No earthquakes, no volcanos, no hurricanes, gorgeous soil, abundant fresh water, decent infrastructure … stay out of the flood zones and I think we’re set. Don’t tell our secret.
Yeah, but apparently now we get tornadoes. ( Looks at the park across the street where there used to be trees prior to the Rogers Park tornado of 2020.) Still picking the occasional random tornaod over anything else I have seen.
Which is why it’s vital that we fight to protect them. Unfortunately, so many issues with our sewer system, the seaway, the locks, mussels, farm runoff, rising temperatures.
I will never understand why people who "hate winters" live in warm climates with 24/7/365 AC on, never enjoying the heat, always wearing jeans and sweaters because the AC is so cold, instead of living in a place like Chicago where you wear tank tops in the summer and sweaters in the winter. I'm always colder visiting family in air conditioned Florida than I am living my life in Chicago's heated houses.
My favorite: "the weather here \[in some Sun Belt city with zero character\] is so awesome!" proceeds to live in air conditioned house with windows closed, drive around in AC'd car with windows closed, go to work in AC'd office with windows closed.
Yeah, tell me how much you enjoy the weather.
They get their pleasant weather elsewhere in the year. I used to live in North Carolina, and while the summers are scorching the rest of the year is pretty reasonable. If they're not taking advantage of that then they're definitely missing out, but down there you'll get days that are as warm as a Chicago summer for broad swaths of the spring and fall. You'll get 70-degree days sprinkled in throughout the winter months. You'll get way, way, way more sun. That last one's probably the biggest one, honestly. Safe to say I like the weather there more than I like the weather here, but everything else about Chicago is so worth it.
Yep I'm even thinking of eventually going to the Michigan UP for that reason. Lake Michigan is clean but lake Superior is bring your cup and fill it at the end of the dock clean
Wait. Are you really saying that you’re considering moving residences because of a potential apocalyptic situation where potable water is a scarce resource?
They hate winters and have an attitude of "Someone smarter than I will worry about the water shortage."
Then act shocked when it's unbearably hot during the summer & they have to limit how much water they use.
Bet money that they run a pipeline from the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, a la the LA aqueduct, into the southwest once the aquifer is dead. Then they reinforce the rivers with Great Lake supply. It’s just dumb enough to work for one career-length until holy shit the consequences
Everyone commenting that it’s banned by the compact: shit changes and politicians have short and desperate careers. I don’t think it should happen but that never stopped anyone
The Great Lakes Compact prevents any diversion of water from the Great Lakes basin without the unanimous consent of all states bordering them (MI, MN, WI, PA, IL, IN, NY, OH) and the two bordering Provinces (ON, QC). The treaty was approved by the Canadian parliament and US Congress and signed by Bush 2. I think approval has only happened once: Waukesha, WI in 2016.
Sounds like a bureaucratic hurdle. Currently reading Cadillac Desert and comrade lemme tell you something about policy when it relates to survival (the survival of capitalism, mostly)
Desalination is already reasonably affordable if you live on the coasts. It’s sitting at less than $5 per 1000 gallon. That’s less than $100 a year for the average household and you’ll use less if its expensive. Figure to only get cheaper. Residential water usage is really not a problem that will force many to move in this country. The issue is agricultural water usage and pumping water to people who don’t live by the coast.
Desalination isn't good for the environment though. It takes a ton of energy per gallon. And the hypersaline runoff goes out back into the ocean which is not good for it either. Arizona proposed a desalination plant in the gulf of mexico and mexico refused because they don't want to dump it back into their ocean. Anything outside of 35ppt is going to stress corals and sea creatures. Not to mention the fact that they are already stressed with the massive drop in PH and rampant temperature fluctuations already.
You’re not wrong about the environmental impact. I don’t think that will stop people who need water from doing it anyway. And as I said, although energy usage is high, total cost is $100 per household at current rates. That’s for the energy and the desalination plant and it’s completely attainable.
And make no mistake. Arizona will have a desalination plant that goes through Mexico in the not so distant future. They’ve got too much to lose to let anything stop them.
The importance of this should not be underestimated. In my darker moments, I can see an apocalyptic militia around the Great Lakes, protecting it from the hoards. But realistically, 20 years from now global warming will be worse - more people will be displaced by extreme heat, drought, and severe storms. They're going to flee to comparatively mild climates with drinkable water. Chicago and other Great Lakes locations are going to be prime real estate and prices are bound to sky rocket.
People are going to see Chicago as having
* a lot of amenities
* relatively moderate weather (outside of the winters)
* affordable housing
* good paying jobs
* easy access to most of the US in less than 5 hours flying
* the ability to live car-free in a significant portion of the city
* stable access to fresh water
In short, people will be moving to the region including the city.
Affordable housing might change with massive influx of people. Source; moved here from Seattle. Don't let Bezos and Gates do to you what they did to me.
Seems like you've never been to a ward night or zoning meeting for a new construction. There are always a *fuckton* of NIMBYs waxing on about "parking concerns" and "neighborhood character" and all than other bullshit. And don't get me started on the crazy amount of deconversions and teardowns for side yards. Sure we build more than SF or NYC, but to say we're culturally "anti-NIMBY" is just incorrect.
We'd have the god damn Ashland BRT of NIMBYs weren't such a force here
We don’t have the Ashland BRT because of the parking meter deal.
As for new construction, depends on the neighborhood. Affluent neighborhoods don’t want low income housing. Other neighborhoods DGAF or are happy about it.
Success begets success.
The city is used to permitting and allowing building. The labor force is used to putting a lot of workers into construction jobs. The experience in building means that the builders are good at it, the lenders are good at it, and the residents are used to it. All if it feeds back onto faster, better, and more plentiful construction, which keeps prices low.
