Why do Residents Stay in Chicago....what is the appeal ? (Lincoln: apartments, condos)

[Hiruko]

I'm not going to **** on Florida. Florida is pretty much cleaning our clock when it comes to attracting new residents and economic activity. That being said, Florida is one of the LAST places that I would consider relocating to from Chicago. I really do not even want to go there again after having been several times.

[UptownGuy3]

I can't really imagine living anywhere else I guess. I'm 28, have a paid off apartment (which I paid under $100K for this year), am walking distance to the beach, shops, great restaurants, the red line and express buses that get me downtown in 20 minutes. Where else can I get that type of value? It's the third largest metro in the country, so there's an incredibly diverse amount of well, everything. If you're into it there's a scene for it. I think it would be fun to live in NYC for a year or two, but I know I'd be forced to live in a shoe box which sounds....not great to me. Every time I visit any other city I think would be a nice place to live (St Louis, New Orleans, etc.) I find out those cities have basically no jobs. Where as Chicago is one of the most diversified economies in the world. There's lots and lots of jobs across lots and lots of industries.

People tell me the crime and taxes are bad, but I have to admit I don't really think about it or notice it. It seems to be mostly be my older suburban relatives who believe crime is out of control, but they haven't been in the city in over a decade and mostly rely on what they see on tv and read on facebook to color their impressions of what it's like here. As an anecdote I told an Aunt in her 70's that I walk to the grocery store and she was horrified because she thinks I'm very likely to be robbed doing so. That's not a fear I have, or anybody I know that lives here, but it was eye opening that that's what her impression is.

Since florida seems to come up quite a bit in this thread, my parents did recently move to Sarasota. I've been to visit and I'll admit I wasn't particularly impressed by it. I couldn't find any decent food down there (maybe because most of the people are old?), and it mostly seemed to be a bunch of subdivisions and strip malls. I was excited to go see the downtown but there wasn't really much of anything to see there. I guess I liked Miami a little bit more, but I don't think I'd ever move there. Everyone just seemed kind of rude and everything was overpriced. I kind of feel bad because I think my parents assume that I'll want to visit them a lot now that they've moved there, and while I do want to go see them the location is more of a negative than a positive, if anything the distance and lack of what I feel is an interesting destination will impede my visiting. Maybe it's a generational preference?

[Kmanshouse]

Someone who lives in Florida and asks this question will never understand the answers.

Why bother?

My son spent April through September in Florida and said he would never want to live there in a million years. And he doesn't even like urban living. Lightning threats almost every day/night, soul-crushing humidity, bugs and water, and a fair amount of crack dealers lurking around. He hated it.

My time spent there was "okay" - just kind of a cultureless vibe (other than Miami, of course, which has its positives). The best thing about Florida is no state income tax. If that 5% of pay makes a difference in your life, and you will endure horrible summers to make sure you avoid cold weather, then it seems like the right place to move.

[ChiGuy2.5]

Originally Posted by UptownGuy3

I can't really imagine living anywhere else I guess. I'm 28, have a paid off apartment (which I paid under $100K for this year), am walking distance to the beach, shops, great restaurants, the red line and express buses that get me downtown in 20 minutes. Where else can I get that type of value? It's the third largest metro in the country, so there's an incredibly diverse amount of well, everything. If you're into it there's a scene for it. I think it would be fun to live in NYC for a year or two, but I know I'd be forced to live in a shoe box which sounds....not great to me. Every time I visit any other city I think would be a nice place to live (St Louis, New Orleans, etc.) I find out those cities have basically no jobs. Where as Chicago is one of the most diversified economies in the world. There's lots and lots of jobs across lots and lots of industries.

People tell me the crime and taxes are bad, but I have to admit I don't really think about it or notice it. It seems to be mostly be my older suburban relatives who believe crime is out of control, but they haven't been in the city in over a decade and mostly rely on what they see on tv and read on facebook to color their impressions of what it's like here. As an anecdote I told an Aunt in her 70's that I walk to the grocery store and she was horrified because she thinks I'm very likely to be robbed doing so. That's not a fear I have, or anybody I know that lives here, but it was eye opening that that's what her impression is.

Since florida seems to come up quite a bit in this thread, my parents did recently move to Sarasota. I've been to visit and I'll admit I wasn't particularly impressed by it. I couldn't find any decent food down there (maybe because most of the people are old?), and it mostly seemed to be a bunch of subdivisions and strip malls. I was excited to go see the downtown but there wasn't really much of anything to see there. I guess I liked Miami a little bit more, but I don't think I'd ever move there. Everyone just seemed kind of rude and everything was overpriced. I kind of feel bad because I think my parents assume that I'll want to visit them a lot now that they've moved there, and while I do want to go see them the location is more of a negative than a positive, if anything the distance and lack of what I feel is an interesting destination will impede my visiting. Maybe it's a generational preference?

