Relocating from Atlanta to Chicago North Shore Suburbs (Evanston, Glenview: apartment, rent)

[larich]

Hello everyone! I have read through some threads and I'm confident about getting some good information here

I have lived most of life in Atlanta, but I recently started traveling every week to Chicago for the first time. I am contracted at a large company with HQ in Northfield. The plan is for me to be there for the next several months at least.

I am currently living in a very expensive intown area of Atlanta. Rent is around $1600 w/o utilities for a nice large one bedroom. I can walk to tons of trendy (expensive) restaurants, the Beltline trail and some shopping options. However, crime is on the rise with lots of break-ins and robberies in the immediate area, to the point where I don't leave anything in my car and don't feel safe walking alone at night. This is probably the hottest urban area of Atlanta at the moment, but I'm not sure if it's worth paying so much and still feeling unsafe.

So far I have been really impressed with the area around my hotel like Wilmette, Glenview and Evanston. I understand that these are suburbs but they seem much more similar to intown Atlanta. The Atlanta suburbs consist of miles of shopping centers and subdivisions spread very far apart with no transit.

I have checked on Craigslist & Zillow and it seems like I could get a pretty nice apartment in Evanston for around $1600 and it may even have 2 bedrooms and include some utilities. I have read about the area and it seems to be safe with good access to transit.

It would be fantastic to have beach/lake access as my SO is big into boating and wakeboarding. He is from Germany and I also like the fact that Chicago seems to be a little more European-ish or European-friendly than Atlanta.

What do you all think? Is this crazy or does it make sense? My main fear is the winter at this point, but at least my SO is a pro at dealing with German winters.

[chet everett]

In your situation this probably makes quite a bit of sense. Of course if your work assignment ends the relative ability to get a flight from Chicago is at least as good as from Atlanta and even from Evanston (which is frankly not convenient to O'Hare in terms of transit...) is STILL no worse than Atlanta.

Winter here can be very challenging, but so too is Atlanta's heat and humidity -- all in all pretty even weather trade-off in my book.

[larich]

Originally Posted by chet everett

In your situation this probably makes quite a bit of sense. Of course if your work assignment ends the relative ability to get a flight from Chicago is at least as good as from Atlanta and even from Evanston (which is frankly not convenient to O'Hare in terms of transit...) is STILL no worse than Atlanta.

Winter here can be very challenging, but so too is Atlanta's heat and humidity -- all in all pretty even weather trade-off in my book.

Yes that is my thought too. O'hare has good connections to everywhere we would potentially need to go (domestic US, Germany, etc.)

I did consult for two winters in Minneapolis and lived one year in Pittsburgh so I have some familiarity with the cold temps and snow. The weather in Atlanta has been weird the last couple of years, lots of rain and storms.

We both work in IT and it seems like there shouldn't be much trouble getting a job in the area.