Chicago population drop (Washington, Nashville, Louisville: rent, low crime, taxi)

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The latest general released info strongly contradicts that assessment -- Illinois unemployment rate creeps up to 6.5 percent in March - Chicago Tribune

Could this have anything to do with Caterpillar downsizing? What about ADM in Decatur? Blue collar workers aren't in high demand in IL ATM. Perhaps they won't be for a while. White collar employment is trending upwards. You don't need wins across the board to make progress. There will inevitably be setbacks.

[King Harold]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The latest general released info strongly contradicts that assessment -- Illinois unemployment rate creeps up to 6.5 percent in March - Chicago Tribune

As of February, Chicagoland added 62,100 jobs over the previous year. I'm not sure I would say 37,900 jobs is "just shy" of 100,000. If the trend continued, there would be about another 14K jobs added since Feb.

Surprisingly, considering this forum seems to think white collar yuppie Chicago is booming and blue collar Chicago is dead, the largest job growth in Chicago was in Construction followed by Transportation and Trade. White collar jobs barely grew at all.

Chicago Area Employment ? February 2016 : Midwest Information Office : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by King Harold

As of February, Chicagoland added 62,100 jobs over the previous year. I'm not sure I would say 37,900 jobs is "just shy" of 100,000. If the trend continued, there would be about another 14K jobs added since Feb.

Surprisingly, considering this forum seems to think white collar yuppie Chicago is booming and blue collar Chicago is dead, the largest job growth in Chicago was in Construction followed by Transportation and Trade. White collar jobs barely grew at all.

Chicago Area Employment ? February 2016 : Midwest Information Office : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Lots of white collar jobs in construction, transportation, and trade. Heavy manufacturing is not coming back.

[compactspace]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The latest general released info strongly contradicts that assessment -- Illinois unemployment rate creeps up to 6.5 percent in March - Chicago Tribune

Both figures are correct. There are more unemployed people, who had previously dropped out, back looking for work.

[King Harold]

There's no "large east coast city" where you end up paying fewer taxes than Chicago. The weather out east is just as bad as Chi and seems to be getting worse with climate change. There were three "snowpocalypses" and a hurricane that shut down the city and destroyed breezy point during the years I lived there.

That post is also strange because if you make $500K Chicago is actually a pretty good place to live. Your state income tax is about as low as it gets without moving to Texas and your income goes a LOT further than other high COL areas of the USA. $500K is junior baller status in Chicago but in NYC it's like... you are finally living like a normal middle class adult status.

I'm gonna go with it's probably made up, or else the poster is moving to Philly, in which case it makes sense that they said "large east coast city" instead of just saying where they were actually moving....

[MassVt]

Philly and Balt might be cheaper, but that's about it. Prepare for quite an increase in housing costs..

[Bardot]

Originally Posted by UrbanCheetah

I think, for at least our lifetime, Chicago will remain the capital of the Midwest. HOWEVER, I do see other cities chipping away a little bit at Chicago. Cities like Cincinnati, St. Louis and even Cleveland, while they still are having their challenges, they are improving and developing in regards to quality of life. For example, Cincinatti is really starting to become one cool city, OTR is probably one of the most charming and cool neighborhoods in the country, Chicago has nothing like it, in which that area even feels a bit like NOLA, and that is just one of many neighborhoods that are trendy and very urban in the city.

So as those cities continue to improve and revitalize their neighborhoods and provide more of a "trendy" and urban living I see people going back to those cities. Not in masses, but I do see people in the Midwest not gravitating as much to Chicago throughout the Midwest.

One major factor is COL. While Chicago isn't as expensive as NYC or SF, its one of the more expensive cities in the country, and definitely cracks the top 10. Unlike the Northweast and West Coast, Chicago truly is the only expensive city in it's region, while on the West Coast and Northeast all the cities are expensive, so I think people there are generally SOL. People in the Midwest are starting to see they can live in smaller cities, that are pretty urban, being revitalized for half the price of Chicago. To me that is where I see Chicago hurting.

I completely agree with this. I'm thirty, so I can only speak with regard for my age group, but I think smaller cities are becoming the next-big-thing for 18-35 year old transplants (and that WILL chip away at Chicago's population).

There was an era in the not too distant past when only a handful of major cities in the US had: general trendiness, relatively liberal views of the LGBT community, near Michelin star level restaurants, quality music scenes, quality shopping, etc. etc. To live anywhere else would've been "small town". Nowadays though, these qualities can increasingly be found in smaller cities. I've mentioned this before, but places like Austin, Nashville, Louisville, Durham (NC), Ann Arbor, Ferndale (Detroit), and Cincinnati are just a few examples. I'm not saying these places are dirt cheap to live in, but they're considerably cheaper than Chicago without sacrificing the cultural appeal of the "big city" living. Work obviously remains the paramount factor, but I foresee jobs spreading out to these smaller cities too.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Bardot

I completely agree with this. I'm thirty, so I can only speak with regard for my age group, but I think smaller cities are becoming the next-big-thing for 18-35 year old transplants (and that WILL chip away at Chicago's population).

There was an era in the not too distant past when only a handful of major cities in the US had: general trendiness, relatively liberal views of the LGBT community, near Michelin star level restaurants, quality music scenes, quality shopping, etc. etc. To live anywhere else would've been "small town". Nowadays though, these qualities can increasingly be found in smaller cities. I've mentioned this before, but places like Austin, Nashville, Louisville, Durham (NC), Ann Arbor, Ferndale (Detroit), and Cincinnati are just a few examples. I'm not saying these places are dirt cheap to live in, but they're considerably cheaper than Chicago without sacrificing the cultural appeal of the "big city" living. Work obviously remains the paramount factor, but I foresee jobs spreading out to these smaller cities too.

Following the 2008 election there were stories that one could "overlay Whole Foods location to determine which districts strongly supported Obama while Cracker Barrel counties supported the loser" The Correlation Between Whole Foods, Cracker Barrel And The Obama Vote .

Now you can find BOTH more folks even in formerly "bible belt" communities eagerly looking forward to the next Whole Foods / Trader Joes to open AS WELL AS supporting the sorts of social policies that once were synonymous what was called the "liberal elite".

Organic foods are mainstream -- you can buy fancy heirloom tomatoes at Wal~Mart! Food-Celebrations - Heirloom Tomato Quiche - Walmart.com also
Should Whole Foods Market Inc. Be Worried About The Kroger Co.? -- The Motley Fool


Simply put the kids that grew up in "beige suburbs" longing for a chill life in the "big city" now have lots more options.

[Maintainschaos]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Simply put the kids that grew up in "beige suburbs" longing for a chill life in the "big city" now have lots more options.

lol Chet, someone's got to help you with that anachronistic slang of yours...

[NOLA101]

Originally Posted by King Harold

There's no "large east coast city" where you end up paying fewer taxes than Chicago..

This is true.

Chicago's tax issue isn't tax rate, per se. Illinois has a flat tax that is advantageous for high earners.

The issue with taxation is that everyone knows taxes will rise (income, property and sales) in the coming years, so you will pay more and get less.

And Chicago isn't competitive with somewhere like NYC or SF apples-to-apples currently, so needs the "value play". If you make Chicago even more expensive and less desirable, obviously this will harm the region's competitiveness, and given that the region already has the worst population loss of any major U.S. metro, the future prospects are sobering.

Basically, Chicago cannot afford to price itself out. It doesn't have the same industries, the same natural beauty, the same global desirability, as other parts of the U.S. If it starts taxing everyone like NY or CA it will suffer even greater population loss.