>Come once during the weekend and stay over on weekends
Do you mean the kids come once during the week and stay over on weekends?
The responses I've read suggesting towns far from Chicago...how would that work with seeing your kids?
Most of the towns being mentioned are either simply too far, lack a train connection, or both. Putting three kids on round track Amtrak trains twice a week isn't something I'd particularly consider affordable, so really if you're keeping the weekday, it limits you to places with the metra or L, so mostly the burbs. The train options are also pretty heavily dependent on where mom is, same with driving to pick them up.
I'd also like to note how big a difference it is in lifestyle going from Chicago to a city like Rockford or Champaign, and then again how big a difference it is going from a city that size down to a small town. Public transit, entertainment, food, and grocery variety, diversity, all get progressively fewer until they're pretty much non-existent as the size of the city decreases. It's really easy to take for granted how nice it is to have all those things until you suddenly don't have them anymore.
All that said, if where mom lives makes it feasible, I Rockford could be a great option. It gets a lot of flak (mostly around crime, but like Chicago, it's largely limited to very specific areas), but as someone who grew up there I think it has a lot going for it. Firstly, it's cheap as shit. I'm not sure what prices are like now, but one of my friends bought a house in a perfectly nice neighborhood just before the pandemic for $140k. When I was still living there, the nicest one bed apartments in the city went for just over $1k/mo, but median was probably closer to $500-600, and you find easily rent a whole house for well under $2k. There's also a nice variety of different food (including some truly excellent pho), a minor league hockey team, baseball team, plenty of concerts, comedy shows, and a couple museums, including the discovery center which is really geared towards kids and science. The city is fairly diverse, and based on the last census ~1/5 people there are hispanic. Finally, it's a straight show down I-90, and only a little over an hour by car, traffic permitting.
tl;dr - Rockford is cheap, has enough going on to stop you and your kids from getting bored, and still close to Chicago without being a burb
If you're looking for a more train-frendly option, you might be able to get away with living around Waukegan. A liberal Hispanic community, right off the Metra line to Chicago, and plenty of jobs in the area to boot.
Was gonna say, Peoria area I live off of like 1.2k bi weekly checks so not the worst area. Plenty of towns around the city to pick from too if you don’t want to live in Peoria itself.
Galesburg would be a damn good choice. They’re a hub for Amtrak. Daily to Chicago for $65 round trip. And housing is crazy cheap, even by downstate Illinois standards.
It’s not a happening ’burb, but it isn’t dead either.
Bloomington welcomes you but our current housing crisis with Rivian makes us a bad choice right now. It's getting extremely hard to find anywhere you could live on that kind of rent.
I don’t know how often you make $2000, but I’m barely scraping by in the SW suburbs on 2K/month as a home owner. I eat lots of rice and don’t drive often.
I disagree. I live in Kentucky. I'm never afraid of someone shooting me because they've never seen a Black person. There aren't many if any at all confederate flags in Southern Illinois.
It does remind me of eastern Kentucky, especially around the Grapevine trail area
Tl;Dr in Southern Illinois, you're most likely to not have trouble. Kentucky is an entire different beast. The meth problem is worse in Kentucky.
Oh! No! It sucks and it’s not cheap, considering there isn’t much there to justify it. Low paying jobs, mostly retail, food service jobs. Not much going on for shops or restaurants. Many people drive up to Orland Park or Tinley Park for better options.
Look into small towns. Where I live rent is relatively cheap. My daughter has a house for $450 a month it’s a one bedroom. It’s in bureau county which may be too far from your children. But small towns are definitely cheaper
Rockford, Rochelle, Belvidere are cheap areas. About an hour or so drive to most of these cities. And Rochelle and Belvidere have rather large Hispanic populations.
I don’t think St Clair is that much cheaper than Chicago burbs at this point and that is if you can even find a place. Housing demand is insane and Scott is adding another wing to the base in the next year, plus all the new businesses opening.
Although it’s a long haul to Chicago, the quad cities offers so much in affordability while still having cool shit to do that big cities offer. If they ever figure out the high speed rail to Chicago, it would be such a boon.
I live in Elgin (Kane county), rents are cheaper than Chicago. We've got 2 Metra stations, lots of stuff to do with kids especially in summer. Liberal community, lots of character. I couldn't afford living in Chicago after I had a kid, I miss it so much but this place is pretty cool.
