Living in Chicago with around 35,000 salary? (Irving, Bridgeport: insurance, house, neighborhoods)

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by jfre81

I've been in some temporary digs (currently near O'Hare) but most likely to end up in Rogers Park/Edgewater area somewhere on a more permanent basis in the coming weeks. Will have a roommate, recent returnee to Chicagoland, who I'm staying with already. We're old friends and haven't killed each other. We both love Chicago. Food, architecture, beer, photo ops, you name it. We collectively give about .00000001 of a dilly-damn if anyone thinks we're "adults" or not (to paraphrase another recent thread here) for our living arrangement. You make it any way you can.

We can still go to Wicker Park or wherever anytime we want. We don't have to live there. That's why we chose to live in a city with a meaningful transit system.

Great post--absolutely true.

[chicago103]

Originally Posted by jfre81

I've been in some temporary digs (currently near O'Hare) but most likely to end up in Rogers Park/Edgewater area somewhere on a more permanent basis in the coming weeks. Will have a roommate, recent returnee to Chicagoland, who I'm staying with already. We're old friends and haven't killed each other. We both love Chicago. Food, architecture, beer, photo ops, you name it. We collectively give about .00000001 of a dilly-damn if anyone thinks we're "adults" or not (to paraphrase another recent thread here) for our living arrangement. You make it any way you can.

Beautiful, your situation might not be ideal and I am sure you hope to move beyond it but I find your attitude about urban living to be admirable and refreshing.

LOL I have been away from this forum for too long. I am glad more people are pushing back against the suburban-industrial complex conformists who think you are worthless if you don't make $100K and the only purpose in life is to own the biggest house, yard, car possible and be an all around materialist. Harsh? Maybe but what goes around comes around and what I said is not any worse than many of the disparaging comments said about people who live differently than them in this thread alone.

Anyways the most obvious answers are it all depends on your lifestyles and priorities, you can live just about anywhere on any salary, to me living with roommates or extended family or even on someone's couch is infinitely better than the suburban materialist mindset that has dominated this country for the past 70 years.

[chicago103]

Originally Posted by addisons1

Hello,

I'm interviewing for a job in Chicago and I think the salary will be somewhere between $35-$40k/year. Is it worth it to take the job, if offered, and live somewhere in the Chicago area-suburbs and other towns/cities included?

I'm single and have a car and 2 cats and would prefer to rent an apartment, not just a room in a place.

Thanks!

Get rid of the car unless you absolutely need it to get to work. If you do that you have a lot more options available to you. I know many people will think I am nuts but I actually think Chicago is one of the best cities to live on $35-$40K a year. Hear me out, of course the more you make the more options are available to you and making more money is always a good thing, etc, etc. However let me put it this way, whatever job you are getting here in Chicago that pays at that level might actually pay even less in less expensive cities and on top of it those less expensive cities it is probably virtually impossible to live without a car so it could become a wash even if the cost of living is on paper lower than Chicago. On the other extreme cities like NYC, LA, SF, DC it is virtually impossible to live on that salary without living with roomates or in some kind of subsidized housing. So Chicago is kind of that sweet spot where you have a fighting chance of getting by and you also have the option to live carless.

[chicago103]

Originally Posted by brodie734

Yeah, I have a lot of friends in their late 20s who live in Edgewater and make under $50k a year. Two bedroom apartments, lake views, walking distance to the L and to a freaking Whole Foods... they spend $550 a month per person on rent. They ride their bikes to go hang out in Lakeview. Their quality of life is vastly superior to mine making more than $50k in a suburb of Detroit and needing to drive 35-45 minutes to get anywhere interesting.

Yes, this is exactly the point I was trying to make in the post immediately above. You could live in a "cheaper" city/metro area for that money but the costs of conforming to the typical car centric suburban lifestyle basically make it a wash. Many people would consider your Lakeview friends to be living a vasty superior lifestyle. As I said at least Chicago and a select few other cities give you the option to live alternative lifestyles like that. I mean this is of course assuming you are interested in living an urban lifestyle where you spend a lot of time outside the home visiting the cultural amenities of the city. Now if you absolutely cannot live without a car and simply want to live in the largest residence you can with the cheapest cost per square foot and you are a homebody who just wants to Netflix and chill all the time then yeah you might as well just live in Muncie, Indiana on that salary.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by Chicago_Person

Says the man with Camaro in his screen name

I wouldn't drive a Camaro through Chicago either

I'm kidding, but I personally think you can make it at $30 - $35k but I highly doubt it will be comfortable so to speak, especially if you desire to go out. I just personally wouldn't enjoy putting myself in a situation where ends are only barely being met just to live someplace, that goes for anywhere.

[projectmaximus]

Originally Posted by brodie734

It depends on the person and what they want. For example, we can extrapolate that you want to own a Camaro. Most people will never be able to afford a new model Camara, even more people will prioritize buying a cheaper more practical car.

The rest of your post was awesome. Just confused about this part...isn't a Camaro a very affordable car? I think it's about the cheapest sports car you can get and the cheapest convertible as well. MSRP starts in the mid-20s...

[artillery77]

Originally Posted by carnelian

You can do this if you are lucky enough to find a cheap apartment or studio in a nice pleasant area like I did. I get by with a modest economical lifestyle. You cannot be too choosy but don't settle for a bad neighborhood or building.

The OP could try a few suburbs, maybe Forest Park, Berwyn, Cicero, that area and some south.

Cicero in nice and pleasant nowadays? I mean, they always had good people, but you're either potzo or them black robes have been working real hard and Vrdolyak is retired.

[MSchemist80]

As others have said it is possible but you will really be scraping by and will not be able to do so with a car and possibly without a room mate. If you can find a job with a more favorable salary/COL I'd do that instead. Also the taxes in Illinois are very regressive which is something to consider.

[chicago103]

Also you do have to factor in the cost of being a transplant to Chicago (or any city), I am assuming of course since I don't recall the OP mentioning his prior level of connection to Chicago. What I mean is that people like me take for granted the fact that I am from Chicago and most of my family is here, i.e. I don't have to travel to visit my family for holidays or special family events, I almost never go to out of town weddings so travel outside of vacations is not something I have to factor into my budget. So I could easily live off that and I know a number of friends and relatives who have lived in the Chicago area all their lives on that money and we both know how to do it already and have family and friends in the area that we don't have to travel and spend money to see. So that is one inherent bias I have when giving advise on these matters that I take for granted.

If you are totally new to a city and don't know anyone and still have family back home wherever you plan on visiting you have to factor in cost of travel a few times a year, so $35K to you is not the same as $35K to a Chicago native with a network of family and friends who also live here.

[brodie734]

Originally Posted by projectmaximus

The rest of your post was awesome. Just confused about this part...isn't a Camaro a very affordable car? I think it's about the cheapest sports car you can get and the cheapest convertible as well. MSRP starts in the mid-20s...

Most people will never buy a new model car at any cost.