Moving to Champaign Il help please! (Chicago, Rockford: apartment, insurance, low crime)

[Katiana]

According to City-Data, Monticello grew 4% from 2000-2006. That is not quite "exponential". It is not much bigger than it was when we left in 1980. Cute little town, but that 22 miles from Champaign (according to CD), can be misleading. If you have to work in Champaign, it can be hairy in the winter.

[mizan3m]

very informative & relevant for a prospective new comers in the twin city area!

[linicx]

Unless you must live in Champaign, take a look at Rantoul before you make a final decision. .

[Drover]

If you're willing to live that far from Chambana, there are far better options than Rantoul.

[Katiana]

^^^ Good heavens, yes!

[illini84]

Originally Posted by linicx

Unless you must live in Champaign, take a look at Rantoul before you make a final decision. .

Not a chance in hell I'd live in Rantoul (or "Rantucky", as it's commonly referred to). If you don't want to live in Champaign (which I think is a very good place to begin with), check out Mahomet or Monticello. Both of those are nice as well.

[M TYPE X]

The farthest I would live from campus would be Savoy. Nice enough area, smells like cow poop though. Professors can enjoy Mahomet, Monticello, etc if they hired me to stay here (please don't), I'd look into the places going up in downtown Champaign.

[Clint_Noname]

In Champaign and Urbana, schools and cost of living are good but violent crime is high. I honestly don't know why, given its profile as a college town; however, this site says that 27% of Champaignians live in poverty, which is very high for a small city. Are there ghetto areas in Champaign or something?

[Drover]

I wonder how many of those listed "in poverty" are simply students with little to no income to report and therefore end up in the "poverty" statistics. There is a "ghetto" portion of Champaign, but it's not huge or particularly dangerous. As for the high violent crime rate, that's fairly easy to explain too: It's not despite being a large university town, it's because of being a large university town; i.e., students getting drunk and getting into brawls. Rape is also higher than average, again owing to the college. But for people minding their own business and staying away from alcohol-fueled after-bar parties on campus, it's as safe a city as any its size.

[meatpuff]

Originally Posted by Drover

I wonder how many of those listed "in poverty" are simply students with little to no income to report and therefore end up in the "poverty" statistics. There is a "ghetto" portion of Champaign, but it's not huge or particularly dangerous. As for the high violent crime rate, that's fairly easy to explain too: It's not despite being a large university town, it's because of being a large university town; i.e., students getting drunk and getting into brawls. Rape is also higher than average, again owing to the college. But for people minding their own business and staying away from alcohol-fueled after-bar parties on campus, it's as safe a city as any its size.

Good analysis, I also think these are the reasons.

Much was made of the ghetto-ish area in the north central part of town in much earlier posts, but it is important to understand that this is the Champaign-Urbana ghetto! This area (and east Urbana) has low income and property values, a high concentration of minorities, and evident lack of pride of ownership and upkeep of many of the houses there. I wouldn't walk there at night, or certain more isolated streets during the day. No doubt crime rates are higher and there are some street drugs there, but it is nothing like the ghettos of Chicago, not in the same galaxy! Not even as bad as some parts of Decatur, IL can be. A gangbanger from Englewood (Chicago) visiting the depressed areas of C-U would probably find its ghetto "cute".

Also, responding to much earlier posts, it's important to judge C-U according to its peers: isolated metro areas (i.e. no satellite cities) of pop. 150K - 300K. Compared to the alternatives, C-U gets big pluses for culture, public transportation, parks, and in my opinion a pretty nice downtown district and pretty residential areas W and SW of downtown. If you are working or associated with the University, it gets another big plus for you personally, as U. Illinois is world-class. Probably about even with crime. Minuses might be moderate cost-of-living (higher than many metros of 250K people; many of which are DUMPS!), and the school system can be spotty. It's worth noting that its arrow seems to pointing up: more knowledge jobs arriving as the University Research Park expands, and some beautiful, large developments in and around campustown and downtown Champaign which are currently going up.