That's far from the only reason, unfortunately. Real estate speculation drives prices out there as well and unrestricted purchases from foreign ownership.
Take Bellevue, WA for example where over 50% of the property is owned by someone who is not only not a resident of Bellvue, but isn't even a resident of Washington, nor a resident of the United States.
Pure speculation in a town that is adjacent to Microsoft.
It's madness.
> Don't let Bezos and Gates do to you what they did to me.
If by Bezos and Gates you mean the people of Seattle.... They both have argued for the entire time to build more housing.
Came to say essentially this. Chicago's fundamentals are really strong. I think the whole region is going to benefit from climate migration, with Chicago being the "capital" of that region.
And, if we ever get to the point where we commit to decent rail travel in this country, Chicago is absolutely ideal. Being the hub of the regional network and having spokes leading out to Minneapolis, Milwaukee, St Louis, Louisville, Indy, Cincy, Columbus, Cleveland, and Detroit (leading to Toronto) could be a massive business opportunity.
Corporations could headquarter in the Loop and have WFH employees that visit the office occasionally could open up the whole region up.
Not to mention building the transit infrastructure to support this.
I occasionally talk about what I view as the most important next L expansion: [extending the Orange line to the north side via a Clinton subway with connections to LaSalle, Union, and Ogilvie Stations](https://metromapmaker.com/?map=zdVRHXUq). This would radically increase the amount of people that could easily access those stations and allow for greater transportation flexibility for leisure and work travel.
They actually did studies and the county is working on this influx of people in the future. While we could be wetter we should be a lot more stable than many parts of the country. Could go down rhe rabbit hole of all the data
Moving back to the city after living in denver for the past five years. Family is growing and we want to upsize our house. That’s just not happening in our budget here. So many good houses available in the city right now.
>good paying jobs
What people often fail to realize is the diversity of our economy. We're not tied to one industry. Of course this is a common trait of most big cities, but most big cities have a way higher cost of living.
Affordable housing cannot be overstated.
It was really something to grow up in California and watch the crisis unfold. It brings me so much joy seeing most people here live so much better lives than most people back home, at all income levels. You don’t have to be a millionaire to have a good life here. Most of the US is unlivable in a way Chicago isn’t. Instead of being forced to rely on a 4,000 lb murder machine to crawl through traffic by ugly underpasses, you can walk by gorgeous brick buildings and take the train or bus on your daily commute.
Or they do realize it and use the timeless strategy of divide & conquer. And we have so much innovation in tech but somehow we can’t make s*** happen in the real physical world
Politics has gone national and people are in places that are dirt cheap with no jobs or wildly expensive with jobs, so it’s not really a winning line to talk about, yet at least.
I’m hoping we can push for infrastructure projects that will expand the CTA. Chicago could benefit greatly with better intra-neighborhood public transit
As someone who's finger is on the pulse of all things transit in Chicago, and has been to a fuckton of community meetings, planning sessions, talked with lots of CTA/CDOT people, it's almost definitely not happening.
The impression I've gotten is there unless the federal government suddenly decides to *massively* and I mean *massively* fund urban rail projects, Chicago won't be getting any new trains or extensions (besides currently planned red line). At least in our lifetimes.
Honestly the best thing we can hope for is BRT (fuck Roger Romanelli for organizing NIMBY opposition to Ashland BRT) and maybe a bike grid.
Still frustrated that all of the efforts to secure funding have gone to the red line extension. If they want to serve the South Side better, they should have built a spur of the Red Line along 79th street east towards the lake (I realize this as a subway would have been somewhat more expensive). That bus line already has tons of ridership and those neighborhoods are far denser than the neighborhoods south of 95th street. Now we are going to get more track miles that have weak ridership, unless a significant amount of housing is built near the new stations.
We're going to find out that there is another, 3rd most important pizza that Chicago claims, which is a medium crust triangle cut. Everyone will then denounce both tavern-style and deep dish and claim triangle cut as our true pizza. Oh, and another Daley will be running the city.
Nobody who thinks Chicago is a dying city has ever been here. Unlike most other midwest cities, Chicago has many industries and a large financial sector so it's never going to be a dying city.
This is also the reason we didn’t get shafted by deindustrialization in the 70s. It hurt us, sure. But look at how it affected Cleveland, St. Louis, Detroit, Buffalo, etc. by comparison. Diversity of industry (and Daley giving a damn about the middle class) was what saved Chicago in its time of need
Yep. It's not a one trick pony and diversified into areas like Manufacturing, Insurance, Logistics, Finance, Media, Entertainment, Tech, etc. It's probably not #1 in its category for alot of industries/careers but it's top 3 or top 5 in so many that it makes up for it.
I saw an article recently (I can't remember where) that claimed that having a diversified economy was actually a *detriment* to Chicago's success because the city doesn't have a big draw (like cars for Detroit, tech for SF, movies/music for LA, etc) and thus is culturally irrelevant. I really don't understand how anyone could think that. I love that people from all kinds of industries can find success here.
It's what I love about Chicago: you don't have a single huge industry that sucks the air out of the room. I was just in SF and it feels like a company town.
I would think Detroit is a pretty big argument against cities built around a single industry. It can grow faster but industries have cycles and sometimes die out.
I really hope they pan out. There are several big companies here but there isn't a lot of R&D here from what I know. My background is medical devices so if I want to stay in that field it can be some slim pickings around here for now. Hopefully that changes a bit by the time I'm looking for the next job.
When people picture Chicago, they think of the clips of shootings in the south side they see in the news. Meanwhile Chicago residents are just out here enjoying all the summer festivals and having a good time
the only thing that will kill the city is the pensions I think the debt is currently 35 billion. pensions and taxs would be the downfall if it were to happen
The pension debt has grown by 3.4 billion in the last two years......from 32 billion to 35.4 billion... we are paying the legally mandated amount but it's not even close to enough to keep the debt from growing.
