Moving next year.. need advice! (Chicago, Lincoln: apartment, student loans, safe neighborhood)

[laf10]

I originally wanted to move to New York because I love the city. Prices have led me to look at Chicago because from what I've read, it has what I'm looking for in a city. I would be moving with my boyfriend and our small dog (25lbs). I am graduating in May 2009 with an English degree. I am interested in publishing, but would not be opposed to doing something else as long as I could get a decent salary. When looking at jobs in Chicago, what salary would be survivable? I'm not expecting to live great being fresh out of college, but I don't want to be starving either! Also, what neighborhoods would you suggest? We don't go out a lot, but we would like to be around somewhat younger people, and in a safe neighborhood, but we probably won't have a high budget. I would estimate around $800, preferably including utilities in that.

[aragx6]

Assuming you and your bf are both college educated, surviving in the city will be easy. As long as you have about 40k a year combined and you don't have massive debt you can live just fine (not luxuriously mind you)- and if you're both working you'll make far more than that easily.

If you have significant student loans or other debt, that will definitely play a factor in what you can afford.

800 utils included is a bit low in most of the desirable areas of the city. It can be done, but you'll be sacrificing ease of commute, amenities, apartment size and/or safety. You'll want to budget more like 900-1000 including utils to get something in the neighborhoods that are a. safest and b. have the most young people.

You'll want to look at the typical transplant neighborhoods of Wicker Park/Bucktown, Lakeview and Lincoln Park. There's loads of info on them in this thread: Read This First- ?'s About Neighborhoods Or Moving To Chicago (or FOOD!)? Read This Before Asking Your Questions!

[laf10]

I will have a degree, but he doesn't. We will not have any debt/loans/anything else to pay off. From what I've looked at on Craigslist and a few other sites, 800 doesn't seem too low, but I didn't know if those ads were legitimate or not. I know we really should visit Chicago before moving there, but if we can't, would you suggest subleting at first to look for an apartment, or would it be possible to find an apartment to move into within a few days if we did visit first?

[aragx6]

There are plenty of legitimate ads on Craigslist under 800, but many of them are in lousy neighborhoods.

You must come visit before you decide to make the move. I insist