100K for a unit in Uptown? It's a studio I have to assume... or are there still that good of deals floating around? I own a studio I paid $146k for in Lakeview East which is really close, so I am just curious.

[RamenAddict]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

I'm not going to **** on Florida. Florida is pretty much cleaning our clock when it comes to attracting new residents and economic activity. That being said, Florida is one of the LAST places that I would consider relocating to from Chicago. I really do not even want to go there again after having been several times.

I’m not going to disagree that FL is doing very well, but it is not all it is cracked up to be. It is certainly not cheaper, and many of the issues there are similar to what they are like here. When I left Jacksonville 5 years ago, people were complaining about shootings in some of the high-traffic areas. The cost of living here is also very comparable and you get an urban lifestyle with good public transport.

I live in the suburbs because that’s the type of person I am, but I helped a coworker move into a fantastic south loop apartment last year- a high floor, lake facing apartment with 2 walls of windows. Something comparable in other larger cities with those amenities would cost at least twice as much, if not 2.5x as much in a place like Manhattan. I have a neighbor who moved here from FL with his wife around the same time I came up and I don’t think either of them plan to go back either. We both agree that it’s not really so different in terms of weather with respect to times you can’t go outside. In FL it is summer and in IL it is winter, but at least here you don’t have to worry about hurricanes and skyrocketing insurance rates. Plus at least in winter you don’t have to mow the lawn weekly, unlike in FL where you are out 6 months a year trying to mow in sweltering weather or hiring someone because you can’t handle it. My dad gave up with it pretty quickly when I was young because he was just too hot!

[citylove101]

I do think that the media tends to bend people's perceptions a lot.

Every time I see something here on the news about Florida there's a giant sinkhole, a giant alligator, a giant hurricane, a giant mass shooting, or a statement from some giant right-wing politician. I'd guess that day-to-day a lot of this doesn't affect the average Floridian. It's the same for Chicago, which I've been visiting to see family, a few times a year for decades. You see stories about drive-bys and gun crimes, blizzards, and (usually) bad sports teams. But day-to-day, that stuff doesn't really affect the lives of most people there. Most of the crime and craziness, especially, is concentrated in the toughest neighborhoods, and I'd guess that's the same as with Florida cities. (And the same as it is here in New York.)

[Bluefox]

There’s really no other city quite like Chicago. It has a completely different vibe from anywhere else and you just aren’t going to find a Chicago 2.0 no matter where you go. You can trade it in for warm weather but you might find you’re also getting some other things you might not like so much.

[quigboto]

I posted this on a different thread a while back, and it all still holds true for me today.

I love the food scene, the music scene, the arts, the people, the architecture, the canopy of green in the summer, and the red and gold leaves in the autumn.
The smell of fireplaces in the winter.
Local breweries. So many good ones. Goose Island Bourbon County beers (all of them!)
I love my little house in my still "up and coming" neighborhood (Thankfully I live on a good street/block with great neighbors who look out for each other) and I love my urban oasis of a backyard (Who am I kidding? The backyard is the dog's, they just let me hang out there sometimes.)
I love the fancy cocktail bars and the divey corner taverns.
I love that I am in easy driving distance to many places I love to go, like Western Michigan (More breweries!), and Wisconsin.
I love the lakeshore, although I don't go down there nearly often enough.
I love that I live within walking (or easy bus or biking) distance of some of my favorite neighborhoods.
I love that I live half a block away from one of the biggest, most beautiful parks in the city.

That's a short sampling of the many things I love about this town.

Might I add that I am also grateful that our city is home to the good folks at Northwestern Medicine, who have kept me alive and kicking for the last 17+ years. I've never worked with a better more professional group of people in my life.

[personone]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

Fair question, but there are good and bad areas. Why someone would remain on the South side of Chicago is beyond me. I guess they're stuck with no way out. Many of the suburbs are very nice. Very unique downtowns, unlike anything Atlanta had to offer. And yes, Winters here are a bit longer than I prefer but Summers are usually very nice. I wouldn't mind doing the snowbird thing someday, but I could never live in Florida (or the South) year-round.

This doesn’t hold much water anymore. Downtown and the North Side are no longer the safe havens that are isolated from crime. Since 2020 things have changed a lot. It’s not just the South Side. Lots of violent crime has entered the “safe north side.”

That said, most people with street smarts won’t end up being victims. But I would not say violent crime is strictly a “south side” issue anymore.

[personone]

There is no city like it. For all its issues, there is so much beauty and great aspects to the city. No matter how badly I want to leave sometimes, it’s very hard to. There is a natural beauty to Chicago that is hard to describe.