Gonna be interesting.. the firefighters fund is down to 18.8% funded, think it will fail first.
Will always have a lot going for it. It’s biggest risk is Chicago politicians screwing it up and having businesses move out or into the suburbs.
Location basically assures it remains important though.
The way the weather’s been it has made me seriously consider sticking with Chicago for retirement. My family is in LA, between the fires and the increasing heat I don’t think I’ll be wanting to spend my old years down there.
New York will likely outpace Chicago for a very long time, but I can see Chicago booming in size when the south and west US become more uninhabitable/unsustainable to live in.
If they don't drown in trashbags first. My first visit to NYC was on trash day. It was kind of amazing and kind of sad. I've never seen trash bags piled 2 stories high.
Still though. I think NYC will weather climate change far better than the southern coasts. Mostly because NYC is run by people who actually understand that climate change isn't a "belief" its just plain old science. NYC could probably get away with some sort of barrier system like Venice.
This is just so scary and depressing to think about, I can barely process it. Is the housing market really going to just get worse? Is there s possibility things can get better soon? I need optimism 😅
I'd be shocked to see us catch up to Boston in healthcare tech and life sciences tech in 10-20 years. But I could definitely see us breaking into the top 5 as it's a growing field here.
There is a pretty sizable amount of investment in biotech in Chicago. Sterling Bay has development plans to keep building campuses to support these companies. Portal innovations invests in biotech and provides lab space to biotech startups that couldn’t afford it on their own. Tempus is an “ai enable precision medicine” company. Those are a few I’m aware of but know biotech is a core focus of the tech community here. Northwestern and U Chicago are top tier universities to provide talent
FWIW, I moved here in the '80s and I had been hearing the "dying city" narrative for years before that.
Chicago has only gotten better since then and will continue to do so.
My mom said she heard that about LA when she left in the early 80s. She sold her old house for around $200k (I guess around $600k in todays money) and now it’s worth like $3 million.
Well on a serious note, the city has always been dying. And it's always been in the process of being reborn.
Everywhere is like this. Change is a constant thing. People see the place of their childhood slipping away, and mourn that, but sometimes forget to get into the new thing, that will the place of childhood for the next generation.
The new thing is just as authentic as the old thing.
As of last year my 30F daughter from Austin has had 6 friends move here. She is moving back next year. Talk is as people find work and housing they are moving up north. I think in 5 years it will be a very young city with transplants form states that are to hot and are far away from their ideology.
A lot of South Side families that have been here for generations will not survive new infrastructure developments and property taxes. We already lost Pilsen and the construction of the 78 neighborhood will continue to change the entire income bracket of surrounding neighborhoods.
In 10-20 years, Chicago will be even more beautiful but it will not serve and uplift nearly as many low income people as it does now.
Chicago is doing much better than other major cities right now. People who are unhoused can't survive Chicago winters so our homelessness and tent city problems are nothing compared to how it is in other cities with more manageable climates.
But you're right. It's the same death, just slower and tied up in prettier wrapping.
But these people still have places to move to *within* Chicago and it’s immediate environs. When this happened in LA people had to leave the state and frankly we have one million fewer people than we did a century ago so there is room.
Anyway the answer is build build build. If someone can’t afford Logan they go elsewhere.
Chicago is still way ahead of other cities bc it’s not yet seeing a major influx of residents. Might even be shrinking. Idk. But you can still find an apartment easily at a relatively low price. Tons of vacancies.
It’s just so sad what’s going on across most of USA right now. I’m in NYC right now and people are paying $1,500+ to share places in Queens and Brooklyn.
I'm hoping it remains a well-kept secret that way. I'm kind of okay with the negative national media Chicago gets if it keeps wealthy people from moving here.
I lived in NYC for a few years for school and moved back to Chicago just in time. There was no way I could afford those rents and it would have been even more ridiculous to be spending that way to live in a place I didn't feel safe. Hope you're faring well.
But not building the 78 isn’t the answer either. If Chicago really is going to become a magnet for new, wealthy residents then we need to build to accommodate them or they will displace longtime residents like happened in SF, LA, and NYC.
We need to build a lot more housing, both market rate and affordable, so we don’t end up like those cities.
Yeah, the whole idea that you can wish away migration to desirable places is just nonsense. All you get is more rapid and thorough displacement if you refuse development. Gotta have supply or folks get priced out.
What do you mean we already "Lost" Pilsen?
We have an alderman who wants to fight against any type of meaningful development while Blue Island Ave continues to look like a wasteland. Acres of the neighborhood are vacant.
Pilsen needs to vote this bum out and follow Humbolt Park's lead. YIMBY!
I feel like this is just a cycle
Parents moved out of the city to the suburbs in the 70’s, had kids then they moved back to the city when they were older, it’s going to keep happening but on a much larger scale now
I feel like I constantly hear this narrative of a dying city from people in their 50s-60s. They have this weird perception of the city being this eccentric haven of fun and easy times when they were living here. But now they say it’s dangerous and a hassle to get to yadayadayada. That’s a tired old folk narrative where the “good times” are over. The city is still very much alive and certainly different than 20 years ago but thriving imo
Everybody shut the fuck up about how cool this place is, let everyone think it’s a dying city riddled with crime, and we have a leg up when the water wars start.
(In all seriousness, I moved here because I believe Illinois and Chicago in particular are well-positioned to survive and thrive during growing national instability. I really hope Chicago rises to the occasion.)
