Relo to Chicago?

[Anonymous]

We must choose between a transfer to Chicago or being laid off. Would we regret moving (as we love this area for a variety of reasons) or hacking it out and find a new finance/strategy job here?
Anyone able to firsthand compare the two places - commutes, weather, people, cost of living, quality of life? We currently live inside the beltway.
Thanks for jotting anything down.

[Anonymous]

OP here, we have small children and would want to live in a family-oriented neighborhood for the longterm, so i assume this means trading Bethesda suburbs for Chicago ones.

[Anonymous]

You can have a wonderful QoL in Chicago! Love, LOVE Chicago. I don't even see how this is debatable if being laid off is the option. Real estate $ goes farther than here.

You'll need to research schools if you want to be in the city--the suburbs have terrific schools. Not sure about the city schools. Where are you guys working? I would situate your neighborhood search around that. Lots of people here with Chicago connections who can point you to which areas to minimize commute.

Traffic is better there than here.

[Anonymous]

PP here--oh, and the people are a 1000x nicer in Chicago than here. I miss that.

[Anonymous]

We moved here from Chicago and I would move back in a second if we had the chance. I have genuinely been trying to make the best of it for a long time, but have not yet stopped wishing we were there. There are so many wonderful neighborhoods within the city where good friends are raising their children. The city is very family and child friendly. The public transit system is great so that helps a lot with commutes. I assume your DH would work downtown? If you ended up deciding you wanted suburban life, there are some decent suburbs like Evanston that are still on the transit system and are very livable. (In fact, Evanston is fairly comparable to Bethesda). The city is so vibrant and active. There is truly something for everyone - sports, theatre, dance, music, art, outdoor activities, a beach. All the neighborhoods and the city are lively and full every weekend, as opposed to the ghost town that it is around here many weekends. The cost of housing seemed to us to be at least 25% - 30% lower if not more. They got hit a little harder than DC with the housing dip, so it's probably an excellent time to buy there.

I was not in the finance field but have friends who are; it seems to be a very active market there and you'd have very good opportunities career-wise.

One of the best things about Chicago is the people. Real, genuine people who have no agenda and are not trying to use you for who you know or where you work like so many seem to around here. In fact, in our experience people in Chicago rarely if ever discuss work in social settings. People seem to be a lot more interested in who you are outside of work; so if that appeals to you you might really like it there. It is also a much less transient city than DC. People raise families there and stay there for long term, and you have friends who are like family. Not that there aren't families like that here, but there are just a higher percentage of people here in DC for a shorter-term job situation.

Yes, the winters are colder. But the city is well-equipped to handle the weather. So, you wear more layers and buy a warmer coat and sturdier boots. Nobody seems too bothered by it, and life goes on regardless of the weather. (as opposed to completely shutting down in DC) You just do different winter activities, like go to plays, museums, hang out with friends, go to a sporting event. The minute the sun comes out on any day, the streets are full! In the summer there are different outdoor festivals (cultural, music, art) every weekend, and the beach is packed with people hanging out with family and friends, playing beach volleyball, taking walks along the lake.

Yes, I'm biased, and it's not that I think DC is a total bust. It certainly has a lot to offer. But given a choice, I wouldn't take even one second to decide to move back to Chicago!

Good luck with your decision!

[Anonymous]

I am you. I moved from Chicago here three years ago for a job in finance/strategy. I was in Chicago for 10 years before that.

The positives:
- Chicago is a much more vibrant city in some respects. Its a mini new york. Michigan Ave and the downtown melange of restaurants, bars, clubs and high end shops just isn't quite matched with any area around here. The closest I think would be downtown bethesda in terms of feel. Lots of stores.
- Public transportation options in Chicago are much much much much better. DC seems to have a metro that was designed randomly - and anything near the metro stop is exceptionally expensive. Chicago's metro runs throughout the city and being near a stop is not at all difficult to do, particularly if you are prepared to live in a condo or townhome.
- Walkability is much much higher overall. DC has a handful of hot spots where you can live and walk to everything - arlington, dupont, georgetown, etc. They are all priced to reflect their uniqueness. Chicago is built north-south, so whether you are downtown, south loop, lakeview, lincoln park, edgewater, evanston, etc - most any area will have a high walkability score. There are exceptions, but the point is, unlike DC, you dont really need $1M to be able to live in a townhome across from a whole foods.
- Similarly, in terms of COL, Chicago is exceptional for a big city. It's not Dallas, but you can get a nice home for $500K and if you want city living you can do quite well on a modest (by DC standards) budget.
- Compared to DC, it seems a lot less focused on money. I make good money by most any measure and I've never felt so judged in my life. DC is a wierd microcosm in that way. Chicago seems much more laid back. People don't ask what I do for a living as much, and when I dont mention some senators name or something, they dont care. Here.... I dont know, I get the feeling people size you up more.
- The traffic is much better, although if you live in the suburbs, that can be a drag. Still, DC seems to somehow attract some of the worst drivers on the planet. I don't understand how its possible but every single day you hear about a half dozen accidents here. There's highways and lots of people in chicago, plus lots of snow, and yet accidents are comparably (it would seem) rare.
- Summers in chicago are very nice. There is an occasional hot day, but its not like DC where you would murder a puppy to get access to an air conditioner. For the most part, its warm, breezy, and temperate.
- Chicago seems better for jobs in some ways. If you are a Fed, I imagine DC is *the* place to be. For me, I'm wondering if I shouldn't have stayed because of the hundreds of companies that have a base of operations out there. DC seems more immune to recessions, but I'm not sure the tradeoff is totally accurate. If I lost my job in DC, I'm not really sure where else I could apply other than perhaps a dozen or two dozen firms. In Chicago I think my option set might be a hundred.

