is it possible to live in Chicago suburb on a 80K salary family of 3 and 1 cat?

Question

My husband has a job offer in Chicago that offers more money. We currently live in Boulder County Colorado....what is the difference in the cost of living if we decide to move to a suburb of Chicago? And what suburb would be best to move to....keeping in mind good/safe middle and high schools?

Answer 1

Of course you can. Even with the cat. :) The cost of living is pretty high in the Chicago area, but in Colorado it's not particularly cheap either. You'll find good schools in any suburb north of the city and east of I-294, and south of Illinois-176, with the best schools in the communities along the lake shore, particularly from Winnetka to Lake Forest. But north of there the school quality drops dramatically.

You should seriously look at Glenview. The high school there is Glenbrook South, which is extremely good, and there is housing that is relatively reasonable in the older parts of town. They just built some brand new neighborhoods on land that used to be an naval airbase, so they've got lots of new tax revenue coming in from there, and they're looking to redevelop older parts of town now.

The best schools in the area are in Wilmette and Winnetka, home of New Trier HS, the best public HS in the state, but with that sort of salary you won't be able to afford to buy a house there, though you might find a place you could afford to rent on that salary.

Here's the link to the Illinois school report card website; the reports have lots of good info about the school demographics:
http://webprod.isbe.net/ereportcard/publicsite/getSearchCriteria.aspx
this site has most of the same data as well:
http://iirc.niu.edu/default.aspx?tsource=home

Answer 2

You'd probably do well in Evanston. It's big enough to get stuff done, but not big enough to overwhelm you. It's home to Northwestern University so it has a big college influence to the city. The downtown area has lots of shops, etc. but you can find a nice secluded neighborhood to live confortably. It has less taxes that Chicago, so it might actualy be a litle cheaper to live there. And it's accessible to Chicago by public transportation so you can get back and forth to the city easily. The schools have an excellent reputation and as I said, it's home to northwestern, so there's alwasy that excellent option for college right in your back yard.

Answer 3

I have a home in Glenview and agree with the person who recommends living there about what it has to offer. But, Maine and Niles Township High Schools are excellent too, so you can consider Skokie, Niles, Morton Grove, Lincolnwood, Des Plaines, and Park Ridge too. You don't need a ton of money for any of them. They are lovely neighborhoods with good transportation and shopping.

Answer 4

You can easily live on that kind of money in the Chicagoland area. I don't know why the other poster said east of I-294, when Naperville is west and it also touts some of the better schools in IL. You should look into Naperville, Downers Grove and Lisle. All very nice places to live.

Answer 5

depends on where u ove to but yes its definately possible. i dont think the cat will cut into the budget too much :). i dont think you will afforf the top neighborhoods but you could definately pull it off with you not even working.

Answer 6

try Orland Park or Tinley Park
It depends on where your husbands job will be and how far he is willing to travel for commute to and from work.

Answer 7

that's an interesting question I hope you'll get reasonable answers

Answer 8

that is good money in Chitown. plus you can buy a house

Answer 9

Good pertinent replies, thank you

Answer 10

absolutely