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My husband and I are thinking of a move to Chicago from Raleigh and, after doing some research and reading other posts about the good, the bad the ugly and the really ugly I have some questions. I would love to hear your thoughts, whatever they are. Apologies in advance for the long post.
We are 40 and have a 2.5 yo and a a brand newborn. I am from Madrid, Spain and he is from Durham, NC. I’m a civil engineer (MS) with 2 yrs of experience doing land development (stormwater, grading, erosion control, etc) and he does video production for a major university (educational and promotional videos).
Although Raleigh is consistently ranked as one of the best places to live, to me it is too small, WAAAAAAYYYY too suburban and too conservative. Plus, I hate the extreme hot weather for 5-6 months.
We are looking for urban or semi-urban feel, affordability and decent schools.. aren't we all?
From what I've read Evanston and Oak Park might be our best options. I am truly looking for an area where I can walk to basic necessities - park, groceries, maybe even school!. Life here is 99.99% car dependent. If I can do 50% without a car I'd be happy. I don't mind living in a condo at all. My husband would rather live in a house but willing to go condo (no yard work!!).
Our budget is around 400 k... that is with our current salaries and the crazy property taxes. Anybody knows if salaries are really higher up north or not really that much? I know this is a wildly hard thing to measure but maybe someone has some insight.
Any other areas we should explore that would meet our criteria? The more urban the better for me. Great, or at least decent public transportation choices are a must.
Private school is NOT an option.. unless our salaries would at least double....
Anyone can also explain how the school system works? I've read something about catchment areas and something about "... placement". Now that I had finally somewhat figured the school system here I gotta start all over :-D.
Are there any public Spanish immersion or bilingual schools?
What's the job market like? stagnant? growing? ..thoughts?
The other options we are considering are Philly and maybe Portland, OR or Minneapolis. I feel these last two would confine us to suburban life almost as much as Raleigh....and mamma needs her big city every once in a while :-D.
Weird . My cousin left Chicago and went to Raleigh to get out of Illinois lol.
Have you even been to Chicago ? It’s a great city but there’s a reason Illinois has lost its population 6 years in a row . High taxation , stale home prices , high property taxes , high state income tax and a possible progressive tax coming .
You won’t have a problem with Spanish speaking schools. There’s a huge Hispanic community as well as illegal population in the city .
I suggest you hop and a plane and stay in the area you want to live . Take the transit systems and see if it works . Also visit in winter .
My husband and I are thinking of a move to Chicago from Raleigh and, after doing some research and reading other posts about the good, the bad the ugly and the really ugly I have some questions. I would love to hear your thoughts, whatever they are. Apologies in advance for the long post.
We are 40 and have a 2.5 yo and a a brand newborn. I am from Madrid, Spain and he is from Durham, NC. I’m a civil engineer (MS) with 2 yrs of experience doing land development (stormwater, grading, erosion control, etc) and he does video production for a major university (educational and promotional videos).
Although Raleigh is consistently ranked as one of the best places to live, to me it is too small, WAAAAAAYYYY too suburban and too conservative. Plus, I hate the extreme hot weather for 5-6 months.
We are looking for urban or semi-urban feel, affordability and decent schools.. aren't we all?
From what I've read Evanston and Oak Park might be our best options. I am truly looking for an area where I can walk to basic necessities - park, groceries, maybe even school!. Life here is 99.99% car dependent. If I can do 50% without a car I'd be happy. I don't mind living in a condo at all. My husband would rather live in a house but willing to go condo (no yard work!!).
Our budget is around 400 k... that is with our current salaries and the crazy property taxes. Anybody knows if salaries are really higher up north or not really that much? I know this is a wildly hard thing to measure but maybe someone has some insight.
Any other areas we should explore that would meet our criteria? The more urban the better for me. Great, or at least decent public transportation choices are a must.
Private school is NOT an option.. unless our salaries would at least double....
Anyone can also explain how the school system works? I've read something about catchment areas and something about "... placement". Now that I had finally somewhat figured the school system here I gotta start all over :-D.
Are there any public Spanish immersion or bilingual schools?
What's the job market like? stagnant? growing? ..thoughts?
The other options we are considering are Philly and maybe Portland, OR or Minneapolis. I feel these last two would confine us to suburban life almost as much as Raleigh....and mamma needs her big city every once in a while :-D.
Thanks a lot in advance!!!
Evanston and Oak Park seem like good fits, but Evanston is a stretch for a single-family house at $400k. However, a condominium or co-op with parking should be doable at that price point. Oakton Elementary School has a two-way Spanish/English immersion program. Oakton is in the south-central part of Evanston. It has a mix of older condos, bungalows, and 50s ranch and split-level homes.
Job market here is robust and booming. I recruit for a living (IT sector), and there are more jobs than people to fill them. Other sectors much the same.
In terms of your wants---Maybe look at a chill family-friendly area in the city like Lincoln Square or Andersonville? Bustling areas with plenty to do. Lincoln Square in particular has lots of families. Not sure about housing costs up that way, but I'd imagine a condo being doable on your budget. Oak Park and Evanston both might fit what you want--neither are cheap however.
Last edited by raleightransplant; 01-16-2020 at 11:17 AM..
I'm not sure what the job market would be like for someone in your husband's profession, but for you I would consider looking into a conversation with a local Chicago recruiter or someone that might have an understanding of salaries for someone in engineering.
Are you saying that $400k is your budget based on your current salaries in Raleigh?
Property taxes in Oak Park are a bit higher than some other towns in the area. There are a handful of other suburbs that allow for a fairly walkable core, though as you get closer to the core of certain towns, the more expensive it is.
