Moving from Phoenix Area (Chicago, Naperville: real estate, home, teaching jobs)

[scocar]

We are planning to move in the next three years from a suburb of Phoenix to an area in the midwest that is between Wisconsin (my family) and Missouri (wife's family). The two most obvious areas were eastern Iowa and Central Illinois. Some specific areas we've looked at are Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, Quad Cities, Bloomington/Normal/Peoria, Chicago suburbs. We have two kids ages 10 and 7, and are in our early 40's. We are pretty active and want an area with cultural opportunities. We also both teachers. Any advice on the different areas I mentioned would be appreciated.

[bulldawg1594]

for culture, i would definetly move to chicago or the suburbs. maybe oak park, evanston, or the north side of chicago.

[linicx]

Oak Park is an awesome area of Chicago. However, it does not meet your need to be mid-way between Wisconsin and Missouri. You will need teaching certs from IL. I will provide links at the bottom of the page for you.

What you need to understand is Il and IA are the top two CORN producing states in America. The only thing that seperates the two state is the MIssissippi River. I don't care where you live in either state you are surround by cornfields and ranches.

Illinois has 105 counties. Within the state are a half-dozen large pockets of communities. Each is different. What I can tell you from experiences is Peoria is about 8 hours from the OK border and 4 from the Wi border in good weather depending upon your route.

I am biased toware Peoria for a number of reaosns. It has the largest park distirct outside of Chicago. You will find a top-rated zoo, planetarium and things for kids to do and learn all year including free family movies in the pask on Saturday night. There are sponosred family events all year, too. Peoria has a large and diverse religious community that represents many denominations. You'll find upscale and downtown dining, and shopping in the two malls and dozen shopping areas. You'll find semi-pro sports, Junor Leaguem and all types of social networking. Peoria has the only Children's Hospital in central Illinois. Peoria also has 4x more doctors than the national average. You can find publc, givted, private and church schools. There are some school districts where you children will graduate with the same children he started kindergarten with without leaving the area where you live. Location is everyting. Peoria is many colors and wears many hats. The biggest difference between Chicago and Peoria is size.

The Chicago Metro area is appriaching 10M where Peoria Metro is approaching 400.000. Peoria County is 1/3 smaller than Cook County. It sprawls along the IL River while Chicago sprawls along Lake Michigan. You can take a lake tour in Chicago or a river tour in Peoria.

Weather in Peoria is generally less brutal than Chicago. Lot sizes are largers, home prices are lower, and if you live in the county and not the city then real estate taxes are considerably lower than Chicago and Cook County.

The bottom line is if you live in Chicago - and if you drive the speed lilikit you would be 7- 8 hours from St. Louis, and about half-that from Peoria. .

[QuadCityImages]

Peoria also has a pretty impressive 11.1% unemployment rate (http://lmi.ides.state.il.us/laus/ratestate.htm - broken link), so that's certainly something to consider.

I'd suggest one of the Iowa metros, as Illinois state government is pretty dysfunctional. Right now its a tough race between California and Illinois on which state is more bankrupt.

Congrats on leaving Phoenix though; almost anywhere in the Midwest should be better.

[steve_holt]

I'd recomend steering clear of Peoria, or at least District 150, if you're a teacher. The district is downsizing high schools currently. Beyond the schools issue, the peoria metro has one of the highest unemployment rates in Illinois. I'm pretty happy in B/N. you can PM me if you want more details about b/n. one of the consequences of our continual growth is that teachers are always in demand.

[The Duchess]

Scocar curious as to how long you have lived in Phoenix. Are u just desiring to move to be closer to family? II know many teachers have been hit hard w/cuts here in AZ.I currently live in Phoenix and Dh and I can't wait to move! We r planning to return to Chicago (or Chgoland)--both born and raised there.

[bulldawg1594]

you could try champaign-urbana or springfield.

[scocar]

Duchess,

My wife is from a small town outside of St. Louis. I've lived in Phoenix all my life. My Dad's side of the family lives in Wisconsin (Milwaukee and La Crosse). My wife has wanted to move back to the Midwest for quite some time. I have two older kids from a previous marriage and I did not want to move until they both graduated high school. I've been back to visit a few times and really liked it. Plus I'm looking for a change. Midwest has seemed more community oriented on the times I've visited. But truth be told I am more doing this for my wife than me.

[Scio42]

For cultural opportunities, nothing will be able to compete with Chicagoland. In the other cities you mention there are sufficient cultural opportunities, however they're not immediately obvious like Chicagoland so you have to seek them out.

If you're both teachers, your best bets would be looking at Chicagoland, Iowa City & Bloomington-Normal. The Quad Cities and Peoria have struggled more in the post industrial age but have their charms and can be nice places to live depending on what you're looking for. For the Quad Cities and Peoria I'd suggest looking for teaching jobs in some of the more affluent "suburbs" of these cities (e.g. Dunlap school district, Morton school district).

I also wouldn't overlook the capital cities of Illinois (Springfield) & Wisconsin (Madison). Madison consistently scores in the top "best places to live" every year and has unbelievable cultural opportunities for it's size. Springfield is a nice middle class city, but fewer cultural opportunities. Of course each one would skew your location more towards Missouri or Wisconsin.

[Steve-o]

If you want cultural opportunities and lots to do and close proximity to millions of other people and hundreds (yes, hundreds) of suburbs to explore. Ive been here 30+ years and havent scratched the surface. Unbelievable, isnt it? I highly recommend the far Western suburbs. Theyre very clean, very safe, very wooded (or open--depending on where you live), charming, historical, and with good schools. Id look into Geneva, St. Charles, Wheaton, Naperville, etc.