Anyone Move from New York to Chicago? Thoughts? (Lincoln, Washington: real estate, renters)

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by MidwesternGal1

My friend from NY feels sort of 'meh' about Chi because she misses the social life she had here, so it makes me wonder what else other former New Yorkers wish they knew before moving to Chicago. Which is also why I wonder if it would be difficult to make friends there. I always had the feeling previously that Chi was a major destination for Midwest college grads, so I hope it's not just one big frat party as a result. I know there are people of every walk of life there and age bracket, but I'm curious as to that vibe!

Well, I don't want to offend your friend but this is what happens when you move to a new city especially when you know nobody or you barely know anybody. I had a great social life before I moved to Chicago. When I moved to Chicago I knew 0 people, and while I hung out with people I met through work, they weren't my cup of tea. So it did take me 6-9 months before I started to actually get a social life in Chicago I was happy with. However, in this day and age with the internet, that should never happen. You can't just expect an amazing social life to fall into your lap when you move to a new city especially if you don't know many people or know nobody. You have to be proactive at this. While you could certainly meet people at the bar who share your love of foreign films and architecture, the chances of you finding those people who you could hang out with is way better at ....a foreign film or architecture event. If you're an outgoing person especially, you should have no problems finding other like minded people if you're attending these types of events or whatever you want to call them.

Anyway, I guarantee your friend could have moved to DC, LA, San Francisco, Seattle, etc, etc and be experiencing the same exact thing. This is not a "Chicago" thing - it's "I'm new to the city and don't know much of anyone" thing. You need to be proactive in the beginning with this. I have a friend from LA who moved to Chicago who experienced the same thing, but he actually expected things to just fall into his lap. He was angry that he didn't know of all the events in town within a month of moving here. He literally expected them to just fall into his lap because in LA they did (because he had friends who told him about all the events). So in Chicago he continued being like this for awhile, but recently started going to events and meeting people. Voila he's all of a sudden telling me how happy he is with his social life. He could have saved himself the trouble from the beginning if he didn't expect these things to just fall into his lap and put himself in situations to guarantee meeting like-minded people about very particular things he's interested in.

As far as the destination thing goes - yes it's a big destination for midwest kids just like NYC is a big destination for NE kids, SF is a big destination for kids up there, LA is a big destination for SoCal/Arizona kids, etc. If you want to know where most of the people who move to Chicago from the coasts/internationally move to who are young and single, it's usually the downtown areas, Wicker Park, Logan Square, and Ukrainian Village (though not always of course). Areas like Lincoln Park and Lakeview, while there are cool spots in them, have a pretty big concentration of semi recent Big 10 grads. There's some of that in River North, but go to an area like Logan Square and it's not like that at all.

[reppin_the_847]

marothisu is absolutely right. Chicago is not some sleepy backwater cowtown in comparison to NYC lol. On the contrary, it's about the closest thing you will find to NYC anywhere between the East & West Coasts. If you're in a busier area like River North, the Gold Coast, Bucktown / Wicker Park, Lincoln Park or Lakeview, etc. you should have no problems transitioning as these types of areas are full of transplants, activity & nightlife.

Originally Posted by marothisu

The percentage of single (i.e. non married) people is actually less in Chicago than NYC believe it or not. Not by a lot, but it is. While Chicago is a little bit more laid back than NYC, it's not a MASSIVE difference where you'd feel like a fish out of water. You make it sound as if you're considering a move to Indiana or something where people don't do **** except sit around, work, and have family time and go to sleep at 10pm. I've been essentially living in Manhattan for the last 3 months and I've had absolutely zero problems transitioning between the two cities. NYC is busier on the streets on average (though there's some areas of Chicago that have good activity too, but by virtue of having more people and being denser, at least on average in Manhattan and areas of Brooklyn are more for sure), but I find the stuff that people attribute to NYC like "people really walk fast" to really not be that much different than Chicago. If anything, I find that stuff to be completely overstated - I'm usually the fastest person around me in Manhattan and always passing people on the sidewalks.