Suburbs such as Park Ridge, LaGrange (and to a bit lesser extent LaGrange Park), Elmhurst, Wilmette, Arlington Heights, Evanston and Oak Park all have a pretty walkable core with a grocery store. None of these suburbs have cheap single family homes by any means, but most have some condos, and depending on your budget after you have an understanding of Chicago area salaries, maybe they fit in your budget.
As the other poster alluded to, property taxes are likely higher than here than Raleigh, so consider your all-in monthly payment for mortgage and property taxes.
You're on the right track with Evanston and Oak Park. At $400k a condo is most likely where you'll end up in those suburbs if you want to be somewhere walkable and also be near the train lines. For Evanston I would say the areas East of Ridge Avenue are more urban. Not sure about Oak Park, but it seems like the closer to the train lines the better.
I'm also a civil engineer and can tell you that most engineering firms seem to be concentrated in either downtown Chicago or around O'Hare. I think a lot of the engineering firms are located near O'Hare so they can serve suburban communities better. If you land a job near O'Hare then commuting there from Evanston would be miserable due to cross-town traffic, so Oak Park would be better in that regard. From that perspective you may also want to consider Park Ridge, but it may not be as urban as you're looking for. That's not to say you wouldn't land a job in downtown Chicago - it's where most of the jobs will be located - but it's something to keep in mind. Commuting by car in Chicago is horrible, so you don't want to be too far from your job if you have to drive.
The civil engineering job market has been pretty decent recently. It seems like my company has been hiring a lot as of late, but we don't do much on the land development side of things.
You may also want to strongly consider living in Chicago itself. Yes, schools are a problem but certain areas have good neighborhood schools. That is at least until the kids reach 8th grade, at which time they would have to enter high school and then it would be more of an issue (i.e. would need to send them to a private school). For Chicago neighborhoods with good neighborhood schools look at the neighborhoods of West Lakeview, Roscoe Village, North Center, Lincoln Square, and possibly Ravenswood. These areas have a good amount of Families, but are also good for socializing and restaurants. By the sounds of it you may prefer these areas given that you desire the urban vibe that you're used to from Madrid. I would to do some basic research on Greatschools.com to get an idea about these schools and their attendance boundaries if considering the city. Also note that property taxes will generally be less in Chicago city limits than they will be in the suburbs.
That budget won't go far in Chicago. Of course there are some places you might be able to buy a nice bungalow like Hermosa or Portage Park, or Avondale. Oak Park maybe south Oak Park. Property taxes are high. Consider looking in Berwyn. My son lives there and I own a building there. 60 percent Hispanic. The schools are not top rated mostly, but better than some in Chicago. There are also parochial and Montessori choices. It borders on Oak Park and is cheaper and its a ten minute drive to Whole Foods, Petes Fresh Market etc. Here are a few examples of houses you can get. Although it is suburban, its very urban for a suburb and has good public transportation. Some parts are walkable to stores. There are several subway lines that can be connected to as well as the Metra trains. Lots of shopping. Multicultural.
I lived in the Triangle for a stint in the mid-aughts. It doesn't sound like it's changed all that much. Just more people and more traffic, and the infrastructure is probably no more able to handle it.
I'm kind of where Avondale, Logan Square and Hermosa meet, about at the midpoint between the Loop (downtown) and O'Hare. It's been mentioned here, but this might be a spot for you to look.
Don't know much about the schools, but it seems like CPS tends to be better at the elementary level than high school, and that's a good ways away for you, and there might be an entirely different order here by then. Hell, maybe enough of the people who are owed unfunded pensions will have died out, they get that protection in the state constitution removed, and they can quit taxing everything.
Evanston and Oak Park have downtown areas that are no less urban or walkable than downtown Raleigh, and are probably cleaner than that. They're generally considered desirable places to live, and the cost of getting a place there will reflect that. You're paying a premium for suburban public schools, more than anything.
Within eight (full) blocks I've got Cermak/Tony's/Windy City markets and English is almost the second language in all three.
Not that I've gone around asking everyone where they or their people come from, but there's a bit of a pan-Latin America thing going. The Spanish-speaking community skews toward Mexican/Puerto Rican, more one or the other depending on where you go. Here it leans toward Mexican but Puerto Rico, much of Central America and the rest of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean are represented too.
I don't know the civil engineering workspace all that well, but there's probably work for qualified people, and the pay grades are probably going to be higher than they are in NC.
The taxes are high here, not that they're particularly low in NC, where there already is the kind of progressive income tax the governor is trying to push right now. Whatever you do, don't tell any lawmakers here in Illinois that you came from a place where you pay property tax on your car, and give them ideas.
I love visiting Raleigh and worked in RTP for over a year. Great weather. Great jobs / universities. Nice people. But it is very bland. Where are all the old buildings in Raleigh???? I mean Raleigh was founded in 1792 and is the capital of NC....Chicago was founded in 1833 yet Chicago's unique architecture (skyscrapers aside) is a million times better than Raleigh.
My best friend from college moved from Chicago to Raleigh. They liked it but after a few years they've moved back. Reason #1 Family #2 Blandness of Raleigh. You'll love Chicago.
I mean Raleigh was founded in 1792 and is the capital of NC
Raleigh had a population of 93,931 as of the 1960 Census.
Other than New Orleans and some smaller places like Charleston or Galveston, that's pretty much the norm in the south. On paper, it's an old enough city, but much of the growth was in the last 50 years, in the automobile/suburban age.
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