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Old 01-14-2010, 02:14 PM
 
2 posts, read 11,573 times
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Hello,
Does anyone have any idea of how much costs living in illinois, chicago? Is it an expensive area?
Thanks!
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Old 01-14-2010, 04:03 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joana_hilzbrich View Post
Hello,
Does anyone have any idea of how much costs living in illinois, chicago? Is it an expensive area?
Thanks!
Sort of.
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Old 01-14-2010, 04:39 PM
 
Location: Chicago
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This is a good place to start: //www.city-data.com/city/Chicago-Illinois.html
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Old 01-14-2010, 05:16 PM
 
Location: Cleveland, OH USA / formerly Chicago for 20 years
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"Expensive" is a relative term. You might consider Chicago expensive or cheap depending on where you're coming from.

Chicago is cheaper than many of the major cities on or near the East and West Coasts (NYC, Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco), but it's probably the most expensive major metro area in the interior of the country.
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Old 01-15-2010, 12:05 PM
 
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It depends on where you live. If you live in an area like joliet or bollingbrook outside of Cook county it isn't that bad. If your looking for a high quality urban lifestyle it can be very expensive depending where your from.

We don't have the highest taxes. Sales tax is over 10 percent. State payroll tax is 3% that is considered low and the property taxes vary depending on wher you live.
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Old 01-15-2010, 07:50 PM
 
Location: Cleveland, OH USA / formerly Chicago for 20 years
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis View Post
We don't have the highest taxes. Sales tax is over 10 percent. State payroll tax is 3% that is considered low and the property taxes vary depending on wher you live.
Plus there are no city income taxes here, unlike some areas.
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Old 01-16-2010, 10:50 AM
 
87 posts, read 74,507 times
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It depends on alot of other factors. If long grey winters don't concern you, then that probably does not factor into the "expense" of living in Chicago.

People sometimes tend to overlook that as one of the most important things about moving to a city-- whether or not you enjoy the environment/climate. I have seen multitudes of people talk a good game about living in Chicago/midwest and how "cheap" it is. They like the normally humid summers for some reason.
Then when they live there a year or two they come to realize the way the city government is in your pockets and that winter is lonnnnng and grey and cold, and that the overall cost is one of the highest in the nation. It is deceivingly expensive.
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Old 01-16-2010, 10:54 AM
 
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^ you'd have to be pretty ignorant to move to Chicago and not be aware that the winters are very cold. It's by far the most talked about thing by outsiders. People choose to live here because they're fine with that fact, or the tradeoffs of living in Chicago outweigh the winter. I still don't get how we have horrible summers....except for heat wave that might pass through for a few days - most people think they're damn near perfect.
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Old 01-16-2010, 11:59 AM
 
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Originally Posted by Chicago60614 View Post
^ you'd have to be pretty ignorant to move to Chicago and not be aware that the winters are very cold. It's by far the most talked about thing by outsiders. People choose to live here because they're fine with that fact, or the tradeoffs of living in Chicago outweigh the winter. I still don't get how we have horrible summers....except for heat wave that might pass through for a few days - most people think they're damn near perfect.
I've chose to live here because I love the midwest and I wanted the urban lifestyle. The winters are what I expected. We don't have horrible summers compared to the lower midwest and the southeast. With all the negatives that the area has I still think this is a great place to live.
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Old 01-17-2010, 10:40 PM
 
Location: roaming gnome
12,390 posts, read 27,345,390 times
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for big city living its pretty damn cheap, much cheaper than my only real option out here (San Francisco) and also much cheaper than New York City. If you really don't care where you live and are a homebody, yeah you are probably paying too much...
I pay triple in state taxes in California..
I'd have to make another 50K a year for the same lifestyle in SF I can have in Chicago...and the salary diff isn't that much, actually making the same.
I'd have to make another 80K a year in Manhattan...
Boston and DC should be comparable as they are only slightly more expensive.
Philly a little cheaper.
I don't really consider other cities to live in though...
The stupid taxes in Chicago don't really effect me, 3% state income, ...big deal. Higher cigarettes? I don't smoke... High tolls?
Winters? I'm on holidays most of the winter anyway.
I don't drive much or would want to live in the burbs.

PS Chicago winters aren't really that *grey*... albeit, they are Cold... northern california is significantly greyer and rainier in the winter, but can't beat a few 65 degree days thrown in

chicago summers are nice for the most part, certainly nothing like the southeast or florida, and not as bad as the dc/boston corridor either.

Last edited by grapico; 01-17-2010 at 10:55 PM..
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