Safest Neighborhood in Champaign-Urbana,IL (Chicago, Springfield: real estate, apartment complexes, rentals)

[edykumar]

Which is the Safest Neighborhood in Champaign-Urbana,IL area ( city or suburb is fine)?-- North Side, South side, East side or West side?

Thanks

[meatpuff]

Originally Posted by edykumar

Which is the Safest Neighborhood in Champaign-Urbana,IL area ( city or suburb is fine)?-- North Side, South side, East side or West side?

Thanks

As anywhere, there is a lot of variation within a single quadrant of the city.

That said, the south and west sides of the C-U are safest (and most upscale). If I only have to name two streets as the boundary, west of Prospect and south of Springfield. But there's plenty of safe neighborhoods at various points on the other side of these.

Central Urbana is quite good too, but too far east, north and west towards campus is no longer the "safest".

There are a lot of new construction, spread out SFH subdivisions on the borders of the C-U. As most places, this tends to be quite safe compared to the rest of the area, just because the cost to buy one of these homes is higher. So all of these, particularly WNW, W, SW and far SE of the C-U are very safe and somewhat upscale.

Absolute safest by the numbers is no doubt the smaller towns surrounding that many commute from: St. Joseph, Monticello and Mahomet. Some people consider these part of the metro area, but not part of C-U, of course.

[edykumar]

Originally Posted by meatpuff

As anywhere, there is a lot of variation within a single quadrant of the city.

That said, the south and west sides of the C-U are safest (and most upscale). If I only have to name two streets as the boundary, west of Prospect and south of Springfield. But there's plenty of safe neighborhoods at various points on the other side of these.

Central Urbana is quite good too, but too far east, north and west towards campus is no longer the "safest".

There are a lot of new construction, spread out SFH subdivisions on the borders of the C-U. As most places, this tends to be quite safe compared to the rest of the area, just because the cost to buy one of these homes is higher. So all of these, particularly WNW, W, SW and far SE of the C-U are very safe and somewhat upscale.

Absolute safest by the numbers is no doubt the smaller towns surrounding that many commute from: St. Joseph, Monticello and Mahomet. Some people consider these part of the metro area, but not part of C-U, of course.

Thanks meatpuff.

I am looking for Indian (asian ) safer neighborhood where rent is relatively cheaper---no car jacking.
Any idea?

Thanks in advance

[meatpuff]

Originally Posted by edykumar

Thanks meatpuff.

I am looking for Indian (asian ) safer neighborhood where rent is relatively cheaper---no car jacking.
Any idea?

Thanks in advance

Well, this ain't Chicago or New York so there isn't an Indian section of town exactly, but there are certainly many Indians living in the C-U connected with UI.

Ha, never hear of anything like car jackings, fortunately it's much quieter here than a big city. There are some quite poor (easily identified) parts of town where there are some shenanigans, but you'd probably never have any reason to go there. Also, people do get robbed from time to time, but usually while walking around alone in desolate areas in the middle of the night. Doing things like this raises your risk like any urban area. Fortunately, a great many of the assault, sexual assault and other statistics are just drunk students doing stupid stuff to other drunk students. Stay away from that scene and it won't involve you.

Many questions before I could make any kind of suggestion. Married/kids? Age? What part of town would you be working in? Looking to rent or buy? Looking for something more urban and walkable or more a quiet neighborhood on the edge of town?

If you're a grad student-type (I am), you will find lots of other Indian and other international grad students in the area around Clark-to-Stoughton and Second-to-Wright in Champaign. This is probably the largest concentration of Indians in town, although there are more in Urbana just east of the Engineering campus. The housing is cheap there. Before I would say this area is merely alright, but it's on the upswing, with the grocery store and high-rise apartment going up on the south end of this area (opening in weeks). This would be the only grocery store on campus and should bring a lot more foot traffic, convenience and excitement to the area. So there's that area you can look at to get started.

I'd need to know more to actually recommend an area to look at.

You said cheap rent. Don't know what you're used to, but if it's anyplace like Chicago you'll be pleased at how low the rents are by comparison. Even for very nice areas.

[edykumar]

Thanks again meatpuff !!!

I am a computer professional , have wife, a brand new car & NO kids. Currently I am living in Schuamberg-Chicago, Illinois area where the monthly rent is $1000. Recently I just laid off from my job.

My concern is Cheaper rent ($500-$600) in Champaign-Urbana area (& suburbs) where many Indians(Asians) live & NO car broken-theft-SAFER Area. "Looking for a new job" is NOT an issue - I do it over the phone & e-mail.

Any idea??