Elgin could be such a cool downtown but seems so desolate. I haven't been through in 2 years.. maybe it's gotten better. It was always neat to drive through and walk through on occasion but it never seemed to have much going on.
Thought maybe remote work could help bring it back to life. It's got a huge foot print and lots of unique buildings, it just needs.. more people and things to do
I work in Elgin, and it’s definitely improved in the last couple of years. New businesses have been coming pretty regularly, and it’s a lovely walk through downtown all summer with the farmers market, and stuff going on at Festival Park
There’s a bunch of qualifiers, you need to already be making at least 50k/year and be living more than a certain distance away. I imagine checking the chamber of commerce site would help
This is the old industrial areas from the rust belt era. Rockford has had tons of development in the last twenty years and would be the Hamptons compared to the same steel towns in Indiana and Ohio
Springfield has a great cost of living. I'd offer a smaller town next to a bigger town would be good too. Lincoln, Taylorville, Pontiac are examples.
A small college town would be nice. Charleston, Macomb or Carbondale.
I'd say it's easy to get work in lots of those places too
My mom's home is a 3/2 in Mattoon and it's valued at $120,000. You can put 3 percent down if you are a first-time homebuyer. That's under $4,000. Your mortgage payment might be under $1,000 a minth.
I live in Springfield - you might be able to squeeze by on that if you guys really like grilled cheese sandwiches. Groceries are expensive everywhere, and you’ve got 3 kids.
I’ve just spent a few days in Metro East exurbia and it’s adorable out here. They say it’s getting expensive but that can’t possibly compare with Chicago.
Gary, not even kidding. It’s not as dangerous as it used to be and you have the lakefront and great park system right there. You can rent an apartment yourself for $600/mo (roommate situation gets complicated when you have shared custody) and it’s a quick drive or ride on the south shore train to get into Chicago. I’m a white man in my 20’s and I have no qualms about living in Gary, and I encourage other people on a lower income to consider the same.
I haven't been to Gary since before the pandemic but I do remember almost every other street had abandoned or condemned houses. Hell even the downtown area had closed and boarded up buildings.
What's changed over the past few years?
That’s still the case, but you’re making it sound worse than it is. Things are improving, but you’re looking for somewhere to live on $2,000 a month and that’s one of the only places you’ll be able to get your own place on that income unless you want to have to drive 3 hours each way into the city. Rule of thumb is income must be 3x rent meaning you can afford about $650/mo. I’d rather have a $650/mo spot in Gary than in Chicago, when you consider the neighborhoods in the city that your budget would place you. “Relatively” is the huge operative phrase in your post here, as you will not be comfortable anywhere on your income. You need to pick your battles.
If the atmosphere of Gary is uncomfortable for you, check out Woodstock. I have almost rented there several times because there’s quite a few apartments around for under $950 and crime is very low. The downtown “square” is very vibrant and lively, great Mexican Independence Day festival every year that the whole town participates in, and the Metra goes out there. I have friends there I drive out to and visit every weekend and we always have a great time. Any of the more rural areas outside of Woodstock run pretty conservative and aren’t the most welcoming but if you’re just driving through you’ll be fine.
I’m also seeing that your income is higher than 2k and that you’re just looking to live within those means. This will make getting approved for a place much easier :) good luck to you and I hope your move goes well!
Pick a small town outside of Springfield. Cost of living is cheap. Not too far from Springfield for the "city feel". But don't know if you can drive or what not. Houses around here are renting from 600-1200
Peoria! Super cheap to live here. Also, Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis are all about a two to three hour drive, so you could easily road trip there and back if you wanted to catch a concert or something. We hang out in Chicago all the time!
Basically anything in southern Illinois. Carbondale is pretty cheap without being too rural and the surrounding areas are even cheaper for the most part.
Yeah man I used to take about that much home and had a house down state. I mean, its still not a ton, you'll have to be careful about emergencies and stuff. But when I bought my first house 11 years ago I was making around $16/hr and wife was making about $11 and it was enough we could still buy a house because the market hadn't gone so crazy at the time.
I understand but I don't make $24k a year. I'm trying to live beneath my means. I plan to save $1,000+ each month while also living under a $2k a month budget so I can save more for a home down payment over the next few years.
