Relocating from North Carolina to Elgin, IL. (Chicago, Wheaton: apartment, rental)

[Sunshine41]

I am wondering how the cost of living in Elgin, Illinois compares to Raleigh, NC.
Raleigh, NC - The cost of regular gas is $2.97, nice apartment rental is around $1,000 for 3 bedrooms, water & sewage bill runs about $79 every 2 months, electric between $95-$130 during winter, gas usage inside home around $50 - summer, and cable & phone combine around $178 monthly.

Thanks for your help!!

[Windy City John]

You can expect housing to be 3x as much as Raleigh so you can find a nice 1 bedroom for $1000 (maybe a 2 bedroom). Elgin has some troubled areas-- better spend some time driving around-- you might look at south Elgin or St. Charles.

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

3k for a 3 bedroom in Elgin? I don't think that sounds reasonable. 3k for a 3br is the sort of price you'd find in some very pricey areas of the city(Chicago), but not in Elgin...

[Windy City John]

Sorry for the confusion-- and I was speaking in generalities about housing-- Actually you can rent 3br - 2 1/2 bath townhome on Oak Ridge in Elgin for $1500-$1600 a month

[tcs1366]

Sunshine -- in the left hand corner of this web page, click where is says City-Data.com that will take you to the very front page of this web site. From there, Click ILLINOIS and from there click ELGIN.

there are all sorts of great stats.
[that is how i actually found this web site, researching a city]

Also, there are some pretty seedy parts of Elgin, so do research the area thoroughly before you commit, or find a neighboring town.... as mentioned, S Elgin or St Chas.

Currently gas is over $3 a gallon, though i'm not positive on the costs in elgin, though the prices are climbing (I saw 3.15 last week along the highway, north of elgin)

gas for heating the apt has been going up too lately. for our home, we've gone up over 50% from last year. though some apts will include certain costs in your rent.

phone and cable, depending on the company you use.
AT&T for phone is a min of around $40, and $50ish for comcast [local cable company] for just the basics. I dont have any "bells and whistles" with my phone or cable, and that's about what i pay.

Hope this helps a bit ... and if you are narrowing down on an area, do post back with more questions.

Originally Posted by Sunshine41

I am wondering how the cost of living in Elgin, Illinois compares to Raleigh, NC.
Raleigh, NC - The cost of regular gas is $2.97, nice apartment rental is around $1,000 for 3 bedrooms, water & sewage bill runs about $79 every 2 months, electric between $95-$130 during winter, gas usage inside home around $50 - summer, and cable & phone combine around $178 monthly.

Thanks for your help!!

[JHaka]

I'm originally from Elgin and I don't think that your too far off on pricing. Depending on the "what part" of Elgin. I sooo agree with Windy City John as far as scoping out the areas. There is a reason why I left the area and headed a little west. Also, if you have kids, I would not recommend the school dist. Gang issues. Be more than happy to help you if you have any more questions.

J

[Inthesprawlpath]

Elgin is a mess.Mayor Schock(Spelling?) is trying to build it out west of rt.47 faster than thier plans are being thought out.I remember counting over 50,000 new homes already approved or in the approval process.They want to move the city offices west of Randall and make the new center of the city further west than it is.Elgin will rubberstamp "Approved" for every developer that comes along.The city is being very aggressive annexing as much as possible.If you can imagine Elgin now,picture lifting a copy of it up off it's foundation and setting it down again on it's west side.The city focuses on it's west side and is going to leave the east side in it's dust. We can't wait to leave.Mayor Schock wants to urbanize everything.

[HOWELL_STREET]

... Is the culural shock that you are probably going to experience in realtionship to Raliegh vs. Elgin.

During the entire decade of the 1960s, I lived in Hickory, NC. and during that time, I lived with my folks in their home.

After work, my father would visit the many, many recreational interests close to Hickory. Fishing in gorgeous mountainous lakes - - or driving to the mountains not too far away. Or visiting with super friendly neighbors next door - - or friends from his employment or through his church.

Right away, you are going to discover the lack of that when moving to Elgin, IL. Not that Raleigh, NC has all of that immediately in one's 'hand' but all of that is within grasp by residents living in Raleigh. However, not so with Elgin, IL residents.

So IF you are used to all of these gorgeous - scenery - OUTDOOR functions in NC, then condition yourself to throttle back with your recreational expectation in moving to Elgin, IL.

Sure, Elgin has small rivers, creeks and very small ponds that will provide fishing of a sorts. Maybe Gar fish or catfish? You will also be row boating out in a brown colored pond or river and nothing like the sky blue waters of North Carolina's Lake Norman or Lake James or Lake Lure.

In summary, the state of Illinois has no equal comparison to the beautiful topography of North Carlina's Piedmont Plateau areas.

IF I had a choice right now, I would return to NC to live since I am now retired. However, that is not the choice of my wife.

Carter Glass,
Wheaton, IL

[Inthesprawlpath]

An article from todays local paper about Elgin.
Daily Herald | Developer, Elgin at odds over rowhome development

[jojojohnson76]

I don't know why people can't just give positive advice, or truthful-but-helpful advice rather than saying "STAY WHERE YOU ARE!"