Help Please! Fun town for 20 something, besides Chicago. (Naperville, Peoria: job, home)

[ankasi]

Thanks for reading! I have lived in Arlington Heights my entire life, with the exception of school at ISU and a summer in Alaska. I would like to move away, but stay in IL (job situation). Does anyone know of any laid-back towns/cities in IL suited for a 24 yr old besides Chicago?

[rgb123]

do you want to stay in the chicago area? I'm confused about the job situation. what about galena? I would have picked bloomington-normal but you seem to have ruled that out!

[reppin_the_847]

As a 23 year old (soon to be 24 in March) I have run into a similar dilemma. I'm currently living in Libertyville with my folks to save some money for the time being. I take classes at one of the well known uni's in Chicago which I commute to by train usually (will be done with school very soon, got 1 part-time semester left), but certainly have yet to find any decent social life / nightlife outside of Chicago. When I go out there it's always quite the haul to come back home (plus Metra ends service after 12:35 AM, and the Purple Line to Linden shuts down around 1:30 AM), and sometimes I just don't feel like "crashing at a friend's place" down in the city. The suburban areas of Chicago that do seem to have a larger cluster of people our age (that contain nightlife) are more in suburbs like Schaumburg & Naperville, but still it's nothing to really rave about......People say Evanston is kinda nice, a bit of a northern extension of the city, but people know that it is a dry town that pretty much closes shop around 11 or so. Lincoln Park / Lakeview / Wrigleyville down in the city is pretty much overpriced. I'd rather not spend a fortune just for a studio apt. that is the size of a closet and be able to hear my drunk former frat boy transplant neighbors making noise at all hours of the night (not to mention the constant ambulances, firetrucks & police cars making noise out on the city streets in addition to the roaring el train). I totally know where you're coming from.

Originally Posted by ankasi

Thanks for reading! I have lived in Arlington Heights my entire life, with the exception of school at ISU and a summer in Alaska. I would like to move away, but stay in IL (job situation). Does anyone know of any laid-back towns/cities in IL suited for a 24 yr old besides Chicago?

[ankasi]

Quick responses! I have an IL teaching cert. and it's obnoxious to transfer it to other states. I want outdoors and hip...like Colorado in Illinois. Fat chance, I know. But I must work with what I have.

[reppin_the_847]

Yeah I think that you can find the whole outdoors thing....but probably not in that hip Colorado kind of way. I mean, we have all kinds of forest preserves here in the burbs, and it's easy to get up to Wisconsin or what not if you're into skiing and all that, but I don't think it's ever going to be quite Colorado. Good luck though!

Originally Posted by ankasi

Quick responses! I have an IL teaching cert. and it's obnoxious to transfer it to other states. I want outdoors and hip...like Colorado in Illinois. Fat chance, I know. But I must work with what I have.

[Switch625]

If you want to get away from Chicago completely then you'll want to consider one of the mid-sized university towns downstate. Bloomington-Normal or Champaign-Urbana are the places I would consider your best choices. Avoid Rock Island-Moline as those are classic rust belt cities. Peoria is not the best choice either, as it's somewhat dull for it's size. It has a real skyline, but it's not a place that's "hip and happening."

South of B-N and C-U there isn't much. Springfield is the state capital, and that's about the best you can say for it. Carbondale is a university town, but I'm thinking it would be too small and countryfied for your tastes. Western Illinois is pretty much a cultural desert. Stay away from East St. Louis unless you enjoy living in a filthy city ranked as one of the most dangerous in the nation.

[Steve-o]

There are plenty of "hip" towns outside Chicago. There are lots of clubs and hangout spots in Schaumburg near the Streets of Woodfield area. Naperville has a vibrant bar/nightlife scene downtown as well. St. Charles is also pub central, with lots of college kids floating around on the weekend and some nice beer gardens as well.

As for outdoors activities, Id recommend the Galena, IL area. Its very hilly and gorgeous country. There is a small ski resort up there (Chestnut Mountain if you want to look it up) and an Alpine Slide as well. Im sure there is plenty of hiking and biking activities as well. Not to mention the Mississippi is right there as well as some giant cliffs (I forget the name of the state park though).

[reppin_the_847]

I have spent some time both in Bloomington-Normal and in Champaign-Urbana. I definitely have to agree that Champaign-Urbana is a great college town with plenty of social life / sufficient night life for college aged people and I think folks in their earlier 20's. That university is so huge that you are bound to meet all kinds of people down there even though you're in central Illinois. There's a reason they call it the Big 10 (ie. U of I in Champaign-Urbana, U of W in Madison, WI, U of M in Ann Arbor, MI, Indiana Uni in Bloomington, IN, , Iowa Uni., etc. etc.) I'm not sure how the job opportunities are down there, you might want to ask someone that lives there or knows the area a bit better. I'm sure there are some on this forum.

Originally Posted by Switch625

If you want to get away from Chicago completely then you'll want to consider one of the mid-sized university towns downstate. Bloomington-Normal or Champaign-Urbana are the places I would consider your best choices. Avoid Rock Island-Moline as those are classic rust belt cities. Peoria is not the best choice either, as it's somewhat dull for it's size. It has a real skyline, but it's not a place that's "hip and happening."

South of B-N and C-U there isn't much. Springfield is the state capital, and that's about the best you can say for it. Carbondale is a university town, but I'm thinking it would be too small and countryfied for your tastes. Western Illinois is pretty much a cultural desert. Stay away from East St. Louis unless you enjoy living in a filthy city ranked as one of the most dangerous in the nation.

[Xing]

Look into Belleville IL. It's different, not entirely conservative, just outside St Louis, and also has a lightrail train that can take you to the city. Belleville West High School has a brand new building. It's a large school, growing fast, and it pays well. It also has a nice downtown, that isn't just a cute , suburban perspective of urbanity. Downtown has beer gardens, jazz clubs, art galleries, and all that good stuff.

[rgb123]

ahh the teaching dilemma, that makes sense.

In that case...

I would definitley look into Galena, it is near Dubuque which is at least a bigger city, though i dont know what it is like to live there. But, I think that is about as close to "colorado in illinois" as you might get! take a weekend, or even just a satruday and drive out to galena and see for yourself.

Bellville sounds nice, never been there.

I would also see if there is anywhere besides Carbondale in southern illinois that is similiar to what the poster described above.

good luck!