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Old 06-14-2012, 09:24 AM
 
1 posts, read 10,375 times
Reputation: 10

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I want to know all about it. I might move there in a few years because I want to be in a huge city, and someone very important to me lives there. I could possibly room with him together

There's some things I'm wondering about, though.

-what's the job economy like? What fields have more availability? Are there decent jobs even if you don't necessarily have a bachelor's degree or higher? (I'm planning to move from the SF bay area, one of the nerdiest areas in the us)
When I move, I'm hoping to have at least my associates done.


-what neighborhoods are relatively safe/affordable? If I lived with my friend there, I'd be looking at 1 bedroom apartments most likely. Also, how much would i need to make to live an average life, with one roommate?

Last thing. How cold are the winters? Lol. Coming from Cali, I don't think there was a single day all year where the high temp of the day was less than 50 F.
How many layers would I need, like 10? Haha


I feel like San Jose(the big city near where i live) is too spread out, and i don't like it much lol. It feels like one suburb that's too huge for its own good.( like a smaller version of L.A.) Good weather though.

Thank you.
I've heard so many good and bad things about Chicago, and I just need some clarification from the locals. :P
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Old 06-14-2012, 09:38 AM
 
Location: Uptown
1,520 posts, read 2,567,758 times
Reputation: 1236
it's colder, not having an education is a major handicap and it's much more urban than San Jose.
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Old 06-14-2012, 09:57 AM
 
Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan, NYC
15,331 posts, read 23,835,799 times
Reputation: 7419
Quote:
Originally Posted by nirvanarulez94 View Post
I want to know all about it. I might move there in a few years because I want to be in a huge city, and someone very important to me lives there. I could possibly room with him together

There's some things I'm wondering about, though.

-what's the job economy like? What fields have more availability? Are there decent jobs even if you don't necessarily have a bachelor's degree or higher? (I'm planning to move from the SF bay area, one of the nerdiest areas in the us)
When I move, I'm hoping to have at least my associates done.


-what neighborhoods are relatively safe/affordable? If I lived with my friend there, I'd be looking at 1 bedroom apartments most likely. Also, how much would i need to make to live an average life, with one roommate?

Last thing. How cold are the winters? Lol. Coming from Cali, I don't think there was a single day all year where the high temp of the day was less than 50 F.
How many layers would I need, like 10? Haha


I feel like San Jose(the big city near where i live) is too spread out, and i don't like it much lol. It feels like one suburb that's too huge for its own good.( like a smaller version of L.A.) Good weather though.

Thank you.
I've heard so many good and bad things about Chicago, and I just need some clarification from the locals. :P

The job market thing, there are a number of jobs available. Chicago is a very large city (for the US) and in certain industries there are jobs available. I am not in a position to speak as much as some other people, but it really depends on what industry you're in and what experience you have. I got a job in consulting in Chicago right after the economy went down hill, but it's not always like that. If you want the largest industries, one big one is in Finance. The largest options market in the world is in Chicago and there's five exchanges. There are many investment banks and financial institutions. There's also a lot of consulting (i.e. business, IT) with companies like Accenture and IBM. I'm sure someone else knows better about other areas. Marketing is another one, although I believe in marketing here, you need at least 1-2 years experience now before anyone hires you. I would say IT jobs can be strong here as well, just not as strong as the bay area of course. I would call Chicago mostly a "professional" city, so having an education can get you far. Obviously you don't need one to work everywhere and if you have worked in retail, there's many upscale or upscale-ish clothing stores that would hire you if you had the experience, or the "lower end" retail like a Target, Walgreens, etc. It's a big city so there's jobs at all types of levels here.


As far as your other questions..For safety, it's a big city so anything could happen to you anywhere, however, the areas geographically to stay away from are certain areas on the south side and on the west side. Not every area on the South Side is bad like Hyde Park, Bridgeport, Chinatown (for the most part), South Loop (if you consider that the south side), Kenwood. On the North Side, parts of the West side and Downtown is where most people would consider safest. Places like the Loop, West Loop, River North, Gold Coast, Streeterville, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Roscoe Village, Wicker Park, most of Ukrainian Village, some of Logan Square, Ravenswood, North Center, Lincoln Square, Irving Park, most of Uptown, Andersonville, Edgewater, Jefferson Park, etc.


As far as an "average life" goes, it depends on what you mean by "average." You can easily live comfortable in Chicago on less than 35,000-40,000. I know people who live comfortably on even less, because they live with a roommate or two in an area that's not expensive (i.e. $600/month for their room). You might not live downtown, but you can live on less than 30k/year in Chicago itself. Public transit here is good (8 train lines and easily over 100 bus lines). That means you don't have to own a car if you live in certain areas, which is good..

