Chicago’s neighborhoods vary widely in livability, ranging from close to paradise to barely survivable to scary as hell.
Long before you begin looking for apartments you should look for neighborhoods and focus on one or two relatively small areas you can comfortably afford and where you’ll genuinely enjoy living. If you begin looking for apartments without a clear focus, you’re likely to end up in a bad apartment in a worse location.
Make a list of the elements of your very own urban paradise. Your list might include proximity to friends, living among people like or unlike yourself, a short trip to work on foot, bike or public transit, a thriving bar / nightlife scene steps from your front door, a park across the street – or a walk on the wild side. Spend some time in the neighborhoods that match your wish list and follow the neighborhood blogs and websites.
Notice that we haven’t said a word about your ideal apartment. If you focus your search on a goodie-laden dream apartment you might find yourself living miserably in it, dreaming about the things you’d love to do if it didn’t take so long to get to them – or dreading the neighbors who break in to snatch your goodies.
Where you live, especially if you’re a first-time renter in Chicago, will have a greater impact on your overall quality of life than the place you live in.
If your budget isn’t unlimited, give some serious thought to trading down (even way down) on apartment features or size, and trading way up on location. Odds are you can survive a year without the dishwasher, hardwood floors and granite countertops. If it’s your first year in Chicago, you’ll have a lot better focus at the end of it on where to find your urban paradise and what you can afford to pay for it.
YoChicago’s rental Guides are one of the tools you can use to narrow your neighborhood search, and our at-a-glance apartment lists will help you to understand what’s available for rent. You can find neighborhood boundaries, photo slide shows and more at our neighborhood pages, and find neighborhood and apartment videos at our video page.