Should I move to Chicago or Dallas? (job, beach, beautiful)

[orlando-calrissian]

So unless I'm missing something, I'm seeing that to match a $50k salary in Dallas, you would need ~$61k in Chicago. Which is 20% more salary. How is that marginally costlier?

It seems like most people are agreeing that Chicago is more expensive than Dallas by a decent margin. That's not necessarily a knock against Chicago, because the salaries should be commensurate to the COL.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by orlando-calrissian

So unless I'm missing something, I'm seeing that to match a $50k salary in Dallas, you would need ~$61k in Chicago. Which is 20% more salary. How is that marginally costlier?

Based off incorrect housing costs. Show me what you're looking at. Unless the Median Housing costs show approx 210k, it's wrong.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...-on-homebuyers

You can live in some of Chicago's North Shore communities for 450k. It won't be a 3,000 sq. ft. McMansion, but it'll be well maintained, well built, and livable. I get people can't believe Chicago is as affordable as Dallas (compliments to Chicago, I guess), but it is.

[Soonhun]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

Based off incorrect housing costs. Show me what you're looking at. Unless the Median Housing costs show approx 210k, it's wrong.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...-on-homebuyers

You can live in some of Chicago's North Shore communities for 450k. It won't be a 3,000 sq. ft. McMansion, but it'll be well maintained, well built, and livable. I get people can't believe Chicago is as affordable as Dallas (compliments to Chicago, I guess), but it is.

And I am sure you can live in parts of central Dallas or Fort Worth for lower. People have a hard time believing Chicago is as affordable as DFW because Chicago has a higher median sales price and value for homes. I know some people on CD hate COL calculators that make comparions, but I compared Chicago to Dallas on many of them and Dallas (sometimes the city, sometimes the metro, depending on the calculator) came out cheaper across most categories, even outside of housing.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by Parhe

And I am sure you can live in parts of central Dallas or Fort Worth for lower. People have a hard time believing Chicago is as affordable as DFW because Chicago has a higher median sales price and value for homes. I know some people on CD hate COL calculators that make comparions, but I compared Chicago to Dallas on many of them and Dallas (sometimes the city, sometimes the metro, depending on the calculator) came out cheaper across most categories, even outside of housing.

https://www.missourieconomy.org/indi...ving/index.stm

We can look both and macro and micro levels and the data is clear - they are very much in line with one another. You're not going to save thousands of dollars a year relocating from Chicago to Dallas and you're not going to lose thousands of dollars a year relocating from Dallas to Chicago. The lifestyles can be very different though.

State / IL / TX
Rank / 21 / 10
Index / 94.6 / 90.7
Grocery / 94.6 / 89.6
Housing / 89 / 83.4
Utilities / 93.7 / 96.7
Transportation / 105.2 / 94.8
Health / 100.5 / 95.5
Misc. / 95.5 / 93.4

Median Housing Price
Dallas - 200k
Chicago - 210k

Median Income
Dallas - 60k
Chicago - 63k

Chicago's transit network also offers commuters more options. That means more housing options. This past year, the number of people driving to work in Chicagoland decreased while those using commuter rail (Metra) and CTA L lines are breaking records. It's feasible to live 40+ miles from work and have less than an hour commute in Chicago (assuming you work in the Loop) via express trains. I know of people who commute in from SE Wisconsin to the Loop in about an hour fifteen (almost 70 miles). Some even use Amtrak to commute between Chicago/northern suburbs and Milwaukee.

[orlando-calrissian]

Either there's a marginal difference between COL in Chicago and Dallas, or Dallas advertises itself very well.

Also, I wouldn't compare TX to IL to show the difference between Chicago and Dallas.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by orlando-calrissian

Either there's a marginal difference between COL in Chicago and Dallas, or Dallas advertises itself very well.

Also, I wouldn't compare TX to IL to show the difference between Chicago and Dallas.

There's your answer. I've said it before. Texas has great PR. Helps too that the far right looks to TX as the Holy Land and spends countless hours bashing "liberal cesspools".

The difference is marginal. People have this misconception that everything in TX is dirt cheap because at one point it was. That's no longer the case. It's reasonable to make macro level comparisons between IL and TX, but looking at it from a micro level is also beneficial. Regardless of how you look at it, Dallas is never "far cheaper" than Chicago and Texas is not really all that more affordable than Illinois. They're peers from a COL standpoint.

[edsg25]

I've lived in Chicago/Chicagoland my entire life (70 years worth), and I just don't get it: all the talk about our brutal winters. Yes, it can get cold. Yes, we get snow. We're in the northeast quadrant of the United States; it's fairly standard and it goes with the territory.

