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[quote=Anonymous]I lived in DC for 8 years, moved to Chicago for 2, and realized I had made a huge mistake and came back to DC. I'm not posting this to bash on Chicago at all but I wanted to share my perspective in case it's helpful. Honestly mileage varies for everyone, clearly there are a TON of people who are or would be happier in Chicago. But for my part, DC is a million times higher QOL. Some reasons:

1. the winters were so much worse than I imagined - it's not that January is cold (it is), it's that MAY is still miserable. I am nearly positive I had SAD. I would wake up and look outside at the cold dreary weather and actually fight back tears.

2. like you, I have a kid. Something people love about Chicago is all the bars and restaurants and sure, they're great. But they're not THAT great and also, I don't go out that much, so DC has more than enough variety to keep me happy.

3. I know some people here are saying the people in Chicago are nicer and maybe that's true but as a non-Midwesterner, I felt so out of place. I've lived in tons of cities (and I'm from the West and moved to DC) so it's not like I don't know how to assimilate to different groups, for some reason I found the Midwestern vibe really intense and impenetrable.

4. Chicago is BIG and by that I mean it spreads out for miles in every direction. I think I spent more time in an Uber in Chicago in 2 years than I did in 8 years in DC. It's just, totally normal to take a cab ride 45 minutes to go somewhere. Once my DD outgrew an infant bucket seat and we suddenly had to start driving everywhere, I quickly tired of it.

5. Chicago is an oasis in the middle of nowhere. In DC we had a regular habit of weekend day trips or overnights to Shenandoah, Chesapeake Bay; or to visit family/friends in Baltimore or Philly. We really struggled to continue this habit in Chicago. We had a few long weekends on lakes in Michigan and those were great, but the car distance was too far to make a habit of it.

Of course there's a million things to love about Chicago but personally, all of these added up to a pretty low quality of life. Maybe I'm to blame for not really trying, but within 2 years I was back in DC.

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