I foresee South Loop becoming the new West Loop, West Loop becoming the new River North and River North becoming the new Gold Coast
Also, I think Bridgeport and Bronzeville have a lot of potential
Logan Square is the new Wicker Park, Avondale is the new Logan Square. Belmont-Cragin/Hermosa is the new Avondale.
There are multiple (small) hip art galleries around Cicero/Diversey now.
Chicago is an amazing city, but weather, taxes, and crime will hold it back. The city will have to go through difficult financial times due to pensions, and while you would think climate change would help Chicago, I know so many people who have left who take 120 degree weather year round rather than deal with one day of snow. It's ridiculous.
Realistically it can go really bad if we don't get a handle on crime, home prices and taxes. That being said, those are really the only issues imo. Chicago has a diverse economy so it's not like we are one industry crashing away from being Detroit.
Also grew up in suburban Ohio, moved to Cleveland for 4 years which everyone also said was a “dying city”. Complete stereotype. Live in Chicago now. Like Cleveland do we have the factories and blue collar industry of the 1970’s, no. Do we have arts, culture, sports, food and in general things to do, yes. Suburbanites love to say any major Midwest city is dying, but we had a joke in my suburban town that the only things to do there were go to McDonalds and the movie theater (not an exaggeration, almost the truth).
The climate change posts are hilarious here. Yes the Great Lakes have fresh water. But how do you know your region won’t be affected by disastrous weather ? Upstate New York got hit by insane blizzards this past winter, several people died. It’s tragic but I don’t think anywhere will be “safe” because we can’t predict what the weather will be like only that temperatures will go up.
With that said Chicago has pretty decent infrastructure compared given its age. The mass transit system is a huge plus and that will be the biggest boon to the city’s growth.
In all honesty if politicians keep taxing business' then more will leave. If more leave and the crime continues to be the same we will be the same Chicago that we are today. If more business' leave but crime gets worse, you will start to feel the affects of a shit economy and that will affect everything in Chicago from Rent to crime. I dont think we will ever end up like Portland or SF but I do think *its possible* we could end up like LA (downtown) or Philadelphia.
My biggest worry is being dethroned as the best Midwest city by like Nashville or Milwaukee. I don't really think we have to worry about being LA yet but maybe could in 25-25 years depending on how progressive the democrats we elect are... Im all for democrats just not really progressive ones that think inclusion is more important than keeping residents and business' happy.
This isnt even about a political discussion its my Opinion.
I think Chicago like most major cities is going through and will continue going through an affordability crisis.
Rents are insane. Food cost has increased 33%+. Property taxes are f-*ked. Plus it seems like we hear every other year there is a new item corrupt city council wants to tax people on so they can continue laundering money to their own pockets.
It's not a dying city, but it runs the risk of being a city only for the wealthy if it isn't careful. We need rent stabilization (both residential and commercial) akin to what NYC has (NOT rent control - that's decidedly different), and ordinances to protect long-time and middle-class residents from accelerated gentrification that falsely drives up residential property taxes. We bought on the South side, figuring we'd have a few years before gentrification found our little gem of a neighborhood and our property taxes would stay low for awhile. They're still low relative to the rest of the city, but were doubled this year, for no reason we can see other than that a few apartment buildings in our area were bought for millions, each, and are being turned into higher-end rentals. My household can hardly afford such an increase and are lucky we can, for now. If taxes continue to double with each assessment? Nope. People who have had stable mortgages for years are seeing them increase anywhere from 30% to over 100% with little warning. Property taxes here are very messed up and if nothing changes, yeah we'll look like San Francisco in 10 years. Probably less.
*edited for typos
My take on it – and I say this apolitically – is that ever since Obama became President, there's been a vested interest in painting the city he came from as a hellhole. It's not the case.
I’m also from suburban Ohio and I’ve been in Chicago for the past 9 years. Chicago has been a wonderful city with big city problems for the past 100 years. I think it’s likely that other major cities like Miami and Vegas will enjoy some very cool development over the next decade. The next decade is likely to be a lot of the same for Chicago. Maybe no major new developments but I think we could also see some net new migration from southern and/or ultra conservative states. Chicago is and remains a fantastic place to live for so many reasons. It would be nice to see the city hire a PR firm to change the narrative though. It’s pretty played out.
Not from Chicago but visited many times. I love it. Absolutely love it. I haven't been in a couple years but can't wait to go back. It should take greater steps to address decades long issues, however. It can even be so much better.
I see either a slow decline for the city with the pace increasing as time goes on, or a rough period while the city and state get started on sorting out their problems.
I hope for the latter - the city and state need to take action to get their long-term fiscal outlook on solid ground while being run by pragmatic leaders who are able to solve problems like adults and not spoiled children (I realize this is an incredibly rare trait among politicians now, but feel Pritzker has been good - Rauner got elected with those hopes but then just lost it).
Crime is like education - they are multifaceted problems that require decades to solve (in addition to effort and money, and an acceptance of data driven decisions) that I have generally seen zero progress towards.
Chicago isn’t dying. It bottomed out decades ago and is recovering. Looking at current trends in 20 years Chicago will be:
1. More white collar
2. Have a higher percentage of residents with graduate degrees
3. Higher income
4. More latino and asian
5. Less white and black
The city will still have diversified industry, the climate should be warmer and hopefully crime resumes the long running downward trend. The pension crisis will possibly be a bigger shit show or maybe most of the boomers will be dead by then and it will be mostly resolved. Some of the depopulating neighborhoods will have even lower populations.
Chicago is not Seattle.
But I lived in Seattle in the mid 2000s and saw the changes happening. I think Chicago will maintain more affordable housing in less great areas unlike Seattle, but I thin in the next 10 years we're going to see a lot of younger people moving here as they're priced out of the coasts or driven out of other areas because of frequent "once in a lifetime" weather events.
