Hey Yall (Chicago: apartment, condo, mortgage)

[Tec123]

I've been thinking about moving to Chicago later on. Right now I'm planning on going to a 5 year commercial electrician training school. In chicago I'll be making at least $60,000, but would most likely be making more, since I'll be specializing in commercial electrician. Now how hard would it be to live in chicago with that kind of salary? What kind of condo/apartment will I be able to afford? $350,000+ maybe? How is Chicago in general? Some say it's a real industrial, muggy city, from what I see in pictures and read up on, it doesnt really fit that. I want to visit there soon. I live in San Antonio now. Sick of it. Cost of living is starting to go up, and you dont make any money over here.

[Drover]

You won't see many pictures of Chicago as a muggy, industrial city because that's not the part that sells the city to tourists and potential new residents. It's true that Chicago has a lot of high-falutin' urban sophistication and what-not, but much of the city is old, gritty, industrial; namely the southwest side. If you do visit our city, fly into Midway airport, take the Orange Line L train through the southwest side into downtown and you'll see what I'm talking about. You can see part of what I'm talking about in
this video taken from the Orange Line, particularly starting at the 3-minute mark. (It's truly amazing the esoteric crap you can find on YouTube...)

60 grand is plenty to live on here if you're single, but might be a little tight if you're raising a family. Plenty of people do it with less though.

[ParkerP]

No way should you try to purchase a 350K+ property when you're only making 60K. Unless, you have a heck of a down payment from a previously owned property or savings, definitely look for something way cheaper. You want to be able to eat after you make your mortgage payment. I agree with Drover though, 60K should allow you to live very comfortable if you are single.

[Chicago60614]

Chicago has the rep. still of being an old blue collar industrial city. That was its base, but in the past few decades it's really grown much more as a business and global city, and declined as an industrial city. It's still a VERY industrial city - but it's also around 240 square miles. There's a lot of variety. The areas growing the fastest in the city are def. white collar nice areas, clean, lots of city beautification.

Downtown is obviously very beautiful, business, tourists, etc. The north side is also quite rich and white collar. The industrial areas are more on the southwest and south sides of the city, with more run down areas to the west and the south.

This city is DEFINITELY a city of neighborhoods. It's basically 75 little towns mashed together. I've lived here for 6 years, and basically have a natural boundry that's developed as far as where I live my life. I couldn't tell you anything about the west or south sides, it's so far from the "Chicago" I live in, and I don't have a reason to go there.

[Steve-o]

As Drover stated, parts of the city are very industrial and gritty, as there are many parts that are spotless and high-tech, all depends on the area. And if youve lived in San Antonio, Chicago will be a lovely break for you in the summer. It can get warm and muggy on occasion, but it doesnt stick around very long. Winters here will be much colder than San Antonio, but if you take advantage of them and can easily cope with them, youll absolutely love it here.

[Peachie]

As a Texan who recently moved here from Austin...if you think the COL is high in San Antonio (I grew up there and my parents still live there)...you're in for a big shock up here.