[meatpuff]

Originally Posted by edykumar

Thanks again meatpuff !!!

I am a computer professional , have wife, a brand new car & NO kids. Currently I am living in Schuamberg-Chicago, Illinois area where the monthly rent is $1000. Recently I just laid off from my job.

My concern is Cheaper rent ($500-$600) in Champaign-Urbana area (& suburbs) where many Indians(Asians) live & NO car broken-theft-SAFER Area. "Looking for a new job" is NOT an issue - I do it over the phone & e-mail.

Any idea??

Hmm, probably can't find all of those together. My impression is that most of the Indians are connected with the University. Either grad students, who live in the area I described; which would work but it's very close to the University and you might feel out of place if you aren't associated with it, and you can get more for your money elsewhere. Or professors and other professionals who live in the SW of Champaign or elsewhere where the rents are much higher than what you're seeking.

I was asking to see whether you had to commute everyday. The parking situation on campus means if you have to work there, it would affect where you might want to live. If not, obviously you can live anywhere. And getting away from campus will take you away from some negative things.

You'll have no problem finding rent like that in the C-U in a good area for a multi-unit place. Rents generally get higher as you move towards the downtowns and the campus, as students and others are attracted to the amenities and access to campus. So rents get lower as you move outward. As you get really far out, you will only find SFHs, however. For you a good bet might be some of the larger multi-unit complexes built along Mattis Ave. and Florida Ave. in Champaign. There are many student-oriented apartment complexes along north Lincoln Ave. and near Marketview Mall that are generally to be avoided. There are also many complexes near Sunnycrest Mall in SE Urbana that are alright but the area is not quite as affluent. I would live there if I took a good look around first and the rent was low enough. It varies by complex. I just thought of another place: Town and Country Apartments attracts a lot of international students, rent is about right and it's pretty nice. Around Cunningham and Kerr in Urbana.

There really are quite a few more. There are a ton of rentals in the C-U because of the University, and some are quite nice especially away from campus. You'll just have to look. You may prefer to live in a small apartment building in a SFH district as I do, and these are available too through some of the rental agencies in some nice areas. You will find Indians in any student-oriented housing (mostly grad students if it's far from campus) in town, but there is no other area heavy with Indians that I am aware of.

[edykumar]

Thanks.
I am planning to rent an apartment in the cross streets of Russelle Street & Park Ave, Champaign area .

Do you think it is a SAFE area?

[asearchforreason]

I live in Urbana so I'm not an expert, but I believe the immediate area is relatively safe. There are some questionable areas to the north of the there though.

[leiaorgana73]

i'm with meaty here. i moved here from a VERY small town a few years ago and was terrified at the prospect of living somwhere with an actual crime rate-one that didn't involve cows or tractors at least. I have been incredible reassured here. i live in the area around Hessel Park and its never on the crime map. the biggest problems are the areas about 2or 3 short blocks norths and south of Bradley avenue west of Lincoln. the rest of town is pretty nice and quiet. Campus has the majority of any crime waves, but that's what you'll find when you have that many kids and alcohol in that small an area. We have a small Annapoorna store here that might have some of your Indian food favorites, but the owner is REALLY, REALLY nice and will get stuff for you if you ask for it. With a world-class university as the largest employer in town, we have a wide variety of people in town. the public transportation here is way better than you would expect from a smaller city like this and the computer supply stores are ample. walking and biking are very popular here and there are bike paths everywhere.

As for safe, car theft, what have you let me tell you this story: I had to get some stuff from lowe's and in my distracted state didn't notice that my car door didn't close behind me. when i got out of the store after finally finding everything(about 40 minutes) i saw my car door standing open! you can imagine the myriad of heartbreaking things that went through my mind. i remembered that i had left my checkbook in the door!!! there were people all over the place and here's a prime opportunity to help yourself to my money. got back to the car and checked everything over and over again. nothing had been touched. nothing! someone from garden came and said they'd been watching the car and for whomever returned to it just in case they were in need of help getting home. that's the kind of experiences i've had in this town.
but if it helps, heres a link to the newspaper crime map, you can go back a few years and i checked it everyday for weeks before i agreed to move into the house i was being offered in this neighborhood, i highly recommend it: News-Gazette.com: Crime Report Map (http://www.news-gazette.com/maps/crime/ - broken link)


but its hard to find rent in the 500 range if you want more than a studio. the university makes housing a premium. keep an eye on craiglist, you'll have better luck there and avoid ramshaw real estate, and cpm. the first is overpriced and the second needs to work of not being slumlords anymore.

i hope this was helpful.

[edykumar]

Thank you both of you