Question on moving to Chicago & Boston
 

I am looking at moving to Chicago or Boston. For anyone who lives there or knows about the area--what are average costs of housing for an apartment? I would like to know what neighborhoods are good to find safe & affordable houosing. What about the suburbs outside of Boston? About how much is public transportation in both cities?
Thanks

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34714666

the subway is $1.25, I think now.
The MIT site I posted is the best overall view.

P.S. put in the SEARCH NOW box Boston and the next box, Massachusetts, you'll see related questions and answers.

There has been endless discussion on chicago and boston neighborhoods and everyone has a bit of a different opinionon what is 'affordable' and what is 'safe'. For a good idea on housing in chicago, check out http://chicago.craigslist.org/apa/

Oh, and the "EL" is $1.75 a ride. Housing though is significantly more expensive in Boston than Chicago.

I would estimate that Boston housing is it least 20% more. There are monthly passes for subway/buses in Boston, MBTA.com. The Central Areas of Boston are the most expensive, Beacon Hill, South End, Back Bay, Harvard SQ.
The areas more reasonable that you might like are Jamaica Plain, Somerville, Allston. Boston is much smaller than Chicago and has suburbs close to the central city, Watertown and Newton are two. Tell us your price range for monthly rent and we can probably help you out more. Also let us know the longest time you would like to spend commuting.

Do a tax comparison between the two cities. I would not only be concerned about the cost for public transporation, but how about property tax, state tax, food tax, clothing tax, gas tax, etc. vis-a-vis the salary you can make. ((b))

Boston is definitely more expensive than Chicago. Go to salary.com, it will show the cost of living differences in the 2 areas. For example, if you make $50K in Chicago, you would need to make $60K in Boston to maintain the same lifestyle, etc.

If you live in/near a decent sized city, get a Sunday paper from both cities - while I love the internet for research, a real newspaper gives you all sorts of info on jobs and salaries, apartment rents, food prices.

chireader.com has a lot of apartment listings for Chicago. pioneerlocal.com has listings for the suburbs. Chicago is all about neighborhoods. You can search for a "neighborhood map" to get a feel for where things are.

Thanks for replying w/the information. I can spend about $600- 700 at most(including utilities)I think 45min-1 hr. an average time to commute, though a little longer is acceptable.
The sales tax in Chicago is the highest of any major U.S. city, Boston has a lower tax, and it exempts tax on items such as food and clothing. I'm not sure yet what they pay on other taxes.
I'll look at newspapers online and get a map too.

You won't find anything for $600-$700 in or near Boston. Unless you find a roommate, even still that would price you out of a 2 bdrm share in most areas.

You may be able to find something in that price-range in Chicago, but it won't be in the common neighborhoods people who move to Chicago move too (meaning you'd be lucky if you can find a closet for that price in Lincoln Park or Old Town or Lakeview) and will probably be a bit more on the run-down side of things, unless you are open to living in a studio apartment, and even that will be a bit of a search. Now if you are willing to live in areas that are a bit further out, or not as trendy, then you may be able to find something, but you will probably sacrifice a bit on perceived safety (as a long time Chicagoan I have some opinions on my own on that matter) or commute.

The suburbs (with the possible exceptions of Evanston and Oak Park) of Chicago are much further out and less accessible by public transportation than the suburbs of Boston ... and the cost of living, for a renter, is pretty much the same as the city, if not not more expensive in my opinion (but you get more space for your money) ... I'm not much for suburbs though, so I can't offer too much advice there.

I would highly recommend you find a place with heat included as heating bills can be a bit costly in both locals.

There is nothing for $700 anywhere in commuting distance of Boston. For that matter, I doubt there are any $700 places anywhere in eastern Massachusetts.