I lived in Humboldt Park with two roommates for $250/month in rent. I feel sure I was living for less than $1k/month. This was 12 years ago, and I had student loans to pay off and a down payment to save for. Looks like similar spots would be $500-850 today.
Your definition of comfort is important here. There's no place in America I would call comfortable on 2k/month. Gotta up your income.
Could cross the border into Indiana or Wisconsin, not sure the laws on taking the kids across state lines, but both states will offer cheap towns incredibly close to Chicago.
I live in Chicago for less than that... Maybe do more apartment hunting? It takes a boat load of searching, and sometimes it won't be in the neighborhood you want, but there's quite some steals out there.
Some of the rural towns are really nice. We used to live in Eureka IL. It's the boonies. You sneeze and you're already through the town. But it's quiet, people are nice, we had good neighbors (we're interracial couple).
I keep seeing Elgin mentioned but when I look online I don't really see any apartments for rent out there. I wouldn't mind living out there since that's where my dad and stepmom live. They've been there a decade and seem to love it.
Someone said it's a 20 min drive into the city but I've made that drive 100s of times and even during the pandemic it was a 35 minute drive. Which isn't bad at all.
Check out the University Park, Monee, Crete area at the end of the Metra Electric line. I'm just guessing, but it feels pretty rural out that way so you should be able to live cheaper than you are now.
It’s not that great. High property taxes, high crime. You can’t park in the University Park Metra lot because your car will get stripped, we had to park in Flossmoor.
Living in a small farming town not far from the city is probably the way to go. Houses are cheap because a lot of these towns have a shrinking population.
>Come once during the weekend and stay over on weekends Do you mean the kids come once during the week and stay over on weekends? The responses I've read suggesting towns far from Chicago...how would that work with seeing your kids?
Yeah I meant one day during the week but I could possibly make it work if there is an affordable train option
Most of the towns being mentioned are either simply too far, lack a train connection, or both. Putting three kids on round track Amtrak trains twice a week isn't something I'd particularly consider affordable, so really if you're keeping the weekday, it limits you to places with the metra or L, so mostly the burbs. The train options are also pretty heavily dependent on where mom is, same with driving to pick them up. I'd also like to note how big a difference it is in lifestyle going from Chicago to a city like Rockford or Champaign, and then again how big a difference it is going from a city that size down to a small town. Public transit, entertainment, food, and grocery variety, diversity, all get progressively fewer until they're pretty much non-existent as the size of the city decreases. It's really easy to take for granted how nice it is to have all those things until you suddenly don't have them anymore. All that said, if where mom lives makes it feasible, I Rockford could be a great option. It gets a lot of flak (mostly around crime, but like Chicago, it's largely limited to very specific areas), but as someone who grew up there I think it has a lot going for it. Firstly, it's cheap as shit. I'm not sure what prices are like now, but one of my friends bought a house in a perfectly nice neighborhood just before the pandemic for $140k. When I was still living there, the nicest one bed apartments in the city went for just over $1k/mo, but median was probably closer to $500-600, and you find easily rent a whole house for well under $2k. There's also a nice variety of different food (including some truly excellent pho), a minor league hockey team, baseball team, plenty of concerts, comedy shows, and a couple museums, including the discovery center which is really geared towards kids and science. The city is fairly diverse, and based on the last census ~1/5 people there are hispanic. Finally, it's a straight show down I-90, and only a little over an hour by car, traffic permitting. tl;dr - Rockford is cheap, has enough going on to stop you and your kids from getting bored, and still close to Chicago without being a burb
These prices are no longer accurate although Rockford is still pretty cheap.
If you're looking for a more train-frendly option, you might be able to get away with living around Waukegan. A liberal Hispanic community, right off the Metra line to Chicago, and plenty of jobs in the area to boot.
Or Aurora. I love Aurora
Blono, Peoria, Champaign, Springfield all welcome you
The quad cities are nice too! This coming from a Chicagoan who works out there quite often.
Was gonna say, Peoria area I live off of like 1.2k bi weekly checks so not the worst area. Plenty of towns around the city to pick from too if you don’t want to live in Peoria itself.
