Cost of Living in Chicago

I find that the NET income after tax is a bit high. I live outside the city but work with lots of people from the city, not many make that kind of money there. DOWNTOWN Chicago yes, but when you get out into the outskirts of the city... I bet its more in the mid 2k range. South side will more than likely be under 2k dollars. I use this site for lots of cost of living comparisons, and having traveled the world I find this site somewhat helpful if you take the info with a grain of salt. Might be a great city to visit, but statistically we have the highest numbers in the nation for people leaving the state.

Rent vs monthly take-home salary seem way off. Based on the average take-home salary of ~$3K/month how is one to afford a monthly rent of ~$3K/month?

I have been living in Chicago for five years, in three different apartments in three different neighborhoods, and I can tell you that you can certainly find an apartment, in the price range, if you look hard enough. Obviously some things (parking especially) will limit your options. I give three actual specific examples of the apartments I've lived in... the neighborhood you pick determines everything! Except taxes, which are horrible everywhere.

First apartment: Junior 1 bedroom on the border Old Town/Gold Coast neighborhoods (specifically LaSalle and Division). I paid $1050 a month with ALL utilities included. Tiny kitchen. Tiny bathroom. Doorman, close to train CTA train station and 156 bus, Jewel Osco and Starbucks down the street. Awesome night life in one of the best neighborhoods in the city. Great neighborhood for a young person in their twenties. Absolutely no hope for parking (I didn't have a car at the time). There was a parking garage that rented spots for $250 a month, so there was that I guess. In building laundry ($1.75 a load). High rise, 13 stories. Amazing rooftop view of the city. Cat friendly.

Second apartment: 4 bedroom 2 bathroom on Near West Side (Taylor and Western) for $1600, I shared it with two other people. Free laundry and a free parking spot. Pay electric and gas. Decent neighborhood, but would not recommend walking south of Roosevelt or west of Western at night. Baccis pizza, bakery, and a dive bar on Taylor. Good walk to CTA stop (would not recommend walking it at night) and access to 157 and 12 bus. For a college student at UIC/Rush this would be ideal. Although, I will say the fourth bedroom was essentially a closet, hence why there was only three of us there. We kept it as an extra storage room/litter box room for my cats. Massive living room. Cat friendly. Mostly family/college student neighborhood.

Third apartment: 1 bedroom 1.5 bathroom in Wrigleyville/Boystown/Lakeview (Cornelia and Halsted) for $1400 (I share this apartment with my boyfriend). Pay electric and gas. Two story apartment, first floor is living room, half bathroom, and kitchen, take the spiral staircase downstairs to bedroom and full bathroom. Close to grocery store, coffee place 800 feet away, awesome neighborhood (does get quite loud at night). Close to CTA stop and 8 bus. I do have permit parking ($120 per year including city sticker) and can find street parking within at least four blocks at all times UNLESS there is a cubs game, in which it will take you a while. Good sized apartment for two people, seems like way too much for a single person (there are five closets in total). Cat and dog friendly.

Lol seriously guys for everyone looking to move to Chicago if you're not rich DO NOT I repeat DO NOT move here. Everything is expensive and really takes away from the greatness of the city not including the crime. And it seems to only be getting worst with all the new taxes and budget cuts. You can't even go to the beach for free :( the city has really gone to shits if you ask me.

Hey guys,tell me plz how expensive,is life in chicago.kz i just wanna make move to there...

Long time Chicago guy here, I found the price of goods for Chicago on this site to be very accurate. The rents shown here are not as accurate because rents vary widely with location. Rent prices jump around by neighborhood and even by block. The cost of most things in Chicago are driven by government taxes. The city government is voracious. Goods and restaurants are 10% tax. A very large part of the price of gasoline, cigarettes, alcoholic beverages are just taxes. It is the same for many other things such as phones and utilities - about 25% tax. High speed internet is not $20/month, more like $50/month for regular, not teaser, rates. The rocketing prices of rents are due to raising property taxes and other related taxes (which vary by neighborhood). Car owners are squeezed for a multitude of taxes such as high sales tax, city sticker tax, high parking rates, red light and speed cameras. Don't expect all those taxes to go towards good schools and roads. The roads are full of potholes and the public schools are third-world quality. But there are good people in Chicago (excluding the politicians). The quality the life is good even if the cost of living is high.

