in Hanover Park. I say just live in Oak Park. When you get older you can move closer to work. The commute isn't the best, but I've heard of worse. I used to have a 45 minute commute to work which is about the same distance as Oak Park to Hanover Park and the only affects it had on me was not being able to spend enough time with my kids, but you don't have kids so there's not much holding you back from the long commute.

I agree that there are basically two options -- have a decent commute to work from a nice town in DuPage Co or have a miserable commute from Chicago itself but have lots of nightlife options.

Oak Park might make sense folks with a job in Downers Grove, Lisle, or Oak Brook, but it is will be well over 45 minutes most evenings from Hanover Park and there very likely are no real upsides in terms of nightlife.

If the OP wants easy access to nightlife they will need to endure a very lengthy commute.

[Lookout Kid]

I know someone who commutes to Hanover Park from Oak Park, and they complain about it regularly. Averages about 45 minutes, though. And I know someone who commutes to Hanover Park from Palatine, and they say it's not bad. They just take 53 to 290 to the Elgin O'Hare, and it's about a half hour. So Arlington Heights might not be too bad if you can get over to 53 easily.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by KBrookeJ

Hanover Park looks nice...

It's not.

There are certainly worse places and crime isn't too bad there, but Hanover Park will kill you with a lethal combination of sketchiness and blandness that is hard to match, with the possible exception of neighboring Streamwood.

[holl1ngsworth]

There's no reason to choose Oak Park in this situation. If you're willing to commit to such a winding, tortuous commute, you may as well tack on a little extra and live Wicker, Ukrainian, West Town, Fulton River or the West Loop. Oak Park is not a whole lot less family-orientated than Wheaton, and the extra commute and extra costs of renting there don't seem worth it...

Wheaton has 50,000+ residents, an active core and is just 20 mins south of Hanover Park. There are many young professionals in the upscale apartments lining Wheaton's downtown district doing exactly what Chet has recommended: living close to work and commuting to nightlife. In Wheaton you'd still have the ability to walk to things like the grocery store, restaurants, watering holes, a micro brewery, drama theatre, an improv group, an outdoor French market and much more, all while enjoying some hefty savings on your monthly rent. On top of that, everything from Cheetos and Red Bull to gym memberships and gas are cheaper out in DuPage, and we also enjoy a lower sales tax (8.25% vs 9.25%). Less overhead = more weekend fun and a brighter future...

Arlington Heights might work too, but the route is more zigzag; less direct.