If you're not completely opposed to living in a suburb, check out the Oak Lawn area southwest of Chicago. It's an urban suburb (sidewalks, street lights, etc. and you can (usually) walk to stores and restaurants). You can easily get a nice one or even two bedroom apartment out here for $700 a month. You can take the El (Orange Line) from Midway to get downtown in about 25 minutes. It is possible, though somewhat difficult, to get by without a car at all down here. You might also try some of the suburbs in west Cook County. Oak Park is expensive, but Berwyn and Forest Park are reasonable, and still fairly safe. Transit is better up there too, though it would still be easiest to have a car. The close in suburbs north of Chicago are pretty expensive, though you may be able to find an apartment in your price range in the Skokie area. I'm really only familiar with southwest and west Cook County though.

I didn't expect to find a place for $700 in Boston or Chicago. I thought I could find an apartment to share w/ someone & on that budget, for my portion of the rent, it might be affordable. On craigslist for Boston the shared listings currently (12/11/05) are: $480, 575, 675, 700, 500, etc. Thanks.

flamingomonkey - that is definately some advice to consider. I'm not all that familiar with the southwest suburbs, but have long thought if I were to make the move out of the city, that is where I would head, primarily for monetary reasons (I'm formerly from the south suburbs closer to to the Indiana Border).

In Boston, 600-700 Could work in many good Boston Neighborhoods, but you might have to be in a situation where you have two roomates. In that case you could probably choose an area where you don't need a car. I would suggest looking at Jamaica PLain and Allston-Brighton.

This is a matter of what kind of neighborhood you really want to live in. If you really want urban and can share big time you can do it with others in the area near UIC- my son's friends in pharmacy school did it for years. This is getting better and better and you are downtown Chicago in about 10/15 minutes or less on the el or bus. But the neighborhood is extremely diverse and has some crime problems. Less and less as time goes on because the gentrified areas are expanding.

You need to study neighborhoods in both cities.

There is an area around Midway airport out to Chicago Ridge that is also doable for you. This is NOT downtown and it is NOT Lincoln Park. It's Chicago.

Chicago Ridge or Worth near the train stations are probably more youthful than Oak Lawn, just my opinion.

If I was going to do this young, I would come to the city- rent on a craig's list share or something of that order for awhile and see how different these neighborhoods are. Because they are different. Anything off the west end of the Orange line would be affordable but it may not be what you prefer.

Check out craigslist.com for Chicago. Put in Lincoln Park and $600-$700. There are plenty of studio apartments. They can be small, but there are some in great locations near the lake. For some reason rents haven't kept up with housing prices here.

As others have said, there isn't much in trendy (or near-trendy!)Chicago neighborhoods for that amount, but you can find decent places. Near the lake, look at Rogers Park, Edgewater, Andersonville, Ravenswood and Uptown. Note that parts of these areas will have some crime problems. Along the O'Hare-downtown Blue Line El line, look at Old Irving Park, Mayfair; for suburbs, try Oak Park, Norridge and Harwood Heights. These are all north and west side areas because I don't know the south and southwest sides well, but the commutes are shorter from the north.

Having lived in Chicago and in Boston now, I'd recommend Chicago. Boston is VERY expensive. I had a great, large studio for around $750 in Lincoln Park. Granted it was a few years ago, but I was recently on Craigslist and was quite surprised to see that the rents haven't increased in Chicago as much as I expected. For your price range in Boston, it will either put you in a not so great area or living with a few students. I didn't have a car in Chicago and got around fine. Here, unless you live in/right near the city, I find transportation to be slow and not really conveinent. If you're open to living with students, Cambridge is more reasonable on rent, as is Sommerville (just need to really look at where you go). And yes, the "T" is $1.25.

I like Boston much better as a city, but Chicago is noticeably cheaper. Depends on what you are looking for.

There's a lot more to city than price. You'd have to pay me to live in Chicago. But I have friends who've really enjoyed living there.

In the 2000 cencus Boston doesn't even have 600,000 people. Chicago is many, many times both people and distance.

If you include suburbs, I would think you are in a category of 5 Bostons to make one Chicagoland. That is very different.

In the 2000 census Boston doesn't even have 600,000 people. Chicago is many, many times both people and distance.