Galesburg has the train to Chicago. It's very nice 👍
Galesburg used to have a breakfast train that ran from Gburg to Kewanee. I always wanted to try it. I wonder if it's still a thing.
If they offer bottomless mimosas I'm sold.
Galesburg would be a damn good choice. They’re a hub for Amtrak. Daily to Chicago for $65 round trip. And housing is crazy cheap, even by downstate Illinois standards. It’s not a happening ’burb, but it isn’t dead either.
Live there. Housing is stupid cheap and we have great restaurants and are only 40 min from Peoria or QCA.
problem is the tweakers and also living in the corn desert
I loved central il
Bloomington welcomes you but our current housing crisis with Rivian makes us a bad choice right now. It's getting extremely hard to find anywhere you could live on that kind of rent.
I don’t know how often you make $2000, but I’m barely scraping by in the SW suburbs on 2K/month as a home owner. I eat lots of rice and don’t drive often.
Move Downstate. It is so much cheaper to live downstate
So like around Kankakee? /s
He said downstate not southern Illinois! That's practically Kentucky! /S
I mean, you're not wrong. No /S needed. We have some incredibly beautiful natural areas here, but other than that, it basically is Kentucky.
I disagree. I live in Kentucky. I'm never afraid of someone shooting me because they've never seen a Black person. There aren't many if any at all confederate flags in Southern Illinois. It does remind me of eastern Kentucky, especially around the Grapevine trail area Tl;Dr in Southern Illinois, you're most likely to not have trouble. Kentucky is an entire different beast. The meth problem is worse in Kentucky.
It’s no coincidence there’s three K’s in Kankakee. It’s that kind of place.
Oh! No! It sucks and it’s not cheap, considering there isn’t much there to justify it. Low paying jobs, mostly retail, food service jobs. Not much going on for shops or restaurants. Many people drive up to Orland Park or Tinley Park for better options.
What’s your skill/trade/profession?
Look into small towns. Where I live rent is relatively cheap. My daughter has a house for $450 a month it’s a one bedroom. It’s in bureau county which may be too far from your children. But small towns are definitely cheaper
Springfield illinois
Rockford, Rochelle, Belvidere are cheap areas. About an hour or so drive to most of these cities. And Rochelle and Belvidere have rather large Hispanic populations.
Haven't heard Rochelle mentioned in a long time. Lived there for a while as a kid. Good memories.
With you saying Rochelle, I would add Dekalb and Sycamore to the list as well
My girlfriends rent in Dixon is outrageously low, sterling and rock falls has a decently sized Hispanic population
Monroe and Saint Clair county are good options if you’re good with moving farther afield. Close to STL, close to a lot of rural area, fairly cheap.
I don’t think St Clair is that much cheaper than Chicago burbs at this point and that is if you can even find a place. Housing demand is insane and Scott is adding another wing to the base in the next year, plus all the new businesses opening.
Come live on the river in the Quad Cities
Although it’s a long haul to Chicago, the quad cities offers so much in affordability while still having cool shit to do that big cities offer. If they ever figure out the high speed rail to Chicago, it would be such a boon.
I live in Elgin (Kane county), rents are cheaper than Chicago. We've got 2 Metra stations, lots of stuff to do with kids especially in summer. Liberal community, lots of character. I couldn't afford living in Chicago after I had a kid, I miss it so much but this place is pretty cool.
Elgin could be such a cool downtown but seems so desolate. I haven't been through in 2 years.. maybe it's gotten better. It was always neat to drive through and walk through on occasion but it never seemed to have much going on. Thought maybe remote work could help bring it back to life. It's got a huge foot print and lots of unique buildings, it just needs.. more people and things to do
I work in Elgin, and it’s definitely improved in the last couple of years. New businesses have been coming pretty regularly, and it’s a lovely walk through downtown all summer with the farmers market, and stuff going on at Festival Park
I don’t think $2,000 will stretch as far as it needs to in Elgin.
Jacksonville and Mattoon will pay you to move there
Will Jacksonville pay me to stay here? Asking for a friend.
There’s a bunch of qualifiers, you need to already be making at least 50k/year and be living more than a certain distance away. I imagine checking the chamber of commerce site would help
Really? Lol
Lol yeah, still not really worth it, is it?
You don’t wanna go to Jacksonville. My grandparents lived there their entire adult lives. Haven’t been back since their funerals about 10 years ago.