As far as the cold goes, since you are in the bay area, you aren't used to HOT HOT weather, but yes Chicago is much colder. I wouldn't call it terrible - there are many, many Indians, Pakistanis, south Asians, etc who have lived here for a long time who grew up in temps hotter than pretty much anything in the US and they're doing fine here. Average winter temps, probably in the 20s. Since Chicago is on a lake, the wind is what will get to you. It's not the windiest city in the US or even top 20 probably ("Windy City" comes from a political climate, not the wind technically), but it's still windy. You don't need 10 layers, but for the cold, if you have a jacket (i.e. a wool coat or North Face type of jacket, or a good leather jacket), gloves, 180s (like trendy ear muffs), and a scarf if you aren't use to the old...you'll be fine.



There are unsafe areas of Chicago, but honestly there's not much reason to go to them. Stay away from certain areas like most of Garfield Park, Englewood, Austin..many neighborhoods on the south side..and you'll be fine. It's safe in most areas other than those.
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Old 06-14-2012, 05:58 PM
 
Location: Bay Area
1,490 posts, read 2,671,166 times
Reputation: 792
Prepare for a much faster-paced life and everyone has far less patience.
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Old 06-15-2012, 01:58 AM
 
2,115 posts, read 5,401,589 times
Reputation: 1138
Well said. Chicago's not typical Midwest in that sense (the city), but at the same time it is the Midwest's flagship city and hub.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rparz View Post
Prepare for a much faster-paced life and everyone has far less patience.
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Old 06-15-2012, 03:21 AM
 
Location: Chicago
6,359 posts, read 8,792,944 times
Reputation: 5870
Chicago differs greatly from the Bay Area in that it centers on one big city; the Bay Area is broken down far more into subregions and it centers on three cities (SF, Oak, SJ).

I would say though that Chicago shares a lot in common with SF. There is probably no downtown in the nation in terms of its scope and offerings that is more like DT Chgo than is DT SF.

The two metro areas are about the same size for what that's worth.
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Old 06-15-2012, 10:47 AM
 
Location: Bay Area
1,490 posts, read 2,671,166 times
Reputation: 792
Everyone out here has no sense of ugency, walks slow, has no direction when they do things.

Either everyone is way laid back here, or smokes a lot of pot. (that I smell every day in the streets)


I never thought of myself as an aggressive guy in Chicago, but out here I find myself cutting in front of lines, walking around whatever. If it's your turn GO! Don't stand there like an idiot while people are waiting!
These are things you normally do in Chicago just to survive. We don't put up with people who dilly-dally.

The airports were the biggest change for me. I walked around in the airport out here, and people were walking so slow they could have stopped, looking around into space, whatever. Get off the plane at ORD, and I feel comfort in the fact that I'm surrounded by people who all know the drill, and have the brisk paced walk that we need to get where we're going. Not being *******s, just not getting in other people's way.

I walk down the street here and constantly walk around people and cross through lights. (Yeah, the sign says don't walk, but it's a one-way and no cars for blocks)
These people would be eaten alive on Madison/Lasalle any time during the week.
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Old 06-15-2012, 10:54 AM
 
11,289 posts, read 26,123,861 times
Reputation: 11354
^ that drives me crazy in smaller/less urban areas! People who walk SO slow that I swear to god they're just going to grind to a half and be standing there. It's crazy. I think a lot of it is people who don't walk for a living, going places or to the store, work, etc. There's no urgency or drive to make them walk quickly to accomplish something. Tourists in Chicago will be walking side by side down the sidewalk at rush hour and then just slow to a crawl and finally a stop as they stand there staring off into space. Then they get put off when you slam by them actually trying to go somewhere. "That was rude!". Yes, it's also rude when you drive down the highway and just stop in your lane for no reason at all.
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Old 06-15-2012, 11:01 AM
 
Location: Bay Area
1,490 posts, read 2,671,166 times
Reputation: 792
THANK YOU! I was beginning to think it was just me.

I think the people out here like standing in lines and waiting for anything.
Nobody seems to try to make anything more efficient, and even sadder is the people in line don't mind that the people that are servicing them just all disappear whatever, and nothing is getting done.
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Old 06-15-2012, 11:35 AM
 
14,801 posts, read 17,620,703 times
Reputation: 9246
One of the most irritating things about the Bay area to me is all the food talk. They seem to think the Bay Area is the only place that has good local food.
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