District Manager Job Offer (Chicago, Naperville: sales, lease, crime)

[greasycheeseburgers]

I have a job offer as a district manager, and will be overseeing locations in in the following cities - Burbank, Lombard, Naperville, Niles, Overland Park, Schaumburg, Springfield and Vernon Hills. Looking at a map these look like suburbs? I am 26, no kids and would like to live in a trendy, hip, safe affordable area - is there such a thing?

[mstengle]

Niles is closest thing out of your group - IMO. It is the closest to the city proper and what you are looking for. The others are truly suburbs.

[sgresident]

locations are pretty spread out. If you chose to live in schaumburg, you could have quick access to 355 South to get to Lombard and Naperville.

[Manigault]

Springfield and Vernon Hills? I hope you like books on tape! Remember to factor in weather problems like tornados, rain storms and snow on I-55. Also, there are cell phone dead zones on I-55 so don't expect to talk the whole way.

[chet everett]

You sure that is not Orland Park? Overland Park is in Kansas???

Is this some kind retail / restaurant /hotel type corporation? If so then I guess you'd be working out of home and just driving to each location on a regular basis, living in the City of Chicago might be best. If you had to pick a "home office" all the locations are about 25-40 minutes from each other, except for Springfield which probably about 3 hours from Orland Park: from: Orland Park,Il to: Springfield, IL - Google Maps

[Chummy Waters]

Hmmmm, some of these words just don't go together, "trendy, hip, safe affordable area"
Short answer... No.
Long answer, all of those together are a really hard find in the burbs'. You might as well live in Chicago, since you're going to be in the car all the time anyway.
Good luck!

[Mister Mappy]

None of those suburbs are trendy, or hip. Niles may be close to the city but it's as dull as dishwater. Springfield is downstate. As others have said, you'd be best off in Chicago proper.

[OakBrookMom]

Assuming you choose Chicago which I also strongly urge since your territory is all over the area, I would try to live close to the Expressways in an area like Bucktown since you will have quite a hike to many of your destinations and because it can take quite a while to get through traffic in the city so you don't want to be frustrated 20 minutes into your morning commute. No area of the city or suburbs is without crime although I do think you need to be more vigilant in the city. The affordability factor may ultimately make your decision for you. So if you do decide to try suburban life, choose a suburb close to I-355 as that is probably your best bet for the fastest commute overall. Schaumburg wouldn't be a bad choice nor would downtown Arlington Heights. I sure hope you get compensated for mileage or get a company paid car lease because you are going to kill your car driving all those miles. Good Luck !!

[cubssoxfan]

I live in Arlington Heights. Going south in the morning and back north in the afternoon on 294 and 355/290 is far easier than the opposite. There is a definite suburban traffic pattern on these 2 north-South highways. Traffic into and out of the city is quite heavy both morning and afternoon. If you cover your suburban locations living inside the city be ready to add 1 to 1.5 hours per day to your travel times. I had a west suburban sales territory and lived in North Park neighborhood and traffic sucked!. It became a lot easier to deal with when I moved to Skokie. Chicago arterial streets run slower than most suburban arterial streets. More room to build roads with more lanes. Not to say there aren't bottlenecks in the suburbs. There are, but I find city worse to get around in. Then you have to make sure you find a place with off-street parking. In the city that can be a hassle and/or it costs you extra. Yah the city is better for walkable things to do, but has inconveniences with driving into and out of the suburbs on a daily basis.