I plan on moving from Toronto to Chicago. Could someone let me know how Chicago compares to Toronto.?

Question

I am looking for information on housing, cleanliness,transportation and cost of living in Chicago.

Answer 1

Wow I've lived in both places TO for 6mos ,Chicago for six years l loved them both . Given the choice i would live in either one of them in a heart beat. Understand that my perspective is that of a native New Yorker
TO is more polite, TO is less gritty TO makes the transition from very safe to very dangerous less dramatically TO is closer to wilderness.
Chicago has slightly better food , except for hockey ,better sports fans, and is more racially diverse. the blues are better too.
Chicago and it's surrounding suburbs are a lot larger than what surrounds TO

Answer 2

Housing depends on how much you want to spend. If you want something cheap, you can find studios and one bedrooms from about $550 to $800 in decent areas of the city. course, if you can pay more, there are a lot of neighborhoods for you to pick from. Check the Chicago Reader website. They have a thing called "Space finder" where you can put in the amount of rent you want to pay, the type of place you're looking for and it will give you choices. If you find a place that sounds good, come back here and ask people about that particular neighborhood, what's it's like, etc.

Compared to other cities of similar size, Chicago is surprisingly clean. I've been to NYC and there is garbage on the main streets, right in front of people's homes, abandoned and burned out cars on the expressway. On the other side there is Minneapolis, which I thought was so clean I could eat off the street. I haven't really been to Toronto (went through it once and was supposed to go a couple years ago but the SARS thing kinda scared me away), but it looks and sounds like a clean place. Chicago is probably a step below that. Not pristine, but very clean for a city of it's size.

Cost of living here is pretty cheap. Granted gas is going through the roof, about $3.11 (but you're in Canada and I don't need to talk to you about gase prices, right?), but everything else is pretty cheap. There is extensive public transportation that can take you from one end of the city to the other for about $1.75 per ride (provided you buy one of those special bus cards). There are great supermarkets and food stores that won't cost you an arm and a leg. Utility prices are pretty low too. My monthly bill for electricity is about $20. Movie theaters are about $7 (but I haven't actually been to a theater in a while. Netflix, you know...).

Anyway, do a search for apartments on the Chicago Reader website and write back here for info on the particular neighborhood that catches your eye.

Answer 3

To me there is no comparison. Have been to Chicago two times and it's nice, but i love Toronto so much more. I went there for the first time in April and i fell in love. I already want to go back. The people are friendly, it's clean, and so quiet at night. From my hotel balcony you could see a park and it was just people walking their dogs. . .but very few people on the streets. It's beautiful, i love it there. And there is so much to do!!

Answer 4

Sorry, I know nothing about Toronto, and I don't live in Chi-town, but I love to go visit there. I'm going in a few weeks. Never a dull moment. Maybe I'll see ya on the Ferris wheel on Navy Pier.

Answer 5

i dont know about toronto, but here are a few websites for u to do your own homework........
www.cityofchicago.org. (all info for everything about/in chicago)
www.craigslist.org.(help in finding job and housing)
www.chicagotribune.com
www.suntimes.com (both are our major newspapers that can help u with job and housing)
www.yourcta.com (thats about our transportation system) ....the cta is for the city and pace & metra is for the surrounding areas

Answer 6

http://www.sunflower.com/~cjones/images/Chicago.jpg

This picture might help you out