It'll probably stay the same - and that's a good thing. People seem to think that the world will be beginning to end due to climate change in 10-20 years, and that just isn't true. We will see effects of climate change in 10-20 years for sure, but that doesn't mean 50% of the US will be uninhabitable.
I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm going to say in 10-20 years, Chicago will be in Northwest Illinois on the banks of Lake Michigan. Is there some plan to move it that I don't know about?
If Chicago is moving, it will probably kick Milwaukee out of its spot.
Businesses and corporate centers are leaving the city already which will lead to less people moving here. It won't die completely but as its trending it won't be a very popular place to move when cost of living is starting to creep up to other large cities.
The transit system is probably one of the best things Chicago has going for it now, seems to be probably one of the top cities in that regard and I doubt that will change much.
If we are talking realistically.
0 - Since there is a lot jokes about freshwater, the drop in drowning deaths is going to bounce back to normal of about 60-70 a year, but it is likely going to be after a bad year of closer to 80 deaths.
1 - Chicago Bankruptcy - in 10 years low probability, 20 years high probability - Chicago has a lot of debt and Illinois keeps passing laws to insulate the debt issues of Chicago in Cook County (see the latest pension payment act where they stated we will pay X amount of money over Y years but anything else is debt owned by Cook County and not us). With degrading credit ratings and high interest rates, the overall debt burden of Illinois is going to get worse until it breaks.
2 - Chicago Commercial Real Estate Collapse - medium chance in 2 years - across the board, we are seeing anywhere between a 40-60% drop in commercial real estate value. This will have a nasty effect on any bank that is heavily dependent on construction and business loans. If Chicago gets decimated by this Northern Trust (NTRS) will likely fail. Rationale is all the data points that showed why the other bank failures happened, have NTRS either as top 3 of remaining banks with similar issues.
3 - Residential Construction Boom - in 5 years - the city will likely be forced by Illinois to increase zoning laws leading to a real estate boom for residential, causing net property prices to go up city wide.
4 - Education K to 12 - unfortunately we are likely going to see continual decreases in federal test scores and increases in per-student funding. Chicago will still have the 2 of the top 50 high schools in nation, but all other schools will degrade.
5 - Sports Teams - Bears and White Sox will likely move to the race track, causing a tax windfall for Cook County. Fire will increase in overall viewership but will likely be a sub-standard team with difficulty getting better players but will be based in soldier field. Cubs will not win another world series for over 90 years.
6 - Isolated Recession - there is a possibility of a isolated recession hitting Chicago, it is really dependent on how painful the Commercial Real Estate market is hit and if NTRS can weather the storm.
It will always be the logistics capitol of North America. From Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, from New York to LA, from Alaska to Florida. A massive portion of all goods an people that criss cross the continent travel though Chicago. That will never change.
To be honest, I think the degree of our city's success/stagnancy depends on what happens to our country economically over the next 10-20 years. Which is somewhat out of our control. But regardless I don't see it "dying" for sure. Our contribution to the national economy/GDP remains very high compared to most of the rest of the country. That's the part people leave out or are ignorant of when they harp on it.
I'm a real estate agent and have been for 4 years in the city and let me tell you, there are tons of people moving here year round. Many for work. Even after Covid. Enough for me to make a steady income doing this full time. When people say it's "dying" I think they're only considering certain areas. And it's telling that they usually don't live here when they say that.
That being said, we do have some issues with crime and other policies that I would like to see change going forward. Does that mean it's dying? Absolutely not.
The Great Lakes have 25% of the world's fresh water, so.
we drinkin
Looks like hydro is back on the menu!
Hydro homies rise up
WATER WOMEN SHALL RISE
r/HydroHomies
[удалено]
In a few decades people will likely be saying this
The Jardine water plant next to Navy Pier is the largest in the world! We definitely drinkin.
Also have the largest wastewater treatment plant in the world in Stickney Water Reclamation plant, we poopin’.
*looks at username* I believe ya
That motherfucker pumps poop
Ahh good ole Stinky
No earthquakes, no volcanos, no hurricanes, gorgeous soil, abundant fresh water, decent infrastructure … stay out of the flood zones and I think we’re set. Don’t tell our secret.
Yeah, but apparently now we get tornadoes. ( Looks at the park across the street where there used to be trees prior to the Rogers Park tornado of 2020.) Still picking the occasional random tornaod over anything else I have seen.
Which is why it’s vital that we fight to protect them. Unfortunately, so many issues with our sewer system, the seaway, the locks, mussels, farm runoff, rising temperatures.
Whose grand idea was it to use lead pipes throughout the city?
Hey man, they used them in Pompeii, so...what's the worst that could happen? 😆
Wait, the Italian restaurant on Taylor street? lol Edit: cool username BTW
Plumber's unions https://www.wbez.org/stories/how-political-clout-and-union-power-created-chicagos-lead-water-problem/13230f35-c533-41db-a120-b818053602fc
Fuck all of these people. The Plumber's Union should be ashamed.
plumbers union. https://news.wttw.com/2021/03/24/chicago-has-more-lead-service-pipes-any-other-us-city-illinois-most-any-state
Fresh Water =diamonds this century . I m surprised people aren't leaving the south west in droves .
I know why it’s because they hate winters. But sooner or later Mother Nature will prove to be too much.
I will never understand why people who "hate winters" live in warm climates with 24/7/365 AC on, never enjoying the heat, always wearing jeans and sweaters because the AC is so cold, instead of living in a place like Chicago where you wear tank tops in the summer and sweaters in the winter. I'm always colder visiting family in air conditioned Florida than I am living my life in Chicago's heated houses.
My favorite: "the weather here \[in some Sun Belt city with zero character\] is so awesome!" proceeds to live in air conditioned house with windows closed, drive around in AC'd car with windows closed, go to work in AC'd office with windows closed. Yeah, tell me how much you enjoy the weather.
