Possible Relocation-Is Hyde Park my only option? (Chicago, Washington: apartments, insurance)

[UniversalMind]

Another relocation/neighborhood suggestion thread...sorry guys!

A little background info:

I'm a 26 year old female from the Detroit area. I've always been attracted to large cities and the lifestyle that comes with it--walkability, public transportation, etc. Obviously you can't get that in Detroit, so I decided to send out resumes to Chicago and I've finally received a job offer.

I've just been offered a job at a company located right off the 115/Kensington stop on the Metra Electic line. The issue here is that my plan for moving to Chicago involves me selling my car--I want to throw the $$ at my student loans and I just don't see the need for one if I'm moving to a city with one of the best public transportation options in the country.

So, is Hyde Park my only option? I know it's a decent neighborhood (the neighborhoods surrounding it are a non issue for me), it just doesn't seem to be as lively as areas on the northside, which is why I'm hoping there are other neighborhoods to consider. I'd like for my commute to be less than one hour. According to Google, I can get from Wicker Park to work in an hour in the mornings, but it'd take an hour and a half on the way back. How accurate are these transit times?


Thanks in advance.

[oakparkdude]

You could live walking distance from some of the downtown Metra Electric stations. From Millenium Park station its only 25 minutes to 115th.

[marothisu]

That's cool, congrats. Hyde Park is a nice neighborhood, but you're correct in that there's not a lot going on. The bad part about it is the transit going from Hyde Park into other neighborhoods isn't as good. There's actually no CTA train going through it and the nearest one is in Washington Park, which is a fairly shady neighborhood and not too safe, especially for a female, at night. You have to deal with buses, which take longer because they have to go through traffic whereas trains don't have to do that, they just have to make sure they're far enough behind the train infront of them and are near schedule.

What is the max commute you'd like and what's your budget for things? You said something about selling you car to pay down school loans. So it looks like from Hyde Park down to 115th/Kensington is $85 monthly. From the Loop, say if you wanted to live in a Wicker Park or something, would be $121 monthly.

When using Google maps for transit times, the transit times for the actual rides are accurate themselves for the most part. It doesn't take into account when there's a lot of passengers on the CTA for example, and it takes longer for people to get on and off, or some slow track areas, but I find it fairly accurate. What you might not have seen is that Google also factors in waiting time and walking time. So the time it takes from the northern most stop on the ME down to where you need to go is a little over 25 minutes. From Hyde Park it's a little less of course.

Would like to know more about what type of budget you're on and what the max commute time you'd be willing to do is..Also, even if you lived in Hyde Park, it's possible you might have to take the bus to the ME stop if you lived far enough away from it, so you might have to get a CTA pass of some kind anyway.

[UniversalMind]

Thank you both so much for the reply. I appreciate the response.

I looked into the areas around the downtown ME stations-way, WAY above my price range. I'm looking for a 1 bedroom @ $1400/month MAX. $1200 or less would be ideal. As far as commuting goes, I'm OK with one hour. A lot of the apartments I look at on Google maps say it's one hour down, one and a half back. That extra half hour on the way home just sounds unbearable to me. I'm also not too concerned about the cost of the Metra/CTA pass. I figure it's still cheaper than gas/insurance/parking spot/tickets.

[rparz]

Being a Chicago native, an hour and a half commute time is essentially what I considered to be average.

Being that your job location is really in the middle of nowhere, that seems like an acceptable commute, and you're absolutely lucky you don't even need a car to do it.


Read a book, load up the ipod etc.


It's either that, or live in Indiana.

[JBVirtuoso]

I think you should just stick with Hyde Park. The eastern part of the neighborhood (near the Metra stations) has great transit, despite what our resident bus-haters will tell you. If you need block after block of hopping bars, you won't find it in Hyde Park, but that's a bit silly anyway. I think it's much better to commute to have a long commute to nightlife than to have a long commute to work. Hyde Park itself is very walkable if you live east of Dorchester and north of 57th. The only thing it's really missing is a bunch of bars. And even then, Hyde Park is within an hour by public transit of pretty much anywhere you'd want to go in the city.

Again, I wouldn't recommend living west of Dorchester, as convenience drops off pretty dramatically. Another drawback for Hyde Park is that transit doesn't really go there past 1 am, so cabs become necessary. They're not very expensive if you head to the South Loop first and catch one there.

However, if you really must live somewhere with bars, Wicker Park might be your best option. The north side lakefront neighborhoods within a reasonable commuting zone are probably too expensive You can find affordable places to live in the South Loop near Metra stations. I'm not sure exactly what prices there are like now, but a studio on your budget should definitely be feasible. A 1-bedroom may or may not be out there. But in my opinion, the South Loop doesn't really have more going on than Hyde Park does, so I'm not sure it's worth the price and the extra commute time. It's just a bit closer to hip neighborhoods.

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by rparz

Being a Chicago native, an hour and a half commute time is essentially what I considered to be average.

This is Chicago, not San Francisco. I don't think you will find too many people living with 90-minute commutes on a long-term basis.

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by UniversalMind

According to Google, I can get from Wicker Park to work in an hour in the mornings, but it'd take an hour and a half on the way back. How accurate are these transit times?

Assuming your looking at commute times with public trans, why does Google show a different duration for the morning versus evening commute? Is the evening train slower?

Others have mentioned, you should be able to find South Loop lodging in the same price range as Hyde Park. West Loop might be an option also.

Wicker Park, I don't understand the commute - Walk to Blue Line, ride downtown, walk to the Electric, ride to 115th, and walk to work? What an annoying number of walks and changes. That walk from the Blue Line to the ME will be painful in winter!

[rparz]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

This is Chicago, not San Francisco. I don't think you will find too many people living with 90-minute commutes on a long-term basis.

Just moved to the Bay Area 2 months ago...No one here has any commute, and rush hour is a joke. The Dan Ryan would eat these people alive.


That said, before I moved to the city from the burbs, I spent the better part of ten years hoping my ride home was going to be under two hours. Yes, I averaged 40k miles a year and went through cars like tissues.

[chicagobear]

I would look at near the South Loop Metra stations. Hyde Park is really boring and isolated.