There are drawbacks:

- Property taxes are higher in chicago
- The winters suck. Its not so much the cold (you get used to it) but the length will get to you. Its cold, dark, and gray from October through March. The sun sets at 4pm in the winter, so you get to the office while its dark, and you leave while its dark. Seasonal depression always sounded like a bunch of bullshit to me, but after ten years in chicago, I don't know anymore, maybe there's some truth to it. On the other hand, it makes you appreciate the summer months so much more.
- The seasons are imbalanced in general. Winter is long. Spring and fall seem to last two or three weeks. As someone who likes spring and fall, that sucks.
- In terms of being able to do fun day-trips, there's a bit less- skiing and the beach arent exactly what Chicago's known for. Unlike DC where youve got whitetail, wisp, bryce, and if you dont mind a decent drive, killington, there's fairly little in Chicago. Similarly, while lakefront, its not like Bethany Beach or Ocean City or some of the other places around here. There's a few spots people go to, but by and large, its pretty limited.
- Theres an awful lot less green. DC is pretty exceptional in the number of trails, parks, trees and greenery that covers the city. Springtime here is fricking awesome. Chicago certainly has its share of green, but its more of a NYC green, in that most of the city is a concrete jungle and every now and then you find a big park (i.e. grant park) that is soft of "the" park in the city. In DC you can be hiking the Shenandoah in an hour, in Chicago, you might get to go for a nice bike ride along the lake. Its something but its not the same.
- DC is much more international - you will hear other languages in Chicago, but not like in DC. Here its french, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, you name it. Not so much in Chicago.
- Free museums are a DC quirk. By and large, Chicago is a pay to play city.

My take is that if you like Bethesda, you'll like Chicago. In fact, I often say that we should haved moved to Bethesda.

That said, if you are in finance/strategy and want to stay here, my company is hiring. Email me [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

9:52 summed it up really, really well. I would move back but I really struggled with the long overcast winters. (I struggle here too, but at least it's for a shorter period.) My family is still in Chicago and they don't seem to mind the weather too much. They do a lot of sledding and ice skating with the kids, and just bundle up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:9:52 summed it up really, really well. I would move back but I really struggled with the long overcast winters. (I struggle here too, but at least it's for a shorter period.) My family is still in Chicago and they don't seem to mind the weather too much. They do a lot of sledding and ice skating with the kids, and just bundle up.

9:52 here. Yea, the winters were a big part of what drove me away. A toddler in a condo, even if the condo has double vanity and granite countertops will grind on your patience.

[Anonymous]

Chicago's awesome, I'd take it in a heartbeat. Yeah, it snows alot in northern Illinois, but they handle it beautifully. You'd practically need a nuclear winter to shut things down. The only negative is that higher state and local taxes may push you into AMT territory, if you're not already there, but as an alternative to unemployment, it's likely not much of a concern. Traffic can be a bear, but I wouldn't call it worse than DC.

Where would you be working, vaguely?

[Anonymous]

If you have kids, I highly advise scouring the local thrift shops for snowbibs before you leave. I always see scads of them, barely worn. Snowbibs, good gloves and boots, there's no reason not to shove your kids out in the backyard or walk them to a playground every afternoon in winter. It's not like out here with the endless freeze/melt/refreeze cycle that leaves everything a muddy mess.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks for the good comparisons. We have lived in many large cities too and have been impressed by the DC area for many of those same reasons.

I forgot to mention that we bought a house here in the last 2 years so would be looking at a loss due to fees, taxes and who knows what price.

Husband would be downtown, most of my options are likely there too if I have to go the big finance company route again. ( we happily left Manhattan before).

[Anonymous]

Another Chicago transplant. Bethesda reminds me of Evanston but the schools are not comparable. There are some rougher areas of Evanston that just don't exist in Bethesda. Also, I remember reading that the high school eliminated honors classes (or something similar that wasn't received well). The suburbs just north of Evanston (Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Northfield) all attend New Trier High School which is comparable to the W schools here (I'm an alum). Those suburbs have their own individual school districts for elementary and middle school so there is more local control. Other northern suburbs to look at are Northbrook, Deerfied, Highland Park and Glenview. They all have Metra stations (commuter train line) that go to the city. Both Evanston and Wilmette have Metra and the "el". I'm not as familiar with the western suburbs but have friends in Oak Park, River Forest, Hinsdale. Glen Ellyn and Clarendon Hills are also very nice.

The weather is a big negative but snow doesn't shut everything down like it does here. Good luck with your decision.

[Anonymous]

Would you be getting any relo help, or is keeping the job the only bone they'll throw you?

[Anonymous]

Lived 30 years in Chicago before moving to a variety of cities and countries. I would move back in a second.

Lots of good points brought up by the PPs. Yes, the weather can be miserable, but you grin and bear it and get through it. Summers are lovely and downtown is great. Public transit is good and the suburban rail is very handy and extensive. People are very friendly and proud of their city, with good reason. Love it there.

[Anonymous]

What's the housing stock? Nice all-brick colonials or those wood houses with brick veneer on only the front? Victorians?