Apartment in Suburb for Student? (Chicago, Naperville: apartments, rental, low crime)

[floridafemme]

I am moving from small town Florida to Chicago soon to go to school. A lot of these threads focus on homes in suburbs, but I am interested in finding a rental apartment in the suburbs that I can commute to UChicago. Any advice as to what suburbs have apartments/ town homes ($1000-$1500/month for 2 bdrm) and how long it will take for me to commute to school, either by train or car? I am looking for a safe area with a sense of community but no need for a great school system etc. and the shorter the commute time the better. I have never been to Chicago so any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help!

[Steve-o]

Id recommend Naperville. There are some apartments that are literally right next door to the Metra stations that'll whisk you to downtown in less than an hour. If thats too long, let me know. If not, I can recommend you look at 5th Avenue Station, Railway Plaza or Bristol Station.

[floridafemme]

Less than 1/2 hour is great! Thank you, I will check out those apartments.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by floridafemme

I am moving from small town Florida to Chicago soon to go to school. A lot of these threads focus on homes in suburbs, but I am interested in finding a rental apartment in the suburbs that I can commute to UChicago. Any advice as to what suburbs have apartments/ town homes ($1000-$1500/month for 2 bdrm) and how long it will take for me to commute to school, either by train or car? I am looking for a safe area with a sense of community but no need for a great school system etc. and the shorter the commute time the better. I have never been to Chicago so any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help!

Berwyn, Oak Park, Forest Park and even Riverside (believe it or not) all have apartment buildings right by train lines (Metra and L) which would get you to the Loop in 15-20 minutes. $1,000 would probably get you a 2-bedroom in Berwyn. $1,500 would definitely do it for any of the four. The area has many amenities. Forest Park's Madison St., for example, has an abundance of fun bars and restaurants.

[floridafemme]

Thank you so much for the advice. Another thing I wanted to mention is that I have a dog, so having green space/ parks in addition to being near transportation would be nice- I don't know if those two desires are incompatible..

[ahava]

Originally Posted by floridafemme

Thank you so much for the advice. Another thing I wanted to mention is that I have a dog, so having green space/ parks in addition to being near transportation would be nice- I don't know if those two desires are incompatible..

Riverside would be perfect. Tons of green space and forest preserves nearby.

[freshmtt]

NO offense to Steve-O but Naperville is way too far away for you to be commuting to University of Chicago... The metra station from the Naperville area only goes downtown, then you have to get from Downtown to Hyde Park with another train or bus, that is much too long of a commute.

If you want a safe neighborhood to commute easily to Hyde Park, look into Flossmoor or Homewood. There are plenty of apartments in both suburbs and our Metra train line, the Metra Electric line goes right through Hyde Park, right by the University and makes several stops all day long in Hyde Park.

I live in Homewood, and my train ride every morning downtown is 35 minutes. We stop every morning in Hyde Park to let off passengers. Homewood and Flossmoor are great communities with very low crime rates. Flossmoor has some very nice apartments in an old fashioned downtown area that is right by the Metra Train station.

You can easily find an apt. in your price range in either Homewood or Flossmoor.

I would NOT get a place in Hyde Park, the area is rough and there was a big news story recently of the African Immigrant Amadou Cisse that was shot and killed right in the University of Chicago streets. Hyde Park borders Woodlawn a very poor neighborhood. There is a lot of crime, and drugs and gangs in that area. You are better off living in the suburbs and commuting.

By the way, the Metra Electric train line that goes right through Hyde Park is the ONLY Metra suburban train line that does this. All the other Metra train lines that come in from the Northern and Western suburbs go only into the Downtown area and then you would have to get from Downtown to Hyde Park, which only makes your commute longer and more expensive.

Homewood and Flossmoor are very dog friendly suburbs.

So far all of the people that have posted about places for you to go are not realizing or not mentioning the fact that commutes from the suburbs that they mentioned only go into downtown. Like I said, your commute would be longer and more expensive if you moved to the Northern or Western Suburbs. Getting you downtown is not getting you into Hyde Park where the University is. It is on the south side of the city and any train from the other suburbs will only bring you downtown, no farther than that.

Along the Metra Electric train line that goes right through Hyde Park and the University of Chicago, Homewood and Flossmoor are about the best areas to live in in regards to crime rates.

[floridafemme]

Thanks! I don't think I fully understood the transportations sys in Chicago yet- but I would very much prefer to take only one train. One of my my friends knew that graduate student from Senegal and after I heard about that I decided suburbs were the way to go. I don't understand how so many of the UChicago students/faculty are comfortable living in Hyde Park.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by freshmtt

NO offense to Steve-O but Naperville is way too far away for you to be commuting to University of Chicago...

Thats why I asked if that was too far for her.

[skyeINIL]

Actually, University Park and Richton Park (both right on the Metra Electric line) have lower crime rates than Homewood. I would suggest Flossmoor.