Relocating from Toronto, Ontario to Schaumburg, Illinois (Chicago, Barrington: rentals, health insurance)

[walallypo]

I'll move to Schaumburg next year on a company sponsorship. I currently live in Toronto Canada and need some assistance regarding the following:

Best place to live on a 90K salary for a family of 4 (two kids and wife)
Best school districts
Cost of living comparison between Schaumburg ( or Chicago suburbs)and Toronto
Day care cost
rental cost
public transportation cost


Thank everyone in advance for your assistance.

-Walla

[lincolnparker]

Best place to live on a 90K salary for a family of 4 (two kids and wife)---Tough to live on 90k for 4. check out village green if u want to rent.
Best school districts---definitely has to be barrington, but for that you either have to live in Barrington or Hoffman, both are next to Schaumburg

Cost of living comparison between Schaumburg ( or Chicago suburbs)and Toronto---I'd say similiar

Day care cost---$2000 a month for two is a fair estimate
rental cost---for family of 4, I'd imagine you need at least a 3 bedroom place? if so, the average rent for a decent 3 bedroom townhome is around $1800 or $2000 a month. Short-term rentals typically go for $100 a day or $3000 a month.
public transportation cost---good luck. If you want to live in the burb, I'd say forget about public transportation. The only exception is if u go to the city and need to take the metra, which is about $8 one way from schmg to the city

Originally Posted by walallypo

I'll move to Schaumburg next year on a company sponsorship. I currently live in Toronto Canada and need some assistance regarding the following:

Best place to live on a 90K salary for a family of 4 (two kids and wife)
Best school districts
Cost of living comparison between Schaumburg ( or Chicago suburbs)and Toronto
Day care cost
rental cost
public transportation cost


Thank everyone in advance for your assistance.

-Walla

[walallypo]

Originally Posted by lincolnparker

Best place to live on a 90K salary for a family of 4 (two kids and wife)---Tough to live on 90k for 4. check out village green if u want to rent.

Day care cost---$2000 a month for two is a fair estimate
to the city

Thank you for the quick reply.

I guess I'll be living on a very tight budget after all expenses (Rent, Day care, car, insurance, groceries). WIll most likely need a second income.


-Walla

[chet everett]

I am sure that MANY people live the area an far less than $90K a year. Day care is certainly available for less than $200/wk , I know several coworkers paying that amount for infants.

The highest rated schools districts are generally in areas with the most expensive homes. The cost a rental home might be around $3000/mo in the more desirable areas, but there are certainly places available for far less than that.

Schaumburg is not well served by public transit -- it is a VERY car centric area.

[walallypo]

Not sure what my income would be like after taxes. I know the state tax is in the 3% range. Do you know the federal tax %?

Walla

[lincolnparker]

A 90k income will probably net you around $2k every two weeks, after federal tax, state tax, medicare, social security, 401k, health insurance, dental etc. And state income tax is going up to 4.5% from 3% next year.

And with your income, if you dont have a lot to deduct (student loans, mortgage payments, dependents, medical expenses, legal fees, moving costs, etc etc) to reach a much lower AGI, you're looking at 30% fed tax rate. So assuming you get biweekly pay, 90k (divided by 26) translates into $3460 before any expenses. Dependig on the coverage you need, you are looking at $200 to $300 per pay check for medical/dental for family of 4. let's take the midpoint, now you have $3210 left. Then add 30%fed+4.5%state+6%(401k)+7.65%(medicare and social security combo)=48.15% so your net take home pay is only $1664 =3210*(1-48.15%).

Assuming you dont want to participate in 401k, you are taking home just over $1800.

Originally Posted by walallypo

Not sure what my income would be like after taxes. I know the state tax is in the 3% range. Do you know the federal tax %?

Walla

[lincolnparker]

To attend a certain school, you have to live in that school district. The best rated school district around Schaumburg is Barrington School District, and Barrington is an expensive place to live. And yes, to live in Barrington, you would have to pay $3000 for a 3 bedroom townhome or the like, to chet everett's point. I know certain parts of Hoffman also belong to Barrington School District, and it is relatively cheaper to live in Hoffman, but still expect to fork over $2000 for rent. Add to that, Chicagoland has the nation's highest gas price because of extensive taxation.

Originally Posted by chet everett

I am sure that MANY people live the area an far less than $90K a year. Day care is certainly available for less than $200/wk , I know several coworkers paying that amount for infants.

The highest rated schools districts are generally in areas with the most expensive homes. The cost a rental home might be around $3000/mo in the more desirable areas, but there are certainly places available for far less than that.

Schaumburg is not well served by public transit -- it is a VERY car centric area.

[walallypo]

After weighing in some of the resposes I got. It is certain that I would need more than 90K to live in a better school district area. I thought it would be an easy transition but it seems that there is little to gain giving the cost factor.

Thanks you all

-Walla

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by walallypo

...I know the state tax is in the 3% range....

The state income tax is probably going to go A LOT up very very soon.

[walallypo]

Not encouraging at all. at the end of the day one ends up paying close to 25% in taxes. Not much difference with Canada after all.

Walla