Tell me about Illinois (Chicago, Rockford: real estate, low crime, how much)

[ebbe]

Hmmm....is the weather south of Chicago MUCH warmer than the North Shore area? I get the feeling I will be inside all winter if it's 20 below.

Any towns in the southern part of the state that have great high schools and nice people? Schools along the lines (academically) of Lake Forest High or Stevenson.

Speaking of people....I have been reading there are a huge number of illegal aliens (perhaps in certain sections of the state?) Is there gang activity in the suburbs?

Are there places to live where people are actually NOT concerned with how much money their neighbor makes or what type of car they are driving? I have nothing against wealth but would love to find a place where you can have some wealth and still be down to earth.

[outsider1]

How far south do you plan on going? Unless you're in the southernmost 1/4 of the state you won't feel much difference. And even there it's just 5-10 degrees warmer based on my experience.

No, you won't find the kinds of schools there. I've worked with a good number of folks from southern and western IL. All say that you sure can get a good education there, but not the great one.

Yes, illegals are here in big numbers. Any place with a lot of industrial, service and to an extent agriculture jobs has them.
Stay away from near south and west suburban Chicago, gangs are plentiful. Some far south suburbs can be ok though.
Post a specific location here to find out more.

Yes, there are such places in southern and western IL. 90% of employed folks work at the same factory, doing the same thing, earning the same wages. You'll need to transition to their lifestyle to be truly comfortable there.

[irishjailer]

Gangs are part of any large town - even 18,000 + - in Chicago Suburbanland - Obviously less of a problem the further away you get -
You have to look really close at any part of the above area, Rockford or the bigger towns -
I live in McHenry County - High Real Estate taxes now, some gang activity though not serious but good schools especially in Crystal Lake.
Good luck

[Juice13610]

There is actually gang activity in Mt Vernon, Illinois which is only 16-17,000 people. Murders, robberies, car jackings, etc, and the nearest city is about 65 miles away (St Louis).

[SHSguy]

Well i live in Vernon Hills in the Stevenson district and Stevenson is as good as it can get other than Lincoln Park HS according to Newsweek. Gang is not a big part of VH, but there is some...Mostly around this middle school called West Oak, but i didnt go there

Pretty much, the richer the area gets, the less gang violence and activites there are.

[SHSguy]

and the weather is no different in the south suburbs than the north. maybe like .1/5th of a degree, but nothing noticeable.

oh...and my part of vernon hills, you dont really have to be rich. people have clunkers and some have nice Porsches, but it doesnt really matter, because people dont look at how wealthy your lifestyle is. We're all pretty nice in my neighborhood.

[Steve-o]

Stay away from near south and west suburban Chicago, gangs are plentiful. Some far south suburbs can be ok though.
Post a specific location here to find out more.

The west suburbs do have some gangs, but not in the numbers youd think. DuPage County is probably the wealthiest county in Illinois. Albeit there are a few places that have gangs, but all you have to do is easily avoid them. Wheaton, Naperville, Hinsdale, Oak Brook, Plainfield, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Winfield, St. Charles, Geneva, etc... are all very wealthy towns with low crime and extreme high costs of living, there are hardly any gangs there.

[awestermann]

Only in the summer And then it is humid, too - whee!

I'm not complaining, though, because I love love love Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.

True, some people can be completely witless when they're driving around here, but hey - at least it's not as bad as Boston!

Come and visit, see what you think! There are plenty of tour groups, tour guides in the bookstores, and online travel guides to tell you the best places to visit while you're here.

[Paxtonian]

You needn't worry about twenty below, I've been Downstate for decades and have only had five days in all that time it got that cold. As for the schools, the ones in Ford County are quite tolerable. Of course, even in a poor school a determined student can get a quality education. My daughter attended a school in Champaign County that on paper looked bad, but she was determined and got admitted to Yale. Gang activity is minimal in smaller towns, in larger towns you'll find some, mostly associated with the drug trade. For the most part, unless you look for it, you won't find the gangs operating openly. Now as to wealth, and the display thereof, it's a mixed bag. I know one of the richest men in the County, and you'd never be able to tell it by the way he dresses. The richest man in Paxton shows off a bit in an odd way, he exclusively drives vintage Packard automobiles. As for everyone else, the auto of choice, even among people with money this way, is a four door Buick sedan, several years old, painted in a dullish blue color. Money is expended a bit in keeping houses up, a well kept house is a better sign of wealth here than what one drives or wears. Housing prices in Paxton are reasonable, ranging from $24K for a very basic house needing work, to $300K for a large perfectly restored Queen Anne showcase filled with antiques. Drop by Paxton or Gibson City, you'll find both to be places full of quiet, polite, productive people, not given over to airs.

[Drover]

Illinois can pretty much be divided into five parts:

a) Chicago. Fabulous wealth and desparate poverty, law-abiding and gangbangers, worldly cosmopolitans and parochial Cretins, fine arts/culture and depravity, all stacked side-by-side and/or on top of one another;

b) The Suburbs. Those that like being in a metropolitan area but don't want to deal with the noise, pollution, traffic, crime and crappy schools of the city itself;

c) The Smaller Cities. Places like Rockford, Peoria, Rock Island/Moline, etc., that have seen better days and have been struggling since the decline of the Midwest's industrial base, and yet they soldier on with a certain pride and dignity;

d) The University Towns. Namely Champaign/Urbana and Bloomington/Normal that would look a lot like The Smaller Cities if they didn't have the university economies to prop them up;

e) The Corn Fields, dotted with slowly dying small farm towns populated by people who wish Chicago would sink into Lake Michigan because they're properly annoyed that upstate liberals control the political affairs of places that are hundreds of miles from Chicago geographically, politically and culturally.

Did I miss anything?