Illinois/Indiana Apartments (Chicago: safe neighborhood, schools, taxes)

[KrazyFotoGurl]

It's still up in the air, but I may be getting a job in Crown Point Indiana... if that is the case, I wanted to apply to grad school in Chicago since, according to mapquest, they are about an hour away from each other and its something i've already dreamed about...

my question is where are some good apartments between Crown Point IN and Chicago IL?... I'm a recent graduate so I need something cheap/affordable, but still in a safe neighborhood (single young female, ya know), preferably low taxes, etc. it would be nice to have equal driving distances but if not, closer to which one would be nicer?

also, i'm from Texas originally, and when i moved to florida, i was on the waitlist for an apt. for 6 months... luckily i had friends so i had places to stay which will NOT be the case in moving up north, so what's the wait like for apartments and which areas between those locations will be the shortest wait...

any information would be helpful... links especially would be beneficial if you know a particular place.... i'll be posting this in the Indiana thread too...

[rgb123]

hmm. I'd like to be more optimisitc, but the hour drive thing....well, maybe if traffic is really light and you just want to get to the south side. Also, your drive will not be through pleasant areas unless you go west and then north...and still...not so good. (my opinion, maybe others here have done this more often than I do and have special routes)

anyway, I would recommend living near your job. Apply to schools, wait to see if you get in and then see how many days a week you will need to be there. Likley, you will need to be in crown point more often that you will need to be in school, and I would bet that it would be safer and more economical for you to live in crown point, and only commute to chicago when you need to.

the other option, would be to find a decent south suburb in illinois to live in -- but count on a commute that is not a direct route (I really would not want to deal with the interstates south of chicago on a daily basis). When faced with your situation I would first travel west toward I57 or 294 -- instead of going straight up toward gary.

I think you will soon see why....but maybe someone else has better ideas.

just trying to be realistic, best of luck! (ps...I went to grad school in minnesota and worked in illinois....it can work!!!)

[rgb123]

ps -- as for the illinois suburb thing I would guess your best bet would be orland park. Its about 40 miles from crown point... or maybe frankfort, il.

I know there is metra service from orland, not sure about frankfort. Metra would be a blessing in your situation.