NWI to chicago commute (Hammond, East Chicago: houses, construction, calculated)

[chinmob]

Hello All-

My wife and I recently relocated from Houston for work, she is working in south suburbs (Glenwood, IL) and I will be looking for work in downtown Chicago area or west burbs. We have been searching about a month now for a home and find most in IL to be out of our price range (150k) but find more in NWI area notably Griffith, Highland and a few in Munster. My question is if I am working in downtown what would be the "true" commute time with traffic from these locations, (in Houston a 14 mi. commute took 1 hr during rush hour but as little as 20 min. on off peak time). Also seems any NWI area would put the west Chicago burbs out of range for a decent everyday commute, if I worked in that area? One last note, reading postings about the negative views of some IL residents on NWI, was wondering would having a NWI address on a resume work against you in searching for a job in Chicago? I work in the design/architectural field and there is somewhat a superiority complex already within this industry.

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by chinmob

Hello All-

My wife and I recently relocated from Houston for work, she is working in south suburbs (Glenwood, IL) and I will be looking for work in downtown Chicago area or west burbs. We have been searching about a month now for a home and find most in IL to be out of our price range (150k) but find more in NWI area notably Griffith, Highland and a few in Munster. My question is if I am working in downtown what would be the "true" commute time with traffic from these locations, (in Houston a 14 mi. commute took 1 hr during rush hour but as little as 20 min. on off peak time). Also seems any NWI area would put the west Chicago burbs out of range for a decent everyday commute, if I worked in that area? One last note, reading postings about the negative views of some IL residents on NWI, was wondering would having a NWI address on a resume work against you in searching for a job in Chicago? I work in the design/architectural field and there is somewhat a superiority complex already within this industry.

Don't let the Illinois people influence your decision to move or not to move to NWI ... there are plenty of former Illinois residents who wised up and realized their money will go further and the commute, in a lot of cases, is less coming from NWI. If we ever get back up north for jobs in Chicago, we wouldn't dream of living anywhere else but NWI and we lived in and around Chicago for almost 10 years.

As for you working in the western suburbs ... depends on the burb. Are you going as far out as St. Charles or Naperville? The commute from NWI will be long. The Glenwood commute won't be bad ... especially if you find a place in Dyer.


The bottom line is that your money will go further in NWI than in Chicago. You'll be paying less for a house, get more house, less taxes. You'll be commuting regardless. The decision seems to be hedging on your western suburb commute, which, honestly, can be a bear if you do it everyday. If you get a job downtown, you can take the south shore into the city from East Chicago or Hammond, or even Hegwisch on the Illinois side.

[chinmob]

Thanks Domergurl,

We visited a few homes today in Griffith and I plugged in my wife's work address in Glenwood and the Navy Pier in Chicago (just as a downtown address) into our Garmin just to get an idea of the commute and it said 20 minutes to Glenwood and 45 to the Pier. I'm guessing thats without major traffic since it was calculated today (Sunday).
It is really nice here in NWI area, very suburban but with most/all the major chain stores you would find in any major city, making it very convenient.
If we do find a home in NWI I think it would be wise for me to concentrate on finding work in the downtown area or close to it; keeping the west burbs, yes as far as Naperville, as a backup plan.

[LIS123]

Originally Posted by chinmob

Hello All-

My wife and I recently relocated from Houston for work, she is working in south suburbs (Glenwood, IL) and I will be looking for work in downtown Chicago area or west burbs. We have been searching about a month now for a home and find most in IL to be out of our price range (150k) but find more in NWI area notably Griffith, Highland and a few in Munster. My question is if I am working in downtown what would be the "true" commute time with traffic from these locations, (in Houston a 14 mi. commute took 1 hr during rush hour but as little as 20 min. on off peak time). Also seems any NWI area would put the west Chicago burbs out of range for a decent everyday commute, if I worked in that area? One last note, reading postings about the negative views of some IL residents on NWI, was wondering would having a NWI address on a resume work against you in searching for a job in Chicago? I work in the design/architectural field and there is somewhat a superiority complex already within this industry.

You can't (reasonably) commute from NWI to the Western Chicago suburbs. The train from East Chicago to downtown doesn't take that long (35-40 minutes), but you have to add the time of driving to the station and walking to your office. Glenwood won't be a problem driving, though I wouldn't want to have to drive downtown on a daily basis (especially when weather and construction complicate things).

Who cares what IL people think of NWI? Realize that NWI would not exist as it is without people moving from IL to NWI on a regular basis (and doing much of their shopping there). You're much better off in NWI than the adjacent areas on the IL side of the border.

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by LIS123

You can't (reasonably) commute from NWI to the Western Chicago suburbs. The train from East Chicago to downtown doesn't take that long (35-40 minutes), but you have to add the time of driving to the station and walking to your office. Glenwood won't be a problem driving, though I wouldn't want to have to drive downtown on a daily basis (especially when weather and construction complicate things).

Who cares what IL people think of NWI? Realize that NWI would not exist as it is without people moving from IL to NWI on a regular basis (and doing much of their shopping there). You're much better off in NWI than the adjacent areas on the IL side of the border.

wow, on something ... we agree!

[cd771]

I recently moved to NW Indiana from Chicago and still commute to downtown for work. I'm pretty far so my commute is much longer then yours would be but its not too bad. Houses are much more affordable here. As for the negative view of hoosiers, unfortunately that does exist but not to the point where I think it would keep you from getting a job. At least I hope not. I get a lot of chatter about moving to Indiana but I think most of it is joking.

We occasionally drive from home to downtown and it takes us about 1 hour and 15 minutes during rush hour. I'm in Valparaiso so its a good 50 - 60 miles from downtown. The commute from Griffith wouldn't be very bad at all and I would expect 45 minutes is about right. Maybe less. Depends on traffic. You could also take the south shore train which is what we usually do. Commuting to the West burbs would be very difficult though.

Good luck.

[artemis]

If you're going to Navy Pier, I-90 and the Skyway Bridge is much faster.

I've left Griffith & made it downtown to Superior Street in less than a half hour via Cline Ave, I-90 and
the Skyway over to 94.

[chinmob]

Thanks Artemis for the exact time frame and the route to downtown