Relocating from England to Chicago, never been there, help!! (Arlington Heights: apartments, rentals)

[Very strawberry]

My husband has been offered a job in Chicago, based near O'Hare. We have 6 months to find somewhere to live but no option to visit.
My husband was there recently with work but only managed to see Arlington Heights and Schaumburg, he said Arlington Heights was really nice but I've read that it's really dull, is this true?! He said Schaumburg is not my kind of place e.g you have to drive everywhere, it's just a strip of malls and fast food, which I hate.
I want to live somewhere where I can lead a similar lifestyle that I do here in England. I have two children, a two year old boy and a 5 month old girl and I regularly go to baby groups/ parks/ toddler groups etc and obviously see friends and family who have kids ( which will not be an immediate option there) so a sense of community would be nice.
I have no idea if there is much discrimination over there, we don't encounter any here but I am mixed race and my husband is white so obviously nowhere where that could be a problem.
I walk everywhere, so am looking for somewhere with close local amenities, it takes me 15 minutes to walk into the city here, where there is great parks, shopping, restaurants, cafés, library etc, I don't want to be isolated, bored or lonely!
Also somewhere that's safe and friendly.

[oakparkdude]

I can sympathize how overwhelming a change this will be, especially without the option of visiting beforehand. Chicago and its suburbs are a huge metro of 10 million (granted, its smaller than greater London), not to mention the adjustment from the UK to US.

There are many nice suburbs/neighborhoods within commuting distance to Ohare, and while in America we have an overabundance of pedestrian-unfriendly/car-oriented areas, there are still many places in the Chicago region where one can live car-free or at least car-lite. Obviously, you choices will be restricted based on income, commuting distance to Ohare, crime levels, and availability/quality of schools. Luckily for you, the schools are not an immediate concern, and you can always move after renting for a year once you are able to scout out the area. I doubt discrimination will be a major concern anywhere you are considering.

To simplify, a few questions to narrow down the options:
1. What will be income/what is your housing budget?
2. How far from O'hare is an acceptable commute? Is public transit a commuting option?
3. How important is safety (crime)?/ What level of crime is tolerable/acceptable for you?
4. How important is walkability?
5. Will you so be employed/looking for work?

[dafoe]

If you don't want to drive everywhere, a suburb is out of question. You better live in the city. Where exactly depends on your budget.

Chicago is as multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial as it gets. Racism is certainly not dead, but I wouldn't worry about discrimination of any kind.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by dafoe

If you don't want to drive everywhere, a suburb is out of question. You better live in the city. Where exactly depends on your budget.

Chicago is as multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial as it gets. Racism is certainly not dead, but I wouldn't worry about discrimination of any kind.

In general this is true, although a few of the older suburbs have walkability and density rivaling parts of the city.

[Very strawberry]

He will be earning $57000 for the first year, then it will almost double. So renting first is definitely our plan.
It's hard to say our budget as I'm unfamiliar with the cost of living over there.
We lived in London, near Brixton before we had children, which I considered fairly safe but I'd want to be somewhere with less crime than that now, where I'd feel safe walking around in unfamiliar places with the kids and going to parks etc.
My husband doesn't want to live in the city unfortunately and won't want more than 30 mins commute, he is most likely to be driving but I'm sure would be flexible if I wanted the car.
Walkability is hugely important to me, I avoid driving wherever possible.

[dafoe]

I used to live in Des Plaines. Could be ideal for you. It is about 15 minutes from O'hare and if you live in the downtown Des Plaines most of the places are within walkable distance including grocery store, gym, tanning salon, a bank, few fast food restaurants, a four story medical building with many doctors and specialists, an old movie theater, the town library, local train (Metra) station etc. Here is the place I am talking about: http://goo.gl/KR6Hqr

If I were you, I would enter address of your husband's employer and start searching. You can find everything online. I moved around quite a bit in US from Downtown Chicago to Connecticut, Massachusetts, NYC and SF. You can figure out commuting distance, commuting time, rent, availability of apartments (or flats), amount of crime, average income etc etc. If you spend few days on google maps and google.com you will find out more than anyone of us would ever know. Good luck.

[chitownperson]

I've lived in Kennington, Elephant & Castle and Victoria for a few years, so I can understand where you're coming from. "Integrated diversity", good schools, safety, walkability, proximity to the city and good public transportation, were on the top of my list when I was looking for a house in the Chicago suburbs. We are a mixed race couple too, have lived in a number of countries and settled on Oak Park, and have been happy here. There are lots of mixed race couples with kids, and same sex couples with kids in Oak Park, to the extent where it's not even a talking point. I say "integrated diversity" because the Chicago area is a highly segregated place, possibly the most segregated city in the US, despite being highly diverse. The demographics of a place may show a lot of Chinese, Indian and white people, but you may find that those groups largely stay to themselves.

The village is dense enough where you can walk to a lot of activities, though you may need a car for grocery shopping unless you live in relative walking distance to a grocery store... But even then most things are accessible without a car. You even need a car for a lot of the city of Chicago to do similar things. It's about a 25 minute drive to O'hare without traffic, and obviously more with traffic, so your husband would need to decide what an acceptable commute would be for him. It has 2 EL lines into the city (the London Tube equivalent), one Metra (a commuter train) in Oak Park, and one just outside. A few buses and a the 290 highway that takes you into the city.

Regarding safety, Oak Park is on the border of the Austin area of Chicago, which is a very rough area and you will not want to go there. Saying that, there is very little spill over crime, and the crime that does happen in Oak Park is mostly crimes of opportunities... Things like someone left their garage door unlocked and got their lawnmower stolen. If you stay away from Austin, and don't walking around on the border at 11pm, you'll be fine. A lot of that is just common sense and city smarts, but if you've lived in Brixton you don't really have anything to worry about. I wouldn't have moved here if I felt like I was putting my family in danger.

It's a really good place for kids and adults alike. A lot of park district activities, village events, eateries, award winning library cinema etc... It was also the home of Frank Lloyd Wright (the US version of Charles Rennie Mackintosh), so there are some amazing houses around here. It also attracts a lot of educated professionals and academics, but has a relatively diverse range of economic groups, is it's not a place where everyone is rich, which is one of it's positives IMO.

Anyway, I think it's worth looking at, even for the sake of comparison. Know where here is going to be close to what London is like, other than New York, but I've given my suggestion with your criteria in mind. Good luck with your search, and feel free to message me if you would like a more thorough look at the pros and cons of Oak Park.

[Schnooks]

I lived in Arlington Heights for 13 years.. it has a great community feel, was able to find mom groups and walk to town.. we rented a house for around $1500 a month. It's a very pleasant and desirable town that many married couples in the city move out to when they start a family. O'Hare is only maybe 20 minutes. I wouldn't want to live in Schaumburg either for the reasons you stated.

Not sure what kind of rentals there are avail in the downtown area.. it could be tight since it seems buyers were dealing with low inventory this summer and not able to find a house. You could join this mom's group online and you might get some tips or people who live near town who may know of rentals near them. AH Moms - Baby, toddler, preschooler, & grade school kids in the Chicago Northwest Suburbs

[Very strawberry]

Wow, thank you so much everyone for the info, this is the first forum I have ever posted on and I'm so glad I did.
Does anyone know anything about Glen Ellen and Wheaton? I've read Wheaton is quite a religious place, that's not really what I mean but I can't think of another way to describe it!
Thank you!

[Very strawberry]

Chitownperson, I'm not sure how to message you, sorry I'm a total novice with forums but I'd really like to know more about oak park, thanks!