I have lived in Chicago all my life and the prices here have increased drastically.... Downtown Chicago 1 bedroom start at 15,000.00 a month all utilities are separate meaning you will pay light, gas, garbage, parking, and sometimes water....South side is a little more reasonable however you have to worry about being robbed, or shot.....I swear to you I'm not lying, My place have been broken into twice....but they just encourage YOU to get renters insurance...another bill....South west is even worst do not go there.. Nothing is free in Chicago, city stickers are 100.00 every year....you will be paying tickets because they ticket you for everything and they range from 100-400 dollars after 7 days they double....one way on public transportation is 2.25 and they stopped providing passes with transfers that allowed 3 rides....you have to pay for parking at the lake or beaches... movies passes are 25.00 for 2 people...gas bill is 125.00 a month and light is 125.00 a month...Chicago just passed a law for a mandatory tax on all cell phones I think it's like 3% crazy...But I would suggest if you are almost rich to move here but if not move to the suburbs where are the fee's and stickers and emissions test are not so high or will not exist at all

Chicago in city centre(downtown) the rent for one bedroom is more than $2000-$2200/month, not even close to what was written here. The prices presented are nice, but the real prices are higher.. Tolls on all the highways, pay for parking, nothing is free. And the crime(the media don`t exaggerate) Chicago has the worst murders rate from USA, more than NYC and DETROIT combined. On 4th of July 80 people were shot in 1 day. Mostly in south ghettos but it spreads sometimes to north too.

I'm looking into moving down to Chicago, I am gonna be a college student and moving to a new state alone I stress about money. How are the living conditions there? Is it a good place to start out?

Hello every one.
I am planning to move to Chicago. got an offer from one of the US based company. my base will be at Chicago however, most of the time I will be travelling. if any one can help me on what should be the ideal package I should look for. how safe is the city, if I need to leave my wife and kids behind when I am travelling.

I grew up in Chicago (city proper and not any of the surrounding suburbs) and I still live here. Like everyone on this forum said, taxes are outrageous. Prices with regards to food at an average grocery store is within the range reflected. Apartment rents vary a lot in which neighborhood you live in. Lincoln Park, Wicker Park and Lakeview tends to attract the younger folks and the prices are also relatively high. 1 bedroom apt in the city (not downtown) is 900-1300. Utilities = heat, cable, gas, electricity. Heat is usually covered by landlord but do check. Electricity comes out to be $60 but rises significantly to $90-100 during the winter seasons. Similarly, gas bills go up too during winter season. If you are planning on having a car, be ready to pay $100 for the city sticker (1 year fee). Street parking in commercial areas suck. Prices are outrageous. Petrol/Gas prices are high. Around $4 a gallon as of today. Public transportation is relatively cheap, run 24 hours a day. You do encounter interesting folks on the train and buses but I think of it as cultural aspect of Chicago ;)

I've lived in the Chicagoland area for 28 years and have considered moving a number of times due to cost. The numbers here are modest and do not factor in costs during the winter when (heating costs can double) and summer (when gas prices jump to $5.00/gal). Unfortunately these are really the only two seasons so you are CONSTANTLY being hit with high utility bills no matter where in IL you live.

Also, taxes taxes taxes-did I say taxes? Cook county (the county where Chicago is located) has some insane taxes-other counties are not as bad, but, still higher than many other places. From sales to bottled water to highway tolls....you will be hit with every fee imaginable, every year the tollway fee will rise yet the quality of roads and will be the same...

Want to buy a home? Want to buy a 3 bedroom 2 bath house? Hope you want to live roughly a hour away unless you are pretty frugal or want to constantly float your life on credit because you wont find a DECENT home in a DECENT neighborhood for your 2.5 kids for less than $250K-$300K. Not only that property taxes.......well you get the point. Like the big city? Like Extreme swings in weather? Don't mind giving money away for not a whole lot in return? Chicagoland is your place.

I agree with most of the comments above - however, $3,500 a month (afte tax) is a tad too optimistic in my opinion.. that kind of paycheck I think is the average for NYC

Come on lads - salaries in the US are higher than in Europe on average but if the average salary was this high there wouldn't be so much poverty in the US.

I lived in Chicago and very few people I hung out with at the time made that kind of money.

The Actual cost of living in Chicago is far cheaper than most areas of the country. You can buy a 2-3 bedroom ALL BRICK house in the city in good neighborhoods for less than $300K. Where I live now in CT, the same house would easily go for at least 600-700K. Rent in Chicago is probably also 1/2 the price of other large metro areas. The food is cheap, the beer is cheap, everything is easy to get to and it isn't overcrowded. I wish I was back here instead of out east.

the prices here are very misleading . they are infact very much higher.
the taxes are outrageous no matter where you are cook county / chicago is way higher than other counties but not by much .Ill claims to be broke but what they havent figured out is if the state is what about the people in the state

The cost of living is VERY cheap compared to other world-class cities. You have everything that you need here (public transit, some of the best restaurants in the world, amazing theater, tons of career options...) and you don't have to pay the NYC, Boston, DC, LA, or SF prices. The rent here is SIGNIFICANTLY less than comparable neighborhoods in any of those places an you get to live in the middle of everything. I've lived in places with a super low cost of living, like New Mexico, and you get what you pay for. I wouldn't trade the quality of life here for anywhere in the US even if it's not dirt cheap.