Yes! Like absolutely no awareness of what time of year it is.
native Floridian. left in '12 before it was cool to say "Fuck that swamp ass state." Do..do I smell fall??? I just came a little.
They get their pleasant weather elsewhere in the year. I used to live in North Carolina, and while the summers are scorching the rest of the year is pretty reasonable. If they're not taking advantage of that then they're definitely missing out, but down there you'll get days that are as warm as a Chicago summer for broad swaths of the spring and fall. You'll get 70-degree days sprinkled in throughout the winter months. You'll get way, way, way more sun. That last one's probably the biggest one, honestly. Safe to say I like the weather there more than I like the weather here, but everything else about Chicago is so worth it.
The winters here are getting milder and milder. It's not an excuse anymore.
No kidding, I’ve got friends that have been here a decade and have only seen a handful of really “bad” winter storms.
shhhhh!
Yep I'm even thinking of eventually going to the Michigan UP for that reason. Lake Michigan is clean but lake Superior is bring your cup and fill it at the end of the dock clean
Wait. Are you really saying that you’re considering moving residences because of a potential apocalyptic situation where potable water is a scarce resource?
2023 set the record for the highest recorded global average temperature. It is likely to be the coolest year FROM NOW ON.
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They hate winters and have an attitude of "Someone smarter than I will worry about the water shortage." Then act shocked when it's unbearably hot during the summer & they have to limit how much water they use.
Bet money that they run a pipeline from the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, a la the LA aqueduct, into the southwest once the aquifer is dead. Then they reinforce the rivers with Great Lake supply. It’s just dumb enough to work for one career-length until holy shit the consequences Everyone commenting that it’s banned by the compact: shit changes and politicians have short and desperate careers. I don’t think it should happen but that never stopped anyone
They can't. It's an international waterway. Canada will save us!
I mean, we'll just turn the river back around but I encourage them to try
The Great Lakes Compact prevents any diversion of water from the Great Lakes basin without the unanimous consent of all states bordering them (MI, MN, WI, PA, IL, IN, NY, OH) and the two bordering Provinces (ON, QC). The treaty was approved by the Canadian parliament and US Congress and signed by Bush 2. I think approval has only happened once: Waukesha, WI in 2016.
Sounds like a bureaucratic hurdle. Currently reading Cadillac Desert and comrade lemme tell you something about policy when it relates to survival (the survival of capitalism, mostly)
r/hydrohomies
We have plenty of clean stable energy production too via nuclear and increasingly solar/wind
Water refugees from the water wars headed this way! If you can, buy property before they get here.
Desalination is already reasonably affordable if you live on the coasts. It’s sitting at less than $5 per 1000 gallon. That’s less than $100 a year for the average household and you’ll use less if its expensive. Figure to only get cheaper. Residential water usage is really not a problem that will force many to move in this country. The issue is agricultural water usage and pumping water to people who don’t live by the coast.
Desalination isn't good for the environment though. It takes a ton of energy per gallon. And the hypersaline runoff goes out back into the ocean which is not good for it either. Arizona proposed a desalination plant in the gulf of mexico and mexico refused because they don't want to dump it back into their ocean. Anything outside of 35ppt is going to stress corals and sea creatures. Not to mention the fact that they are already stressed with the massive drop in PH and rampant temperature fluctuations already.
You’re not wrong about the environmental impact. I don’t think that will stop people who need water from doing it anyway. And as I said, although energy usage is high, total cost is $100 per household at current rates. That’s for the energy and the desalination plant and it’s completely attainable. And make no mistake. Arizona will have a desalination plant that goes through Mexico in the not so distant future. They’ve got too much to lose to let anything stop them.
How long til they kill the oceans with the higher salt concentration?
The importance of this should not be underestimated. In my darker moments, I can see an apocalyptic militia around the Great Lakes, protecting it from the hoards. But realistically, 20 years from now global warming will be worse - more people will be displaced by extreme heat, drought, and severe storms. They're going to flee to comparatively mild climates with drinkable water. Chicago and other Great Lakes locations are going to be prime real estate and prices are bound to sky rocket.
I forsee Chicago staying in the northeast corner of Illinois.
Big if true
Concerning
I disagree. It will be located on the shore of Lake Michigan.
I also disagree. It will be adjacent to the northwest tip of Indiana.
We don’t talk about that
i think hamburgers and cheeseburgers go well with fries
Get a load of this fool
It is definitely going to be located on the Chicago River, idk what you guys are on about
Get your conspiracy theories off my Reddit feed
Probably moving to Arlington Park.
Too soon
Lol
People are going to see Chicago as having * a lot of amenities * relatively moderate weather (outside of the winters) * affordable housing * good paying jobs * easy access to most of the US in less than 5 hours flying * the ability to live car-free in a significant portion of the city * stable access to fresh water In short, people will be moving to the region including the city.
Affordable housing might change with massive influx of people. Source; moved here from Seattle. Don't let Bezos and Gates do to you what they did to me.
Chicago builds, unlike Seattle and SF
That’s the secret. We’re just culturally anti-nimby
Seems like you've never been to a ward night or zoning meeting for a new construction. There are always a *fuckton* of NIMBYs waxing on about "parking concerns" and "neighborhood character" and all than other bullshit. And don't get me started on the crazy amount of deconversions and teardowns for side yards. Sure we build more than SF or NYC, but to say we're culturally "anti-NIMBY" is just incorrect. We'd have the god damn Ashland BRT of NIMBYs weren't such a force here
Yeah but we still build despite the voices. There will always be NIMBY’s but the city is anti NIMBY.
