I want to move to Virginia from Chicago. Can someone tell me how is the life there comparative with Chicago?

Question

Someboby contact me for an job, and they ask me how much I need. Now I need 2500$/month to live.The problem is, that I don't know how much is the rent, the prices, over there. I don't want to ask more or less. For exemple I'm looking for one bedroom rent, or studio. I don't need something fancy. I hope that someone can help me, and thank's everyone.

Answer 1

It depends where you live in Chicago, and where you intend to live when you move to Virginia. Most prices of things are reasonably comparable (food, clothing, etc.), and some things are slightly cheaper here (fuel for your car, for example - I pay at least $.10 less a gallon here than I did in Virginia).

You may be surprised about the cost of rent. As a general rule, rents here are cheaper than the rents in Virginia, depending on where you live. For example, I had an apartment (1 bedroom) on Lake Shore Drive, downtown with a view of Lake Michigan and a valet parking spot for $1450 / month. When I lived in Virginia (near Reagan National), I was finding apartments that were more expensive, with fewer amenities. This one truly depends on WHERE you are going to live/work. You are probably going to want to live close to where you will work, so take that into consideration when pricing out your apartment.

You probably want to consult one of those "cost of living calculators" to see what the true cost of living is in comparison with both places. You may want to try this one: http://www.moving.com/Find_A_Place/Relosmart/rs.asp and see what it comes up with.

Good luck with your move.

Answer 2

In a nutshell: Virginia = rural; Chicago = Urban.

You can find cheap, reasonable rent here in a decent neighborhood. There are nice neighborhoods that have one berdooms going for anywhere from $650 and up. You can find a studio in a decent neighborhood for anywhere from $550 and up. Check the Chicago Reader website for available apartments (www.chicagoreader.com). some good neighborhoods to look at are Lincoln Park, Edgewater, Irving Park, Buena Park, Roscoe Village, Bucktown, etc.Transportation in the city is cheap: the bus and train costs $2 but if you buy a bus card, it will only cost you $1.75. Most neighborhoods are close by a major grocery stories and almost all of them have a dry cleaners, coffee shops, etc. One of the great things about Chicago is that there are a lot of ethnic stores for everything from food, to clothing to other essentials. One of my favorite groceries in my neighborhoods caters to a primarily eastern European clientele (lots of strange foods in cans and jars) but they have the best meat and vegetables around so I go there to shop instead of the major grocery stores.

and when it comes to entertainment, you can always find a cool bar or something with drink specials (say, imported beer nights where all imported beers are $3 or martini night where all martinis are $4, etc.). There are a bunch of new improv comedy schools/clubs that have student shows during the week for $5-$10 bucks (you might see the next John Belushi). and the White Sox still have half-price mondays where all seats are half price (so you can get a box seat for $12.)

You can live pretty well in Chicago on $2500 a month. Just look for an apartment with one more more utilities included (gas and/or electric) and maybe even one with free cable and you'd be livin' large!

Answer 3

At bestplaces.com you can fill out a survey and it will tell you what cities you'd like to live in the most.

The New York Times has a cost of living comparison chart so you can see how much money you need to maintain your lifestyle. It's midway down the page in the center.

The last link by outflux allows you to choose two cities and compare their weather.

Answer 4

Many parts of Virginia can be expensive, especially the ones that have jobs paying $2500 per month. Comparatively, NC is cheaper and the wages are pretty good.

Answer 5

Chicago has more population than Virginia.