Young Family... Where to live (Chicago, Evanston: apartments, how much, neighborhoods)

[newbiealert]

I have read tons of threads and am a bit overwhelmed with information. We are moving for a new job in Oct and I know nothing about Chicago 1st hand. I am 30, my husband is 28 and I have a 3 year old. My job is downtown (Canal and Washington) and I want to have a relatively short commute (30 minutes total). I want to live in an area that you can walk to entertainment, fitness classes, grocery stores, resturants, etc, is safe and still has a great elementry school close for my son. I am willing to pay for up to 2K a month for a 2BD 2BATH but obviously less is better. Any suggestions?

[pete6032]

Originally Posted by newbiealert

I have read tons of threads and am a bit overwhelmed with information. We are moving for a new job in Oct and I know nothing about Chicago 1st hand. I am 30, my husband is 28 and I have a 3 year old. My job is downtown (Canal and Washington) and I want to have a relatively short commute (30 minutes total). I want to live in an area that you can walk to entertainment, fitness classes, grocery stores, resturants, etc, is safe and still has a great elementry school close for my son. I am willing to pay for up to 2K a month for a 2BD 2BATH but obviously less is better. Any suggestions?

You are in a very desirable work location when it comes to transit. You are just a couple blocks away from the Washington and Wells loop stop, as well as Ogilvie station, so you have many public transportation options within 30 minutes. Some neighborhoods that have a lot of families that would be a 30 minute commute for you would be Roscoe Village (brown line Paulina stop), North Center (Addison, Irving Park brown line stops), Northwestern Lakeview, Lincoln Square (Damen, Western brown line), and Ravenswood (Ravenswood metra UP-North line or Montrose brown line). Of those neighborhoods, Lakeview has a bit younger crowd while the others are mostly young families. All of these neighborhoods have walk-to entertainment. Generally the closer you are to the transit stops, the more restaurants/bars that are in walkable distance. Your budget should be do-able in most of these neighborhoods for a 2BR 1 bath. 2 BR 2 BA are not common here and you'll pay a big premium for another bathroom. You should be able to get downtown within 30 minutes at all of those stops, maybe save for the further north brown line stops, which could put your commute up to 40 minutes.

Here is a neighborhood map and a link to metra rail. Padmapper and Domu are good for searching apartments.

I can't comment on schools but hopefully someone else can help you out with that.

[jsk1983]

In addition to the CTA you'll be close to Union Station and Ogilvie so neighborhoods near Metra stations are an option too and open up the suburbs as well. If you want a walkable neighborhood you might want to look at Oak Park and Evanston.

[chet everett]

Given that the OP has a fairly realistic budget, several years before their child needs to be enrolled school and the fact their work location is about ideally situated as one could hope for, they literally can pick any desirable part of Chicago to focus on.

They probably can start in Lincoln Park and if they want to expand their search to cover areas that might be see their budget get a bigger place expand their parameters to include Lakeview as well as Roscoe Village and maybe Lincoln Square.

[newbiealert]

Originally Posted by pete6032

You are in a very desirable work location when it comes to transit. You are just a couple blocks away from the Washington and Wells loop stop, as well as Ogilvie station, so you have many public transportation options within 30 minutes. Some neighborhoods that have a lot of families that would be a 30 minute commute for you would be Roscoe Village (brown line Paulina stop), North Center (Addison, Irving Park brown line stops), Northwestern Lakeview, Lincoln Square (Damen, Western brown line), and Ravenswood (Ravenswood metra UP-North line or Montrose brown line). Of those neighborhoods, Lakeview has a bit younger crowd while the others are mostly young families. All of these neighborhoods have walk-to entertainment. Generally the closer you are to the transit stops, the more restaurants/bars that are in walkable distance. Your budget should be do-able in most of these neighborhoods for a 2BR 1 bath. 2 BR 2 BA are not common here and you'll pay a big premium for another bathroom. You should be able to get downtown within 30 minutes at all of those stops, maybe save for the further north brown line stops, which could put your commute up to 40 minutes.

Here is a neighborhood map and a link to metra rail. Padmapper and Domu are good for searching apartments.

I can't comment on schools but hopefully someone else can help you out with that.

Thanks so much for that info. In all those areas that you named, is there one that you would recommend more than others? Are there pros and cons to each area?

[marothisu]

I would recommend Lincoln Square or Ravenswood. There is a Metra stop on Lawrence Avenue which goes to Ogilvie Station, which is right near where you'll be working. The ride is around 20 minutes last I checked. that neighborhood is safe, walkable, etc. and also is served by the Brown Line city train (commute on that would be more like 40 minutes to your workplace but nonetheless is great the neighborhood has it). The main activity center for the neighborhood is on Lincoln Avenue but there's stuff on Lawrence, Western, Montrose, etc too. There is a big, nice Mariano's Grocery store near the Metra stop too and of course smaller markets elsewhere in the neighborhood.

There are a few members of the forum who live in that area with kids in the elementary schools there who approve of them. There are a lot of young families in the area. Laid back place but still enough to do. CC Vlajos

[newbiealert]

Thanks so much! So far that seems to be the way to go (Lincoln Square/ Ravenswood). Does anyone have an idea of how much that area costs for a 2 BD and which elementry schools are preferred?

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by newbiealert

Thanks so much! So far that seems to be the way to go (Lincoln Square/ Ravenswood). Does anyone have an idea of how much that area costs for a 2 BD and which elementry schools are preferred?

I'd say that 2 bedroom would range somewhere between $1600/month and $2000/month. Here's an example of one for $1500/month. Kind of half way between the Metra stop and Lincoln Avenue, but also not far from Brown Line stops. Looks like it's closed to a few gyms too.


2177 W Giddings St # 1, Chicago, IL 60625 | Zillow

[pete6032]

I agree with marothisu.

[sfcambridge]

Originally Posted by pete6032

I agree with marothisu.

Me too. Great advice, as always.

Go with the slightly cheaper apartment and live close to Metra for your commute instead of the Brown line.

Welcome to Chicago.