What's a good income to live in Chicago? (Oak Park, Montgomery: condo, credit card)

[hindukid]

Cost of living in Chicago is way lower than DC. Its probably more in line with Baltimore of Philly.

[BMORE]

Seriously? That's great! Baltimore is dirt cheap but our taxes are ridiculous (I believe we have the highest taxes of any major north east city if I'm not mistaken), so that gives me a little relief.

[hindukid]

According to US Census Bureau cost of living index between Chicago and several east coast cities:

Chicago-116.9
Baltimore-119.4
Philly-126.5
Newark-129.7
Boston-132.5
DC-140.1
Queens-159.0
Brooklyn-181.7
Manhattan-216.7

[Plzeň]

Originally Posted by Midwest Revival

So..Do you think I'd be able to make it on 35,000 to 45?

$45K, yes, especially if you don't have a car or large student loan payment.

$35K, more difficult, but plenty of people do it. At $35K you'd probably want to get a roommate and might not be able to go out very often.

Originally Posted by BMOREBOY

And when you say south, do you mean the notorious south side Chicago? If I grew in Chicago maybe that wouldn't be too bad because I'm migrating there, I will avoid rough areas at all cost.

It's not that simple. There are nice areas on the South Side, including some of the ones he mentioned. Hyde Park, in particular, is nicer than many north side neighborhoods.

[BMORE]

I completed a tad bit of research on Hyde Park and it does seem to be pretty desirable, and I must say attractive to me. But I haven't researched the avg cost of rent yet so most likely I'll be posting tomorrow a list of condominiums, town homes, apartments, etc that seem desirable for me, and if any of you don't mind, I would like to know info on the area.

[Chicago60614]

I don't have school debt, I don't own a car and I don't have credit card debt. I make $72K a year and feel like I'm doing very well. If you have your financial house in order to a healthy degree, $75K in Chicago will give you a ton of opportunities.

[BNboy07]

Considering that the average U.S. household income is less than $50,000, I'd say $75k is well beyond "decent" for anyone, let alone a young, single person.

If you really make that right out of school, great, congrats to you, but jobs in architecture aren't exactly easy to come by these days. I know a handful of engineers. Seems like they start out more in the 40-50k range.

That said, your options are wide open so long as you're reasonable. Hyde Park is a cool, interesting area (I live there), but it is surrounded on all sides (except the Lake) by rough, rough neighborhoods. It's definitely something of an island, so keep that in mind. I'm sure you could find a pretty nice place for $1,000-1,200 though.

[ChiGuy2.5]

Originally Posted by Midwest Revival

So..Do you think I'd be able to make it on 35,000 to 45?

My roommate lives on 35K, but he has 0 debts. We also live in a very cheap place with a lot of roommates (6 total bedrooms/6 roommates). He is also one of the cheapest people I know. Basically it CAN be done, but most people would find it quite hard to live off of. I used to only make 40K but I had roommates and NO car. If you are looking to have a car, you need to make at least 42K I would say, to live comfortably in Chicago.

Originally Posted by BMOREBOY

I'm not familiar with most of the names of neighborhoods there but I've probably been to them. Could any of you eloborate on Hyde Park in regards of how the rent is? I want a 1-2 bedroom, one bath apartment/condominium and if I'm making $75k a year I wouldn't mind paying $1,200-1,400 per month for a decent pad that isn't far from a major transit line. And most likely I will still have a car because when my mother visits me I do not want us riding on public transit, but I don't plan on driving it much.

And when you say south, do you mean the notorious south side Chicago? If I grew in Chicago maybe that wouldn't be too bad because I'm migrating there, I will avoid rough areas at all cost.

Hyde park isn't very close to any of the L stations. If your looking to utilize public trans often I wouldn't choose to live in Hyde park. With a budget of $1,200-$1,400 you have your options open. You can find anywhere from a studio in River North to a 2 bedroom in rogers park. I would recommend you check out places like Wicker Park, River North, Lincoln Park, Bucktown, Logan Square, Gold Coast, or Uptown. Depending on what you like, we can suggest more or narrow it down for you.

Do you want to be close to the beach/lakefront? How old are you? Do prefer "high rise" living (in building security, fitness center, pool maybe)? Do you want to be close to the bar scene? About how far from the L are you willing to go? Etc.

[hindukid]

Also not sure why you want to live in Hyde park. Its way too isolated from rest of the city due to lack of el trains. Plus most social life is on the north side and you are constantly far from it.

IMO, only reasons to live in hyde park are you work there or south suburbs or Indiana. If I worked downtown or north side I would never live there.

[BMORE]

Originally Posted by ChiGuy2.5

My roommate lives on 35K, but he has 0 debts. We also live in a very cheap place with a lot of roommates (6 total bedrooms/6 roommates). He is also one of the cheapest people I know. Basically it CAN be done, but most people would find it quite hard to live off of. I used to only make 40K but I had roommates and NO car. If you are looking to have a car, you need to make at least 42K I would say, to live comfortably in Chicago.




Hyde park isn't very close to any of the L stations. If your looking to utilize public trans often I wouldn't choose to live in Hyde park. With a budget of $1,200-$1,400 you have your options open. You can find anywhere from a studio in River North to a 2 bedroom in rogers park. I would recommend you check out places like Wicker Park, River North, Lincoln Park, Bucktown, Logan Square, Gold Coast, or Uptown. Depending on what you like, we can suggest more or narrow it down for you.

Do you want to be close to the beach/lakefront? How old are you? Do prefer "high rise" living (in building security, fitness center, pool maybe)? Do you want to be close to the bar scene? About how far from the L are you willing to go? Etc.

Thank you for the informative post. To answer your questions, I would kill for lakefront property in Chicago and if it's within my budget it will be my top choice. With that said, I would want to live in a high-rise that's not necessarily in the middle of the action but not far from it. I'm in my early twenties so I'll be willing to bike to the nearest L station if necessary (although I prefer it to be in walking distance meaning a few blocks).

For the most part I'm not too picky, I just need to be close to a L station.

SN: I was on YouTube earlier today looking at videos of Chicago and I saw these town homes that were on top of a garage:



Can anyone tell me the name of these? I would imagine they cost a arm and a leg.

Also in regards to Hyde Park, I dont know much about neighborhood so I didn't know if was isolated or not, I just saw that neighborhood appeared pretty attractive.