But here's the thing: much of our winter is just fine. In a typical Chicago winter, there are innumerable days I can leave the house with a light jacket and it doesn't bother me at all. As far as snowfall, we hardly compare with places like Boston or Buffalo or any number of US cities. Our chill comes nothing close to Mpls/StP.

Our last few winters have been fairly brutal, but then again, they had been across the United States. Prior to that, plenty of good weather and some very mild winters.

Look, I get it: January, especially the middle couple of weeks can be brutally cold. But much of the winter is not like that. We easily go on with our lives, get out and about and do things and are not constantly thinking about weather.

I fully realize many will disagree with me, but truthfully for many of us Chicagoans, we don't look at winter as a deep freeze and a full fledged burial in snow. It's not. There are plenty of winter days I've gone out and taken a long walk and there was nothing difficult about it.

If you want to give me a medal for surviving so many Chicago winters, don't. I don't deserve it. It just isn't close to being as bad as many of you think.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

https://www.missourieconomy.org/indi...ving/index.stm

Some even use Amtrak to commute between Chicago/northern suburbs and Milwaukee.

Irish, I take you mean people use Amtrak from both Union Station and Glenview to get to Milwaukee. I assume you didn't mean anyone is taking Amtrak to get from Union Station to Glenview, right? I'm sure Metra has to be a lot less expensive and far more extensive in service.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by edsg25

I've lived in Chicago/Chicagoland my entire life (70 years worth), and I just don't get it: all the talk about our brutal winters. Yes, it can get cold. Yes, we get snow. We're in the northeast quadrant of the United States; it's fairly standard and it goes with the territory.

But here's the thing: much of our winter is just fine. In a typical Chicago winter, there are innumerable days I can leave the house with a light jacket and it doesn't bother me at all. As far as snowfall, we hardly compare with places like Boston or Buffalo or any number of US cities. Our chill comes nothing close to Mpls/StP.

Our last few winters have been fairly brutal, but then again, they had been across the United States. Prior to that, plenty of good weather and some very mild winters.

Look, I get it: January, especially the middle couple of weeks can be brutally cold. But much of the winter is not like that. We easily go on with our lives, get out and about and do things and are not constantly thinking about weather.

I fully realize many will disagree with me, but truthfully for many of us Chicagoans, we don't look at winter as a deep freeze and a full fledged burial in snow. It's not. There are plenty of winter days I've gone out and taken a long walk and there was nothing difficult about it.

If you want to give me a medal for surviving so many Chicago winters, don't. I don't deserve it. It just isn't close to being as bad as many of you think.

Agreed. I was out walking this past weekend (in the snow) and it was in the low 30s. It actually felt nice. My SO and I were talking about how it didn't actually feel cold at all. We were out and about for nearly 30 minutes and I never felt uncomfortable. Some may feel differently, but the human body is capable of surviving far worse than winter in Chicago.

Originally Posted by edsg25

Irish, I take you mean people use Amtrak from both Union Station and Glenview to get to Milwaukee. I assume you didn't mean anyone is taking Amtrak to get from Union Station to Glenview, right? I'm sure Metra has to be a lot less expensive and far more extensive in service.

Yes. Board at Union or Glenview and ride up to Milwaukee.

[ForYourLungsOnly]

Originally Posted by edsg25

I've lived in Chicago/Chicagoland my entire life (70 years worth), and I just don't get it: all the talk about our brutal winters. Yes, it can get cold. Yes, we get snow. We're in the northeast quadrant of the United States; it's fairly standard and it goes with the territory.

But here's the thing: much of our winter is just fine. In a typical Chicago winter, there are innumerable days I can leave the house with a light jacket and it doesn't bother me at all. As far as snowfall, we hardly compare with places like Boston or Buffalo or any number of US cities. Our chill comes nothing close to Mpls/StP.

Our last few winters have been fairly brutal, but then again, they had been across the United States. Prior to that, plenty of good weather and some very mild winters.

Look, I get it: January, especially the middle couple of weeks can be brutally cold. But much of the winter is not like that. We easily go on with our lives, get out and about and do things and are not constantly thinking about weather.

I fully realize many will disagree with me, but truthfully for many of us Chicagoans, we don't look at winter as a deep freeze and a full fledged burial in snow. It's not. There are plenty of winter days I've gone out and taken a long walk and there was nothing difficult about it.

If you want to give me a medal for surviving so many Chicago winters, don't. I don't deserve it. It just isn't close to being as bad as many of you think.

Music to my ears. I feel this way every time I hear mention of a Chicago winter..especially when its from someone from some other cold Northeast city.