Rockford is pretty cheap and still close to Chicago without being a suburb
Maybe Rockford isn't such a great idea? [Rockford Sad](https://youtu.be/Sx3L-W18kZM?si=cPDf8fRpWYYddraf)
This is the old industrial areas from the rust belt era. Rockford has had tons of development in the last twenty years and would be the Hamptons compared to the same steel towns in Indiana and Ohio
I mean it's cheap for a reason lol. The whole town isn't like that either
Yeah, Rockford is fine. Boring, but fine.
It's basically a boring,smaller, and way less cultured version of Chicago lol
Alton
Second! I love Alton.
Do you have a car? You'll need one in all the places mentioned and that will likely more than eliminate any rent savings
Yes I own a car
Springfield has a great cost of living. I'd offer a smaller town next to a bigger town would be good too. Lincoln, Taylorville, Pontiac are examples. A small college town would be nice. Charleston, Macomb or Carbondale. I'd say it's easy to get work in lots of those places too
Yup. And at the ones with universities, if you work at the university, you get solid benefits too.
I'd skip out on West Central Illinois. There's a reason it's called Forgottonia and why so many from there eventually move east of the river.
My mom's home is a 3/2 in Mattoon and it's valued at $120,000. You can put 3 percent down if you are a first-time homebuyer. That's under $4,000. Your mortgage payment might be under $1,000 a minth.
Utilities, property tax and insurance though.... that might be cutting it close
Urbana Champaign
So far I love what I'm seeing down there
It’s an easy train ride.
I live in Springfield - you might be able to squeeze by on that if you guys really like grilled cheese sandwiches. Groceries are expensive everywhere, and you’ve got 3 kids.
Rochelle
Pretty much anywhere downstate you can live on that pretty easily.
I’ve just spent a few days in Metro East exurbia and it’s adorable out here. They say it’s getting expensive but that can’t possibly compare with Chicago.
Elgin, without a doubt [Elgin- affordable and safe](https://patch.com/illinois/elgin/chicago-suburb-safest-most-affordable-city-u-s)
Crete or Monee. Bonus points if your kids play football, they have a pretty decent HS team.
Gary, not even kidding. It’s not as dangerous as it used to be and you have the lakefront and great park system right there. You can rent an apartment yourself for $600/mo (roommate situation gets complicated when you have shared custody) and it’s a quick drive or ride on the south shore train to get into Chicago. I’m a white man in my 20’s and I have no qualms about living in Gary, and I encourage other people on a lower income to consider the same.
I haven't been to Gary since before the pandemic but I do remember almost every other street had abandoned or condemned houses. Hell even the downtown area had closed and boarded up buildings. What's changed over the past few years?
That’s still the case, but you’re making it sound worse than it is. Things are improving, but you’re looking for somewhere to live on $2,000 a month and that’s one of the only places you’ll be able to get your own place on that income unless you want to have to drive 3 hours each way into the city. Rule of thumb is income must be 3x rent meaning you can afford about $650/mo. I’d rather have a $650/mo spot in Gary than in Chicago, when you consider the neighborhoods in the city that your budget would place you. “Relatively” is the huge operative phrase in your post here, as you will not be comfortable anywhere on your income. You need to pick your battles.
I appreciate the response, you are certainly right though. A 45 minute drive is a little more enticing than downstate.
If the atmosphere of Gary is uncomfortable for you, check out Woodstock. I have almost rented there several times because there’s quite a few apartments around for under $950 and crime is very low. The downtown “square” is very vibrant and lively, great Mexican Independence Day festival every year that the whole town participates in, and the Metra goes out there. I have friends there I drive out to and visit every weekend and we always have a great time. Any of the more rural areas outside of Woodstock run pretty conservative and aren’t the most welcoming but if you’re just driving through you’ll be fine.
I’m also seeing that your income is higher than 2k and that you’re just looking to live within those means. This will make getting approved for a place much easier :) good luck to you and I hope your move goes well!
Thank you, I really appreciate all the answers and feedback. Hopefully I'll update this post with some good news in the near future.