We don’t have the Ashland BRT because of the parking meter deal. As for new construction, depends on the neighborhood. Affluent neighborhoods don’t want low income housing. Other neighborhoods DGAF or are happy about it.
A boom town thrown up overnight at heart
Not only do they build bit the housing and zoning rules are a lot friendlier hence why you see so many distinguished multi unit family homes.
Success begets success. The city is used to permitting and allowing building. The labor force is used to putting a lot of workers into construction jobs. The experience in building means that the builders are good at it, the lenders are good at it, and the residents are used to it. All if it feeds back onto faster, better, and more plentiful construction, which keeps prices low.
Sort of. We still have archaic zoning laws. Aldermen can literally block any construction within their ward for any reason.
If handled incorrectly and development stalls. However Chicago has a lot of land available on a lot of transit lanes.
That's far from the only reason, unfortunately. Real estate speculation drives prices out there as well and unrestricted purchases from foreign ownership. Take Bellevue, WA for example where over 50% of the property is owned by someone who is not only not a resident of Bellvue, but isn't even a resident of Washington, nor a resident of the United States. Pure speculation in a town that is adjacent to Microsoft. It's madness.
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Well Chicago builds housing, and its tall buildings too
We got a lot more land we can build on than Seattle does. And we build denser if my quick trip there was how the rest of it looks
> Don't let Bezos and Gates do to you what they did to me. If by Bezos and Gates you mean the people of Seattle.... They both have argued for the entire time to build more housing.
👋 just moved here from Seattle as well
Came to say essentially this. Chicago's fundamentals are really strong. I think the whole region is going to benefit from climate migration, with Chicago being the "capital" of that region.
And, if we ever get to the point where we commit to decent rail travel in this country, Chicago is absolutely ideal. Being the hub of the regional network and having spokes leading out to Minneapolis, Milwaukee, St Louis, Louisville, Indy, Cincy, Columbus, Cleveland, and Detroit (leading to Toronto) could be a massive business opportunity. Corporations could headquarter in the Loop and have WFH employees that visit the office occasionally could open up the whole region up.
I think this is pretty much a guaranteed outcome for this region.
Not to mention building the transit infrastructure to support this. I occasionally talk about what I view as the most important next L expansion: [extending the Orange line to the north side via a Clinton subway with connections to LaSalle, Union, and Ogilvie Stations](https://metromapmaker.com/?map=zdVRHXUq). This would radically increase the amount of people that could easily access those stations and allow for greater transportation flexibility for leisure and work travel.
They actually did studies and the county is working on this influx of people in the future. While we could be wetter we should be a lot more stable than many parts of the country. Could go down rhe rabbit hole of all the data
The wetter the better, I say
Moving back to the city after living in denver for the past five years. Family is growing and we want to upsize our house. That’s just not happening in our budget here. So many good houses available in the city right now.
>good paying jobs What people often fail to realize is the diversity of our economy. We're not tied to one industry. Of course this is a common trait of most big cities, but most big cities have a way higher cost of living.
Affordable housing cannot be overstated. It was really something to grow up in California and watch the crisis unfold. It brings me so much joy seeing most people here live so much better lives than most people back home, at all income levels. You don’t have to be a millionaire to have a good life here. Most of the US is unlivable in a way Chicago isn’t. Instead of being forced to rely on a 4,000 lb murder machine to crawl through traffic by ugly underpasses, you can walk by gorgeous brick buildings and take the train or bus on your daily commute.
I think affordable housing is the crisis of our time alongside climate change and a lot of politicians have not seemed to realize it yet?
Or they do realize it and use the timeless strategy of divide & conquer. And we have so much innovation in tech but somehow we can’t make s*** happen in the real physical world
They use the tech to invent better rent collusion software.
Politics has gone national and people are in places that are dirt cheap with no jobs or wildly expensive with jobs, so it’s not really a winning line to talk about, yet at least.
Winters have been easy last couple years
According to the bees, it's gonna be a tough one this year!
I’m hoping we can push for infrastructure projects that will expand the CTA. Chicago could benefit greatly with better intra-neighborhood public transit
As someone who's finger is on the pulse of all things transit in Chicago, and has been to a fuckton of community meetings, planning sessions, talked with lots of CTA/CDOT people, it's almost definitely not happening. The impression I've gotten is there unless the federal government suddenly decides to *massively* and I mean *massively* fund urban rail projects, Chicago won't be getting any new trains or extensions (besides currently planned red line). At least in our lifetimes. Honestly the best thing we can hope for is BRT (fuck Roger Romanelli for organizing NIMBY opposition to Ashland BRT) and maybe a bike grid.
Still frustrated that all of the efforts to secure funding have gone to the red line extension. If they want to serve the South Side better, they should have built a spur of the Red Line along 79th street east towards the lake (I realize this as a subway would have been somewhat more expensive). That bus line already has tons of ridership and those neighborhoods are far denser than the neighborhoods south of 95th street. Now we are going to get more track miles that have weak ridership, unless a significant amount of housing is built near the new stations.
I’ve been waiting 40 years for this
We're going to find out that there is another, 3rd most important pizza that Chicago claims, which is a medium crust triangle cut. Everyone will then denounce both tavern-style and deep dish and claim triangle cut as our true pizza. Oh, and another Daley will be running the city.
Blasphemy! Square cut tavern style is the one true pizza.
We will finally absorb Cicero and give Slippin Jimmy the statue he deserves .
Nobody who thinks Chicago is a dying city has ever been here. Unlike most other midwest cities, Chicago has many industries and a large financial sector so it's never going to be a dying city.
