I want to move from Houston to Chicago... Are there many differences? (Cicero: high crime, house)

[nana053]

Originally Posted by MobileDave

I want to move to Chicago because after living in Houston for so long I don't think I could move to a smaller city. New York is too big and L.A. is too wierd. I love food and freezing weather so I figure Chicago would be the only other place as diverse as Houston.

I am sick of the 100+ days a year we spend over 90F and sufficate in 70F+ dew points. (This year we've already had 87 days and on are track for like 140+.) I'm also tired of nighttime temps that don't drop below 80F and winters that feel like an ocean breeze.


Would I have a hard time adjusting to Chicago life?

I don't think you will have a hard time adjusting if you like cold weather and love food. I moved the opposite direction and hate it here in Houston mostly because of the weather and my allergies. I don't have a choice right now though.

There are lots of similarities, but also lots of differences (positive ones for Chicago, imo)

1. Most of Chicago is walkable and can be gotten around on public transportation. It's not like Houston where there is a small area of public transit and walking availability. Buses and trains are also bike friendly if you like to bike. Houston is only now considering putting bike racks on their buses. I got along fine without driving for the most part in Chicago, though I had a car for places outside the city.

2. Chicago, unlike Houston, has easy access to the beach *without* driving for the most part. Lake Michigan is quite beautiful. It's not the gulf, but in many respects it is better. In general, the beaches are clean. They are also free in the city, though there is a fee in the burbs.

3. Chicago has zoning. You are unlikely to live in an apartment next to a trailer park. Business has its areas and homes have theirs for the most part.

4. Chicago has fantastic ethnic food. It probably doesn't have the variety of Tex-Mex, but there is genuine food of many origins to be found from Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Polish, Italian, Greek, middle Eastern, Japanese, real Mexican, etc. I have yet to find a decent gyro in Houston. There are lots of good places in Chicago for this.

5. Depending on what you like, the music scene, the theater scene, the art scene are all *more* diverse than Houston.

6. The cost of living in Chicago will be quite a bit higher than in Houston. Housing can be especially costly compared to what you get in Houston. Food and other essentials are higher, but not so much. The sales tax is higher and Illinois has an income tax. Property taxes are high as well.

7. Do you have a job in Chicago? I would not suggest moving without one unless you have a considerable cushion to work with.

Good luck and enjoy.

[RingWalk]

Originally Posted by Isotope-C14

Next time I grill Brats, hopefully all 100% factory farmed johnsonvilles, I'll invite you over for sure!!!!

HHHAHAHAHAHA

Totally I hope they have enough preservatives.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by RingWalk

If you love food you'll love Chicago. Eating and drinking is pretty much our thing here. I would imagine, no offense, that it's a far more interesting city than Houston.

The winters are brutal but...without them we'd have all those yahoo granolas from San Francisco and Portland living here, so I'm cool with them.

This is correct. Though we do have those SF and Portland types, just not 90% of the population.

[chikid]

Originally Posted by RingWalk

That's hilarious. I spent a week in Boulder Colorado once and had the same experience. People talked so much about the environment that toward the end of the trip I was just staring at them in disbelief, thinking, 'Are you for real? More of this?' It was like a religion. Even here I sometimes get sick of people talking about food too much...farm to table local ingredient blah blah blah...KILL IT AND EAT IT AND SHUT UP.

I agree. It's like they force it down your throats. I feel like they have good intentions, but to me are equivalent to the bible thumpers trying to force their views on everyone else instead of just letting people be.

[chris0681]

Houston is growing, and may overtake Chicago in population soon... Chicago lost some 200,000 people the last 10 years. Houston may be hot, but alot of people are moving there and to Texas in general beause the job situation seems to be growing more there then anywhere in the midwest.. people in the midwest are leaving in a hurry in general. Chicago also has some budget issues, I dont know how Houston's budget is but Chicago's budget isnt looking too good.

[Dallas101]

Chicago has a much worse economy than Houston, so beware. Chicago is declining and Houston is booming.

Also Chicago is much more racially segregated.

On the positive side, better transit, much bigger downtown, and better professional sports culture in Chicago.

[Lorielicious]

Originally Posted by Dallas101

Also Chicago is much more racially segregated.

Yes. This is the one thing about Chicago that surprised me and continues to disappoint me. There's segregation here that's beyond just class; people of different skin colors simply do not live or hang out in the same places. Kind of feels like stepping into a time warp.

[chikid]

Originally Posted by Lorielicious

Yes. This is the one thing about Chicago that surprised me and continues to disappoint me. There's segregation here that's beyond just class; people of different skin colors simply do not live or hang out in the same places. Kind of feels like stepping into a time warp.

Depends where in the city. The southside and west side are ridiculously segregated. With the exception of Lakeview, Lincoln Park and the Near North Side, the north side and northwest side are not that segregated and fairly well integrated. Some neighborhoods more than others, but the overall the nortside is more diverse and integrated.

[Lorielicious]

I disagree with your assessment of North side racial integration. Go to, say, a busy restaurant in Logan Square or Roscoe Village, for example, and count the number of non-white faces. I'll place the over/under at 4.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Dallas101

Chicago has a much worse economy than Houston, so beware. Chicago is declining and Houston is booming.

Chicago's economy is not nearly as bad as you've made it out to be. Nor Houston's (or Texas's) as good. Houston's unemployment rate is lower than Chicago's. But at 9% in June (yes, Houston in June was at 9%), it's not exactly something to crow about. Both have rates that have bounced around quite a lot, both up and down.

Originally Posted by Dallas101

Also Chicago is much more racially segregated.

Chicago is no more racially segregated than any of the other large northern cities, including famously diverse New York. When it comes to segregation, Houston benefits from having the vast majority of its population growth happen after the end of Jim Crow. The North may not have had Jim Crow the same extent of the South, but it still had racism and since much of Chicago's growth happened before the 1960s, its neighborhood patterns reflect that. They're slowing changing, but changing neighborhood composition generally takes several generations unless there's some pressing need for it to happen faster.

Originally Posted by Dallas101

On the positive side, better transit, much bigger downtown, and better professional sports culture in Chicago.

No disagreement with this