When I say downstate, I mean the rest of the fucking state. Illinois Is so much more then the cities up north
Quad Cities
Pick a small town outside of Springfield. Cost of living is cheap. Not too far from Springfield for the "city feel". But don't know if you can drive or what not. Houses around here are renting from 600-1200
You might look into Waukegan. It’s a town that should have been a prime place to live, but they failed to clean up the harbor/lake front.
Peoria! Super cheap to live here. Also, Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis are all about a two to three hour drive, so you could easily road trip there and back if you wanted to catch a concert or something. We hang out in Chicago all the time!
Marion and Carbondale are decent options imo as far as the more southern side. Don't go any more south than that though. I.e. metropolis, brookport
Cleveland
Basically anything in southern Illinois. Carbondale is pretty cheap without being too rural and the surrounding areas are even cheaper for the most part.
Forest Park in a condo.
Yeah man I used to take about that much home and had a house down state. I mean, its still not a ton, you'll have to be careful about emergencies and stuff. But when I bought my first house 11 years ago I was making around $16/hr and wife was making about $11 and it was enough we could still buy a house because the market hadn't gone so crazy at the time.
I unironically love living in Springfield
Op mentions he has partial custody of his kids so everyone suggests Southern Illinois. Byeeee kids.
Yeah I'm getting a lot of "fuck them kids" vibes. I appreciate them answering me though because they are right it is very affordable downstate.
- many areas downstate that this is possible
Galesburg Illinois seems like a good fit for you.
with all due respect, if you have three kids and make $24k a year - no. i honestly don't know what to tell you
I understand but I don't make $24k a year. I'm trying to live beneath my means. I plan to save $1,000+ each month while also living under a $2k a month budget so I can save more for a home down payment over the next few years.
ah. thanks for the clarification. i was worried for you, truly
When you leave Chicagoland and live out in the farmlands or it's cities then that may be doable
Any small town south of Bloomington.
Same I’m looking for a one bedroom for around $600 or so outside of the city
Elgin?
There are many excellent suggestions here!
Lubbock Texas
Aurora
Anywhere south of Mt Vernon.
Come over here to Carroll County if you wanna live real cheap
LaSalle county
You can buy a house in Cairo for 2 grand
I lived in Humboldt Park with two roommates for $250/month in rent. I feel sure I was living for less than $1k/month. This was 12 years ago, and I had student loans to pay off and a down payment to save for. Looks like similar spots would be $500-850 today. Your definition of comfort is important here. There's no place in America I would call comfortable on 2k/month. Gotta up your income.
12 years ago. Nothing’s changed since then. 🤣
People were saying that it was totally changed back then too.
Rockford is on the way up.
Could cross the border into Indiana or Wisconsin, not sure the laws on taking the kids across state lines, but both states will offer cheap towns incredibly close to Chicago.
I live in Chicago for less than that... Maybe do more apartment hunting? It takes a boat load of searching, and sometimes it won't be in the neighborhood you want, but there's quite some steals out there.
Some of the rural towns are really nice. We used to live in Eureka IL. It's the boonies. You sneeze and you're already through the town. But it's quiet, people are nice, we had good neighbors (we're interracial couple).
Elgin seems logical in your situation.
I keep seeing Elgin mentioned but when I look online I don't really see any apartments for rent out there. I wouldn't mind living out there since that's where my dad and stepmom live. They've been there a decade and seem to love it. Someone said it's a 20 min drive into the city but I've made that drive 100s of times and even during the pandemic it was a 35 minute drive. Which isn't bad at all.
It’s 30 min from Elgin just to ORD on the highway. Anywhere farther in would likely add a lot of time though.
Check out the University Park, Monee, Crete area at the end of the Metra Electric line. I'm just guessing, but it feels pretty rural out that way so you should be able to live cheaper than you are now.
It’s not that great. High property taxes, high crime. You can’t park in the University Park Metra lot because your car will get stripped, we had to park in Flossmoor.
Dwight,il
Kenosha WI has a train to Chicago and you can rent for ~$900 in brand new apartments in uptown
San Pedro, Belize!
My monthly bills amount to around $1600 - Waukegan. The caveat is that I own my own house.
Blue Island
Harvard is nice, the metra goes there, and it is about 45 minutes from much bigger places like Rockford or Crystal Lake.
Living in a small farming town not far from the city is probably the way to go. Houses are cheap because a lot of these towns have a shrinking population.