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...1&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.

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.