Looking for a place to live and work after college. (living, best)

[Mundus33]

I have been looking for a place to live and work for a little bit and it is hard to find what I am looking for (if it even exists) and thought that I might ask here to see what kind of answers I get.

This is mostly my list of priorities in order of importance.

1. entry level jobs
(kinda hard to live without money)
2. low crime
(while I doubt most places are horrible I have lived in the boondocks for a while now both in college and my hometown as such knowing the bad parts of time is not something I am good with)
3. walkability and public transportation
(I hate driving cars with a passion and have considered getting into public transportation planning as a job. essentially a passion fueled by hate) (Also I don't care if it has both as long as I can get to my job and to the grocery store without driving)
4. Low cost of housing/utilities
(being single my housing costs have always been way higher than any of my other costs)(my last home was $745 two bedroom 1 bath with roommate and utilities it came out to $430 a month while I don't consider that high I don't really consider it low either considering it is 4x the amount I spend on everything else)


I guess I should tell you a bit about myself too. I graduated with a major in Psychology with an emphasis in personnel management and a minor in business administration.

To be honest though I may have majored in it but I am not to sure about getting a job/career in it so I am pretty open to ideas about jobs as long as they aren't delivery, outdoors(don't like my money being dictated by the weather), retail, or actively clinical (as in nurse or actively working with people who are unwell. I wouldn't mind being at the front desk though). Honestly I would prefer a desk job maybe something with the government.

Anyway to be clear if my idea of a place to live is ridiculous or Utopian feel free to call me out on it this is the first time I have looked for a place to live outside of my home state of colorado so I don't know exactly what I am doing.

Thanks for your help.

[DANNYY]

Originally Posted by Mundus33

I have been looking for a place to live and work for a little bit and it is hard to find what I am looking for (if it even exists) and thought that I might ask here to see what kind of answers I get.

This is mostly my list of priorities in order of importance.

1. entry level jobs
(kinda hard to live without money)
2. low crime
(while I doubt most places are horrible I have lived in the boondocks for a while now both in college and my hometown as such knowing the bad parts of time is not something I am good with)
3. walkability and public transportation
(I hate driving cars with a passion and have considered getting into public transportation planning as a job. essentially a passion fueled by hate) (Also I don't care if it has both as long as I can get to my job and to the grocery store without driving)
4. Low cost of housing/utilities
(being single my housing costs have always been way higher than any of my other costs)(my last home was $745 two bedroom 1 bath with roommate and utilities it came out to $430 a month while I don't consider that high I don't really consider it low either considering it is 4x the amount I spend on everything else)


I guess I should tell you a bit about myself too. I graduated with a major in Psychology with an emphasis in personnel management and a minor in business administration.

To be honest though I may have majored in it but I am not to sure about getting a job/career in it so I am pretty open to ideas about jobs as long as they aren't delivery, outdoors(don't like my money being dictated by the weather), retail, or actively clinical (as in nurse or actively working with people who are unwell. I wouldn't mind being at the front desk though). Honestly I would prefer a desk job maybe something with the government.

Anyway to be clear if my idea of a place to live is ridiculous or Utopian feel free to call me out on it this is the first time I have looked for a place to live outside of my home state of colorado so I don't know exactly what I am doing.

Thanks for your help.

Philadelphia has everything you need, Chicago does as well. Large cities, big city amenities.

Philadelphia is surrounded by large cities for good weekend getaways, Chicago is a good fly time from coast to coast, and it's location makes it one of the best places to fly from.

For Chicago and Philadelphia you'll probably never need a car.

Washington DC also comes to mind, but it can get pretty expensive.

I also recommend Austin, but there are only selective areas where you can use public transportation. So I guess you wouldn't like that but it's a nice place to live and work, and it's a state capital, a lot of business jobs, and pretty much anything else.

1. Philadelphia
2. Chicago
3. Austin

That's how I would rank them on which would be the best for you. Philadelphia first because of it's proximity to NYC. You get two cities for one basically.

