Illinois - Staying or Moving? (Chicago, Naperville: condo, bankruptcy, private school)

[numberfive]

Originally Posted by Justabystander

Try moving to any comparable city ( NYC. San Francisco, Boston, Washington, LA ) and THEN see what your overall housing costs and cost of living are. You are way ahead in Chicago still, unless you move to town with fewer amenities, which many on this post see to be wanting to do. These are trade offs. I went to NW Indiana for a function the other day, and sorry, I can see why their taxes are so low. No way.

Originally Posted by My Kind Of Town

Still not following you. You state this as fact but the numbers simply do not back it up. Compare cost of living to other major metros with comparable amenities and attractions.

Which amenity categories does Chicago have that Nashville, Atlanta, or Dallas don't have? Could you please provide a list of how you measure "amenities" so we can get an apples-to-apples comparison going?

After all, it's only fair to be objective about how amenities are measured, right?

[My Kind Of Town]

Originally Posted by numberfive

Your link doesn't cover the Chicago metro area. Let's take a look at a source that does:

Chicago cost of living index: Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site

Nashville cost of living index: Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site


That means it's 17% more expensive to live in Chicago vs Nashville. Ouch.

Looks like a 19% spread there. Double ouch.

How is Nashville in any way comparable to Chicago? You are comparing apples to oranges. Even if you were to compare, median income in Chicago is substantially higher than Nashville which offsets the "gain" from a lower COL in Nashville.

[Vasily]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

Sounds to me like most of Illinois problems is due to Chicago and all of its costly liberal programs and urban problems. Sort of a clash of two cultures. Rural and small town vs urban and diverse. Frankly, I'm surprised there's not a movement to have the entire Chicagoland area become it's own independent state and take care of its own problems and extravagances, and the rest of Illinois can go back to its rural and small town conservative government if that's what that the people want to do.

I spent my grade school and high school years plus a few more in the Quad Cities, and there was always a resentment on the part of those of us who lived downstate toward Chicago, which demands everything from us and gives nothing to the rest of the state in return -- not even a thank you to the rest of the state, just demand, demand, demand. The problems and extravagances of Chicago are all our problems, but we have little say because Chicago (and its king, Michael Madigan) dominates everything that happens in Illinois.

I moved back because of a long distance relationship. When I finally hang it up and retire, I'm likely moving back to a Southern state. I'd be gone now if it weren't for family and friends. It has nothing to do with wanting small town conservative government, and everything to do with living in a state that's just a big extended suburb of Chicago.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by My Kind Of Town

Regarding NWI, completely agree. I went to school in NWI and enjoyed it but could never see myself living there. Not to sound like a prick, but living in the nicer western suburbs and then visiting NWI it feels depressing there to me. To each their own but it's not for me even if I were to save money in propert taxes.

Valpo is a nice town, the Downtown there is very interesting with many locally owned shop and restaurants in addition to the University. I used to live there, it combines mixtures of city, town, and country all into one.

[numberfive]

Originally Posted by My Kind Of Town

How is Nashville in any way comparable to Chicago? You are comparing apples to oranges. Even if you were to compare, median income in Chicago is substantially higher than Nashville which offsets the "gain" from a lower COL in Nashville.

There's a 13% reduction in median income between Chicago and Nashville. With a COLI difference of 16-19%, you're still net positive 3-6% per year, or $3,000-$6,000 per $100k.

Nashville stats
Chicago stats

The numbers check out.

I just picked Nashville, but we could choose Atlanta or Dallas if you'd like.

[My Kind Of Town]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Valpo is a nice town, the Downtown there is very interesting with many locally owned shop and restaurants in addition to the University. I used to live there, it combines mixtures of city, town, and country all into one.

It's one of the few places in NWI I would consider living (parts of town at least) but it's just not feasible to employment options/opportunities for my wife and I. There are still some very sketchy parts too around the campus. I would know because I lived in one of those dumpy homes my last 2 years there. A whole lotta hillbilly action in parts, which was tolerated as a college kid but would not want to subject my young family to that environment now.

[My Kind Of Town]

Originally Posted by numberfive

There's a 13% reduction in median income between Chicago and Nashville. With a COLI difference of 16-19%, you're still net positive 3-6% per year, or $3,000-$6,000 per $100k.

Nashville stats
Chicago stats

The numbers check out.

I just picked Nashville, but we could choose Atlanta or Dallas if you'd like.

I would consider ATL and Dallas much better comps to Chicago than Nashville but still consider Chicago a better, more well educated city with greater employment options for skilled workers with technical skills than either ATL or Dallas. Also, growing up in the Midwest, I would have a difficult time adjusting to the south. I don't do well with extreme heat or large/threatening insects/wild animals (yea I'm a wuss haha).

[Justabystander]

Originally Posted by numberfive

Which amenity categories does Chicago have that Nashville, Atlanta, or Dallas don't have? Could you please provide a list of how you measure "amenities" so we can get an apples-to-apples comparison going?

After all, it's only fair to be objective about how amenities are measured, right?

Museums, restaurants, transportation, culture ( symphonies, concerts ) major airport connections ( Atlanta excluded ) universities, variety of living options (large city plus 200 plus suburbs). There are cultural amenities that I cannot put into dollars, like waiting in line at the post office in Franklin TN for two hours because many people work like molasses there. To each his own, but don't compare Nashville to Chicago apples to apples, or Atlanta for that matter.

[dtcbnd03]

Let's compare Apples to Apples as far as major cities. Chicago is similar to NY, Boston, SF, Wash DC and LA. They offer similar jobs, arts, entertainment, public trans, restaurants, walkability, etc. I did not include Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Denver, etc. because those are major sprawls with no public transpo. I went on CNN cost of living calculator and put in a starting salary of $100k for Chicago and here's the comparable salary you would need in other cities:

$100,000 in Chicago
$119,707 in LA
$122,719 in Boston
$125,559 in DC
$150,344 in SF
$194,320 in NYC

So Chicago is the cheapest (for right now). Once tax hikes it it will still be in line with other major cities and NY and CA have major pension underfunding too.

CNN money did not have a Chicago suburb toggle so I used the same Chicago toggle (which includes the city)...if you move out to the burbs (Naperville, St. Charles, Hinsdale, Arl Heights, Palatine) you have great schools and the trains can take you downtown to earn that top salary but you still need a car to get everywhere and the cost of living is as follows:

$100,000 in Chicago Suburbs
$74,871 in Knoxville, TN
$81,239 in Nashville, TN
$82,186 in Austin, TX
$82,874 in Charlotte, NC
$82,960 in Dallas, TX
$86,403 in Atlanta, GA
$82,358 in Phoenix, AZ
$94,062 in Denver, CO
$102,926 in Philly

I just don't think the burbs are for me. You lose everything Chicago has to offer like the lake, walkability, public trans, restaurants, entertainment, friends close by, etc. but keep the Illinois debt, traffic, cost of living, terrible winters, etc.

A question for those of you that moved from the city to the burbs...did you find that you started over making new friends once you moved to the burbs?

[numberfive]

Originally Posted by My Kind Of Town

I would consider ATL and Dallas much better comps to Chicago than Nashville but still consider Chicago a better, more well educated city with greater employment options for skilled workers with technical skills than either ATL or Dallas. Also, growing up in the Midwest, I would have a difficult time adjusting to the south. I don't do well with extreme heat or large/threatening insects/wild animals (yea I'm a wuss haha).

Yeah, that's a totally understandable opinion. I'm not saying a lot of people would want to make that move, but financially, it does make sense. If your personality style wouldn't jive with the area, then that's a separate factor.