If you include suburbs, I would think you are in a category of 5 Bostons to make one Chicagoland. That is very different.

Sorry for the double post. The edit feature posted again instead of editing my post.

Editing features don't always work on this site.

Don't be deceived by Boston's apparently low population. It's a very compact city, just 48 square miles compared to Chicago's 228. If you looked at the 228 square mile area centered on Boston proper, their populations would be comparable.

I would think one advantage that Boston has is it's proximity to both beautiful mountains and seacoast.

I've always been attracted to Boston's 'compactedness', I think Chicago is a bit too big and spread out.

Yes, Vittrad, that's why I posted the demographics. Not because of density "feel" but because they are so extremely apples and oranges. Chicago is extremely different from all the Eastern cities. Chicago is big enough in distance to be at least 10 cities. That's why the "neighborhood" talk becomes so much more important than in places like Boston. For instance, I read all the time that the Metra, trains, public transportation is great in Chicago. NOT, for all of Chicago at all.

I know less about and have fewer ties community-wise with Bucktown or Lincoln Park, than I do with places like Joliet or Lockport. So to my mind, that is a very, very different thing.

One of the reasons Boston's housing et al. is so expensive is that it is so limited.

I live in a suburb 25 min west of Boston and renting a studio or 1 bed apartment cost at least $800 plus utilities. Some communities have commuter rail into Boston, so you don't necessarily have to drive into Boston (parking is very expensive inside the city). The closer to Boston, the more expensive the rent and the smaller the units.

Also, don't forget state income tax (5% MA) and sales tax (5% except for food and clothing). I don't know what the rates are in Chicago....can someone give that info for comparison?

I'd second the part of Forest Park nearest to Oak Park -- although the condos there are beginning to get pricey.

I'm pretty sure that Chicago has the highest or one of the highest sales tax added costs to nearly everything you purchase. The state's alone is an added 6.25%. City sales tax within Chicago is addition/ more. Hotel rooms have just added a couple more percent within Chicago itself, thank Major Daley for that one. There is something called entertainment tax now.

Actually for items like liquor and some other categories the sales tax is 9-3/4%. It's always been 1 or 2% more if I buy something in Chicago than if I go across the street and buy it in a surburb. On cars, etc. large purchases- this is something few overlook.

There is also a state income tax.

And I would definitely second a look at that part of Chicagoland that sfowler just mentioned. My first thought was the West side for better commutes and more affordability in rental. Southside around Midway would be less, and some South or SW suburbs would be less, but unless you are right on the orange line-trains and buses- well it's a real trek.

IMHO, if I was coming into any Chicago market, rental or purchase, I would not commit to more than 2 or 3 months until I had roamed enough to see where I wanted to perch.

If you are really serious about wanting to know what neighborhoods are "safe" in Chicago, than you need to google crime stats and learn the names/locations of 30 to 40 constantly changing areas. The real truth is that some of the very "favorable" or trendy neighborhoods are not particularly safe, and vice/versa.

I suspect that a rent of $800 (+utils) for a decent apartment anywhere in the metro Boston area is actually a steal and not that easy to find. It has been my experience that the best apartments may not even be advertised but are rented word of mouth. I was incredibly fortunate to land an apartment in a very desirable area (where most apartments go for $1000 and up) for a little less than $800 plus all utils. How did I do this? I happened to have a friend who already rented from a good landlord who also believed in affordable housing - wonder of wonders! I would, of course, love to own, but unless this huge housing bubble bursts that will be the day- Also, I pay $170/month to commute into Boston every day so that should be taken into account as well.

It does sound as if Chicago rents are more reasonable than Boston. No big surprise there.

I moved to Chicago from Michigan 8 1/2 years ago. As someone else has pointed out, you don't need a car in Chicago. I sold my car right before I moved, and it was the best decision I could have made. Saved me big bucks over the years, and there is practically nowhere I can't get to without a car. If you plan on bringing a car, I highly suggest you don't and put that money towards other living expenses and/or savings.