Young family moving to Chicago - best suburb to commute to UIC medical district? (Oak Park: apartments, rentals)

[Primary]

My husband, myself and our two young kids (3.5 and almost 1) are moving to Chicago! I will need to commute daily to the UIC medical campus. My main concern is safety of my kids and second would be schools. My daughter will start kindergarten and first grade while we are living here. I would prefer to live in a suburb but I need a pretty easy commute to the campus. I have to be within 25-30 minutes of campus after hours for call. I would use public transportation daily, but after hours call I will drive.

We are mainly looking to rent but would not be opposed to buying if we could get more for our money. 2-3 bedrooms (preferably 3, but we can make due) we don't want to spend more than 2200 a month and that is top of the budget.

Any suggestions?

[oakparkdude]

Oak Park is your top choice. After that maybe Riverside, Brookfield, and Lagrange. Public transit to the medical campus will be somewhat difficult from every suburb except Oak Park.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

Oak Park is your top choice. After that maybe Riverside, Brookfield, and Lagrange. Public transit to the medical campus will be somewhat difficult from every suburb except Oak Park.

Oak Park does seem ideal for your situation, or possibly River Forest if you prefer it and can afford the price premium. Riverside, Brookfield, and La Grange are other good options.

So yes, I'm basically repeating oakparkdude's post with the exception of adding River Forest, which may not even fit within your budget.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Oak Park does seem ideal for your situation, or possibly River Forest if you prefer it and can afford the price premium. Riverside, Brookfield, and La Grange are other good options.

So yes, I'm basically repeating oakparkdude's post with the exception of adding River Forest, which may not even fit within your budget.

River Forest is also an option, but you'll want to stay in the south part of River Forest so the commute to the Blue line station is not too burdensome. In Oak Park, you can literally get an apartment within 100 feet of the station, whereas the southern boundary of River Forest is at least a few blocks away. Also, fyi I don't believe that southern portion of River Forest has very many apartments.

[Lookout Kid]

I will also point out that all of these suburbs range from somewhat affluent to very affluent, with the exception of Brookfield, which is more middle class to working class. So rents will be quite high in all of them except Brookfield.

Oak Park does have a lot of rental housing, but cheap rentals in Oak Park could be something you'd want to avoid.

[agallan]

If you're set on taking public transportation, you definitely want to be on Blue line as others mentioned. That means basically Oak Park (expensive but can probably find something in budget), River Forest (very affluent, likely won't find what you're looking for in budget), or Forest Park (cheaper but schools aren't good). The metra system - which would open up suburbs like Riverside, Brookfield (where I live), and La Grange - will not bring you directly to the medical district. It sounds like you will be starting either your residency or fellowship this spring. As a resident myself, I would say that you may want to consider driving each day from a nearby suburb instead of taking the Blue line. I don't know how your program works, but if you routinely are staying later into the night you may not want to take the Blue line home which can get a little bit sketchy. I guess if you have a good night-float system that gets you out consistently early than that won't be a problem. And depending on your field, you might be starting early in the morning before traffic starts so your driving commute would be a breeze from Oak Park, Riverside, Brookfield, etc. I'm at UofC but I did a month rotation in the medical district and during a non-rush hour commute home it took me literally 13 minutes to get home to Brookfield.

Oh, and if you think you will be here for only 3 or so years I would avoid buying unless you really want a single family home (and even then, you shouldn't think of it as an investment you will make money on necessarily).

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

River Forest is also an option, but you'll want to stay in the south part of River Forest so the commute to the Blue line station is not too burdensome. In Oak Park, you can literally get an apartment within 100 feet of the station, whereas the southern boundary of River Forest is at least a few blocks away. Also, fyi I don't believe that southern portion of River Forest has very many apartments.

I think there's plenty of decent (not luxury) housing in Oak Park for under 2k. I've seen reasonable vintage 2 bedrooms for $1200-1500, so you can probably get a 3 bedroom within budget. They'll be older (pre-WW2) buildings with no central air or in unit laundry (but probably in basement), but they won't be rat-infested dumps.

[mlh27]

To give you an idea, this landlord manages some nice vintage properties in Oak Park:


Oak Park Apartments | Find your new home today!


Edited to add - 3 bed apartments in Oak Park are usually pretty expensive because they're in short supply.

[sfcambridge]

Oak Park.

If you are lucky, you might even find a decent little house.

https://www.padmapper.com/listings/1...k-IL-60304-in-

This is convenient for either jumping on the expressway to drive to UIC, or walking a few blocks to the Blue line train that takes you straight to UIC.

Here's a couple more...

https://www.padmapper.com/listings/1...k-IL-60304-in-

https://www.padmapper.com/listings/1...k-IL-60304-in-

[Primary]

Thank you everyone! I have been looking at all of these options. We will probably come to Chicago to look around within the next month. How far in advance can we lease something? If we need a place June 1 is that adequate timing or are we looking too soon?