[Mundus33]

hey thanks for your advice. but as far as Philadelphia goes what is the payrate like is it higher than most or about average.

Also are there any bad parts of philli or chicago I should avoid.

As a side note looking through craigslist chicago is pretty expensive I hope they have a decently high payrate to make up for the kinda high housing.

[DANNYY]

Originally Posted by Mundus33

hey thanks for your advice. but as far as Philadelphia goes what is the payrate like is it higher than most or about average.

Also are there any bad parts of philli or chicago I should avoid.

As a side note looking through craigslist chicago is pretty expensive I hope they have a decently high payrate to make up for the kinda high housing.

Chicago is relatively one of the most inexpensive major cities in America. Don't be fooled, there are large areas that are expensive too.

I would recommend living in either downtown or the North area of Chicago. Or suburbs like Aurora and Naperville, both of which tend to be pretty safe.

The pay rate, which profession? I'll look it up real fast and get right back to you on that.

As for Philadelphia, I am not too familiar with the neighborhoods to say which areas to avoid, but I know there are plenty of Philadelphia posters here who can come in and help out. I'm more than positive with any of the fields you have described, you'll be able to make a good entry level salary to support yourself nicely.

Just make sure to apply first before actually relocating.

[Mundus33]

pay rate was the wrong wording I guess average salary compared to other states would have been more appropriate but I can look that up on google.

On another note do either philli or chicago have a light rail or is it only buses.

[DANNYY]

Originally Posted by Mundus33

pay rate was the wrong wording I guess average salary compared to other states would have been more appropriate but I can look that up on google.

On another note do either philli or chicago have a light rail or is it only buses.

Chicago and Philadelphia have some of the best public transportation system in the country. Commuter Rail. You can basically get around without owning a car.

[clean_polo]

^ Are you including the subway as "commuter rail" as well?

[TANaples]

Philadelphia, it's like a mini NY and is pretty cheap. Public transportation is good too.

[Mundus33]

Hey thanks for all the helpful replies I appreciate it. I thought of one more question if you guys that have lived in philli or chicago could give me some help.

Anyway what is the culture in these places like. For example is it focused on sports are there a lot of techies or something else. I understand these places are melting pots that have a decent amount of people but I was just curious as to what is most prevalent also what is the political and religious views there.

None of these will probably have a huge effect on my decision but I like to have an idea of what to expect before I visit(I figure I should fly down there and see what its like before I look for a job and place to live)

[DANNYY]

Originally Posted by Mundus33

Hey thanks for all the helpful replies I appreciate it. I thought of one more question if you guys that have lived in philli or chicago could give me some help.

Anyway what is the culture in these places like. For example is it focused on sports are there a lot of techies or something else. I understand these places are melting pots that have a decent amount of people but I was just curious as to what is most prevalent also what is the political and religious views there.

None of these will probably have a huge effect on my decision but I like to have an idea of what to expect before I visit(I figure I should fly down there and see what its like before I look for a job and place to live)

Chicago is pretty open minded politically. It's liberalish. Like today, walking down Lake Street, I ran into so many people trying to get me to "support the awareness for the oil spill" or "AIDS/HIV treatment in Africa" I just really like how open and responsive the city is to these things. Many people don't agree but it's nice for a city to be open minded and Chicago is. I am a Philadelphia tourist so I can't speak for it, but it's pretty open minded as well.

Sports play a huge role in both cities, I see Blackhawks flags in downtown, nearly everywhere! But the city in general is way to cosmopolitan to feel one thing over everything else. Trust me it all blends in. Navy Pier today, I saw and took pictures if nearly people of so many different backgrounds.

I am slowly beginning to upload the 537 pictures I took of Chicago in the last 2 days alone here on CD. Too bad they don't have a mass uploader, that would have helped uploading pictures but I have to do three at a time. So I'm slowly and lazily uploading them. If you want I will show you. I took pictures of nearly every square inch and every building, park, beach, attraction, store in Downtown Chicago. I just need to upload them now.