Chicago, America's best city for the price? (Peoria, Lincoln: houses, neighborhoods)

[fightforlove]

It's simple: less desireable region. Look at the amenities surrounding these cities. If you live in SF, you have LA, SD, Portland, Seattle and Las Vegas all a car ride away. You also have an ocean, mountains, wine country, yosemite nat'l park and Lake tahoe. Chicago has much fewer exciting attractions surrounding it, it's a less desireable region. NY and SF are big houses in a ritzy neighborhood close to the city center. Chicago is the big, ritzy house in the ho-hum working class neighborhood across the railroad tracks on the other side of town.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by fightforlove

It's simple: less desireable region. Look at the amenities surrounding these cities. If you live in SF, you have LA, SD, Portland, Seattle and Las Vegas all a car ride away. You also have an ocean, mountains, wine country, yosemite nat'l park and Lake tahoe. Chicago has much fewer exciting attractions surrounding it, it's a less desireable region. NY and SF are big houses in a ritzy neighborhood close to the city center. Chicago is the big, ritzy house in the ho-hum working class neighborhood across the railroad tracks on the other side of town.

Yeah, you need to get out more. Gold Coast is near railroad tracks in a working class neighborhood?

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by fightforlove

It's simple: less desireable region. Look at the amenities surrounding these cities. If you live in SF, you have LA, SD, Portland, Seattle and Las Vegas all a car ride away. You also have an ocean, mountains, wine country, yosemite nat'l park and Lake tahoe. Chicago has much fewer exciting attractions surrounding it, it's a less desireable region. NY and SF are big houses in a ritzy neighborhood close to the city center. Chicago is the big, ritzy house in the ho-hum working class neighborhood across the railroad tracks on the other side of town.

You've made LOTS of friends in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, etc.

[fightforlove]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Yeah, you need to get out more. Gold Coast is near railroad tracks in a working class neighborhood?

No, but Chicago as a whole is, metaphorically speaking of course.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by MikeNigh

From what I've been researching... Chicago is one of the world's few Alpha + cities (from Global city - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and on that scale it is only under New York. It seems like the value of the home is incredibly low compared to San Fran or NYC. What exactly is the catch? Just colder weather and being mid west?

Yeah, pretty much. Location location location. NYC had already established itself as the nation's commercial hub while Chicago was still a swamp and has had the upper hand ever since (and always will since it's a coastal city), and of course we'll never compete with the weather on the west coast. We also have fewer natural barriers to building stuff, so it's cheaper to do it here.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by fightforlove

No, but Chicago as a whole is, metaphorically speaking of course.

No, no it's not. If we're talking about where the nice houses are in Chicago, most of the nice houses in Chicago are not in working class neighborhoods at all. There are some nice old houses in some bad neighborhoods, (like the Austin historical district which is close to Oak Park), but as a whole? No.

Go to Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Near north in general, Lakeview, Wicker Park/Bucktown, Hyde Park, Buena Park, etc. These are far from working class neighborhoods

[Drover]

Originally Posted by MikeNigh

Found this COL vs Paycheck study... Chicago is 17th past even Pittsburgh

The Cities Where A Paycheck Stretches The Furthest | Newgeography.com

Ehm... when I moved from Pittsburgh to Chicago, my rent nearly tripled for an apartment half the size. You can still buy a perfectly habitable 3-bedroom house in a reasonably safe neighborhood in Pittsburgh for under $100K. That won't even buy you an empty lot in my neighborhood, which isn't even a particularly sought-after neighborhood.

Heck, I'd argue Pittsburgh has a similar bang-for-the-buck as Chicago, maybe even better. It offers a solid urban environment for dirt-cheap. But you won't mistake Pittsburgh for anything approximating an Alpha+ city if that's the type of environment you need.

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by Drover

Ehm... when I moved from Pittsburgh to Chicago, my rent nearly tripled for an apartment half the size. You can still buy a perfectly habitable 3-bedroom house in a reasonably safe neighborhood in Pittsburgh for under $100K. That won't even buy you an empty lot in my neighborhood, which isn't even a particularly sought-after neighborhood.

Heck, I'd argue Pittsburgh has a similar bang-for-the-buck as Chicago, maybe even better. It offers a solid urban environment for dirt-cheap. But you won't mistake Pittsburgh for anything approximating an Alpha+ city if that's the type of environment you need.

Yes, we've been pushing the bang-for-your-buck to the limit here, but we agree that the cost of living is not the only consideration. We can pitch low housing costs all we want, but there are many who will still refuse to budge, and they have many reasons why..

[Drover]

Originally Posted by MassVt

Yes, we've been pushing the bang-for-your-buck to the limit here, but we agree that the cost of living is not the only consideration. We can pitch low housing costs all we want, but there are many who will still refuse to budge, and they have many reasons why..

Yeah, one has to put "cheap housing" or "cheap cost of living" into perspective. Chicago is quite cheap compared to most of its peer cities, but it's still one of the more expensive cities in country.

[fightforlove]

Originally Posted by marothisu

No, no it's not. If we're talking about where the nice houses are in Chicago, most of the nice houses in Chicago are not in working class neighborhoods at all. There are some nice old houses in some bad neighborhoods, (like the Austin historical district which is close to Oak Park), but as a whole? No.

Go to Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Near north in general, Lakeview, Wicker Park/Bucktown, Hyde Park, Buena Park, etc. These are far from working class neighborhoods

I think you kind of missed my point. My point is that Chicago--in comparison to more expensive cities like NY, SF, LA--is like a big, grand house located in a less desireable neighborhood (ie the upper midwest). Yes, Chicago has fancy neighborhoods, like rooms in a big ritzy house, and the house is located in the blue-collar neighborhood (the midwestern region). So, to answer the OP's original question, that is the obvious reason that Chicago is a relatively cheap global city.