If you moved out of Illinois... (Springfield, Champaign: relocate, property taxes, job)

[chitown97]

Originally Posted by linicx

If you think Illinois is expensive, just wait untilyou move to Texas.

what ? texas is cheap compare to illinois .....My brother in law sales homes out in dallas ,forth worth ,frisco etc.... i was there in june and let me tell you .....you could buy a 4,5,6 bedroom house with 2 car garage big yard with swimming pool under 3k that out here in chicago will coast you over 7k easy ....i know chicago is getting very expensiv but then again the city life is so different from being out in dallas county .....go to downtown dallas then go to michigan ave downtown chicago and you will see for your self....my 2 cents BIG DIFFERENCE OF LIVING ...texas has always been known of a cheap coast of living ...but it will get up there soon just like everything else .

[ElaetiaPhyn]

Went to CA.

Each time I have travel back to IL to visit, it's like running into a brick wall at 500 mph.

I love Chicago - it's my "sweet home", born and raised - and I love being in the city. I'll never go back to living in suburbia IL. Stagnant. Flat.

There's a whole world beyond IL and sadly, some people never take a chance to experience life outside the box.

[Pugetsoundman]

I moved from Illinois last January. I'm a physician. My malpractice insurance dropped from $32,000 a year to $4000 a year when I moved to Washington state. That, my friends, is money in MY pocket, not in some lawyer's pocket. Now I work part-time and make the same net annual income after expenses. Illinois is expensive and litiginous.

[carmac]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

Moved to TN. Then moved back.

Steve-o, just saw that you moved back to IL from TN...one of the other places we are considering moving to IS Tennessee!! We now live in Southern California and want to get out of here so bad...we are considering all our options, so I'm just curious, why did you leave TN to go back to Illinois?

[jamh13]

Moved to Colorado from illinois. Moved back(2 Indiana), after 4 years. Just decided I didn't like living in a dried up brown desert w/ thin air. Oh, and in Colorado it actually DOES snow in September, and April. It even snowd on memorial day once.

[computerguysd]

I moved to South Dakota 30 years ago, liked the area, lower cost of living, no state income tax. I enjoy visiting Illinois to see family and friends but there's no way I'd ever move back. Illinois just seems overtaxed, overregulated and overpopulated, to me.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by carmac

Steve-o, just saw that you moved back to IL from TN...one of the other places we are considering moving to IS Tennessee!! We now live in Southern California and want to get out of here so bad...we are considering all our options, so I'm just curious, why did you leave TN to go back to Illinois?

We lived in Clarksville, TN, didnt like it at all. The crime where we were at was horrible, that was one reason we moved back. Every night seemed like there was a robbery, shooting, stabbing, etc. And this was in a town with a little over 100K people in it at the time! We were packing to move back to IL and I had to run to Lowe's across town to pick up some packing supplies. Im trying to get back home and am stuck in a frickin traffic jam at 3 pm on a Tuesday??? Thats when I saw some smoke coming from up ahead. Apparently cops were doing a high-speed pursuit after some burglary suspects when they crashed and their cop car exploded, burning both of them alive inside. The suspects naturally escaped.

On top of the crime, the jobs didnt pay squat, the homes were completely crappy and the supreme definition of cookie-cutter. The soil down there is poor and crab grass seems to be the only thing that would grow at a steady rate. Bugs? Ugh. Mosquitos, flying cockroaches, black widows, mongoloid beetles, etc. Im a bug lover, but that was ridiculous. Oh, and the winters which were supposed to be "so much better than Chicago's"? Pfft. It was gray, leaf-less, mud junk. It only snowed twice, but everything shut down. I mean, even gas stations were abandoned. The army base (Ft. Campbell) shuts down!!!! What the?!?! The rest of the winter consisted of crazy temp swings. One day would be almost 70, the next only 35 and driving rain (and lots of it).

The town really didnt have much to do at all. THe mall was garbage, the downtown was semi-decent, but a ghost town after 8pm, the riverwalk area was a thug hangout (both times I went fights broke out), the schools werent great, the humidity and heat were crippling (we ran the A/C pretty much from May until late September). I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.

Oh, and Nashville is less exciting than Naperville. Im not joking.

If youre gonna go to TN, stick with Eastern TN. The scenery is gorgeous out that way.

[allydriver]

Originally Posted by carmac

one of the other places we are considering moving to IS Tennessee!!

Steve-o already answered (quite well), but I'll add this if you are going to transition from CA to TN successfully...line up a a job first,LOWER your expectations of the simplest of services and join a church

[aragx6]

Supernerdgirl, a poster on the Chicago forums, lived in Tennessee for several years as well. you might DM her to ask her opinions on the subject.

[boiker]

moved for employement. Feel I have better job security where I currently am.