But, it's funny you kind of think Chicago is like Indiana or something.I actually laughed out loud when I read this. The two cities have both similarities and differences for sure. Some things may seem foreign to you and some may seem pretty familiar. However, out of all the cities you could move to in the US, Chicago is one of the closest cities to NYC in terms of what it offers, how it offers it, etc.

[marothisu]

^^^ Sorry, I actually meant the percentage of married people is actually less in Chicago, but yeah it's about the closest thing you're going to find in the US (along with maybe parts of SF and Philadelphia).

[Chubsworth]

I dare say that if you enjoy NYC as it is in 2014, you probably won't be that into Chicago.

If you don't feel like you are getting anywhere in NYC, you feel kind of overwhelmed and out of place in NYC, you are midwestern at heart, yet you still are into living in a big city, you might like it.

Most of your assumptions are way off the mark (Chicago is a "big small town" and "chill" and a place to get married and be a "soccer mom") so you should probably visit a few times before committing to a move.

[Lorielicious]

"Big small town" nails Chicago exactly.

I know to people born and bred in the Midwest it doesn't seem like the case, but coming from the coasts, Chicago seems small towny even if it is a big city. I lived in Minneapolis briefly and came to Chicago thinking it would be more like the big city I grew up in, and it's a large city, yeah, but it feels just like anywhere else in flyover land, just bigger. It's basically Minneapolis with an L train. Again, to Midwesterners, doesn't feel that way. To coastal folks, expect a culture shock.

[Chubsworth]

Chicago is just like Minneapolis, if Minneapolis was ten times bigger, had a downtown that people actually go to, had a public transportation system consisting of more than one train, was less than half white, had almost no scandinavian influence, was 35% black and 30% hispanic, was 22% foreign born, brought back the murderapolis murder rate of the 1990s, had a gigantic lake, a wall of skyscrapers, the most corrupt city government and was located in one of the most corrupt states in the country.

[Lorielicious]

Oh please. Chicago Loop dies at precisely 7:00pm and is a ghost town on the weekends. Yes, Chicago has more black people than Mpls, but it's absurdly segregated, so if you live on the north side, which something dangerously near 100% of transplants do, it's lily whiter than Scandinavia itself. Skyscrapers, shmyscrapers. We already get that Chicago is bigger than other towns in the Midwest, but it has the same Mayberry feel and mentality. I don't even have a little bit of doubt in my mind that if the OP is a native New Yorker and moves to Chicago, she will feel the culture shift. The Midwest and the rest of the country are different planets.

[Chubsworth]

She's from Michigan, she could be right at home in Lincoln Park. Let's be real, Chicago is not a "big small town." Nor is it much like Minneapolis, outside of Andersonville. If anything, NYC these days feels more like a big small town than Chicago does.

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by Lorielicious

"Big small town" nails Chicago exactly.

I know to people born and bred in the Midwest it doesn't seem like the case, but coming from the coasts, Chicago seems small towny even if it is a big city. I lived in Minneapolis briefly and came to Chicago thinking it would be more like the big city I grew up in, and it's a large city, yeah, but it feels just like anywhere else in flyover land, just bigger. It's basically Minneapolis with an L train. Again, to Midwesterners, doesn't feel that way. To coastal folks, expect a culture shock.

It sounds like you confined yourself to a few areas and don't really know anything about Chicago.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Lorielicious

Oh please. Chicago Loop dies at precisely 7:00pm and is a ghost town on the weekends.

This is true, but nobody goes to the Loop to do much of anything social at night minus some musicals/plays and a few restaurants. It's like being in the Financial District in NYC and complaining that there aren't many people around after 7pm (well, I guess except for Thursdays on Stone Street), or the CBD in London and saying the same thing. It's pretty much the same situation there. Downtown Chicago is a lot more than just the Loop and everybody who knows about Chicago knows that you don't go to the Loop looking for a lot of fun especially at night, but you go to other areas in downtown for that. Chicago is not even close to the only city that suffers from this - even NYC does.