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[quote=Anonymous][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.

[/quote]

I know this thread is old, but people (obviously) find these and take something from them, so I just want to echo what this poster says.

I moved to Chicago after being from DC and have found a lot of the same issues as this person. People are friendly in that you won’t get yelled at at the grocery store and might occasionally make pleasantries in the El, but it truly is much more impenetrable than DC. Everyone has tightly knit friend groups already.

The sheer physical size of the city surprised me. Even in good traffic on the highways  it can take an hour to get from one end of the city to another. Not to mention the suburbs.

Taxes are high and services are spotty, especially if you live in the south side. The schools are much better than other people have said... in that there are a LOT of options, especially for elementary and middle, suiting every pedagogical preference. But: you have to get in and you might easily have a 2 hour round trip commute to that school. High school options are either excellent or terrible but there are a lot of good parochial and private schools. That being said, some of the services are fantastic: snow removal, the truly enviable park system and it’s cheap classes for kids, and the top notch library system.

The weather is whatever. From June-October it truly can’t be beat. Spring is all over the place, and winter is cold/windy but it’s not crippling or anything.[/quote]

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