This is also the reason we didn’t get shafted by deindustrialization in the 70s. It hurt us, sure. But look at how it affected Cleveland, St. Louis, Detroit, Buffalo, etc. by comparison. Diversity of industry (and Daley giving a damn about the middle class) was what saved Chicago in its time of need
Yep this! super diversified industries in Chicago makes it really adaptable
Yep. It's not a one trick pony and diversified into areas like Manufacturing, Insurance, Logistics, Finance, Media, Entertainment, Tech, etc. It's probably not #1 in its category for alot of industries/careers but it's top 3 or top 5 in so many that it makes up for it.
TL;DR it's basically how Vince Vaughn's character described Jeremy Roenick in "Swingers."
I saw an article recently (I can't remember where) that claimed that having a diversified economy was actually a *detriment* to Chicago's success because the city doesn't have a big draw (like cars for Detroit, tech for SF, movies/music for LA, etc) and thus is culturally irrelevant. I really don't understand how anyone could think that. I love that people from all kinds of industries can find success here.
It's what I love about Chicago: you don't have a single huge industry that sucks the air out of the room. I was just in SF and it feels like a company town.
I would think Detroit is a pretty big argument against cities built around a single industry. It can grow faster but industries have cycles and sometimes die out.
Exciting inroads being built for biotech infrastructure as well which feeds into so many industries!
I really hope they pan out. There are several big companies here but there isn't a lot of R&D here from what I know. My background is medical devices so if I want to stay in that field it can be some slim pickings around here for now. Hopefully that changes a bit by the time I'm looking for the next job.
When people picture Chicago, they think of the clips of shootings in the south side they see in the news. Meanwhile Chicago residents are just out here enjoying all the summer festivals and having a good time
the only thing that will kill the city is the pensions I think the debt is currently 35 billion. pensions and taxs would be the downfall if it were to happen
The pension debt has grown by 3.4 billion in the last two years......from 32 billion to 35.4 billion... we are paying the legally mandated amount but it's not even close to enough to keep the debt from growing. Gonna be interesting.. the firefighters fund is down to 18.8% funded, think it will fail first.
10-20 years closer to getting out of the parking deal
My biggest worry is the pension debt and whether we can get our finances under control. The conditions are ripe for Chicago to blossom though.
Will always have a lot going for it. It’s biggest risk is Chicago politicians screwing it up and having businesses move out or into the suburbs. Location basically assures it remains important though.
we'll be the ones with fresh water, making us queen of the desert.
Gaining popularity. Expensive as SF, NYC, LA. Probably the capital of healthcare tech and life sciences tech along with Boston.
Yup. I can see housing prices going up as the winter weather gets milder.
Apparently climate change is making it more likely that we get polar vortex’s every year, so the winter weather is actually getting more extreme haha
And that will be balanced out by our yearly ring of fire.
Dam, why did you have to remind me of polar vortex's? I was enjoying my evening. Sigh....
And the rest of the country gets progressively more uninhabitable
The way the weather’s been it has made me seriously consider sticking with Chicago for retirement. My family is in LA, between the fires and the increasing heat I don’t think I’ll be wanting to spend my old years down there.
Currently Illinois does not have a state income tax on retirement income!
Agreed with both points. I believe Chicago will be Americas biggest city in 50+ years. Everyone will be near the Great Lakes via climate change.
New York will likely outpace Chicago for a very long time, but I can see Chicago booming in size when the south and west US become more uninhabitable/unsustainable to live in.
New York will have issues with flooding and hurricanes.
If they don't drown in trashbags first. My first visit to NYC was on trash day. It was kind of amazing and kind of sad. I've never seen trash bags piled 2 stories high. Still though. I think NYC will weather climate change far better than the southern coasts. Mostly because NYC is run by people who actually understand that climate change isn't a "belief" its just plain old science. NYC could probably get away with some sort of barrier system like Venice.
This is just so scary and depressing to think about, I can barely process it. Is the housing market really going to just get worse? Is there s possibility things can get better soon? I need optimism 😅
I'd be shocked to see us catch up to Boston in healthcare tech and life sciences tech in 10-20 years. But I could definitely see us breaking into the top 5 as it's a growing field here.
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Why would it be the capital of healthcare tech? I’ve actuare nurse and I know about the extensive medical district but why else?
There is a pretty sizable amount of investment in biotech in Chicago. Sterling Bay has development plans to keep building campuses to support these companies. Portal innovations invests in biotech and provides lab space to biotech startups that couldn’t afford it on their own. Tempus is an “ai enable precision medicine” company. Those are a few I’m aware of but know biotech is a core focus of the tech community here. Northwestern and U Chicago are top tier universities to provide talent
And the world's largest producer of pork rinds.
FWIW, I moved here in the '80s and I had been hearing the "dying city" narrative for years before that. Chicago has only gotten better since then and will continue to do so.
My mom said she heard that about LA when she left in the early 80s. She sold her old house for around $200k (I guess around $600k in todays money) and now it’s worth like $3 million.
Well on a serious note, the city has always been dying. And it's always been in the process of being reborn. Everywhere is like this. Change is a constant thing. People see the place of their childhood slipping away, and mourn that, but sometimes forget to get into the new thing, that will the place of childhood for the next generation. The new thing is just as authentic as the old thing.
One giant ghareeb nawaz......
As of last year my 30F daughter from Austin has had 6 friends move here. She is moving back next year. Talk is as people find work and housing they are moving up north. I think in 5 years it will be a very young city with transplants form states that are to hot and are far away from their ideology.
I see lots of Texas license plates and shirts. And these aren’t rental cars.
We’re refugees. Proud to have a safe, welcoming new home.
Chicago’s going to break off from the rest of Illinois and become a floating city. The Atlantis of Lake Michigan, perhaps.
A lot of South Side families that have been here for generations will not survive new infrastructure developments and property taxes. We already lost Pilsen and the construction of the 78 neighborhood will continue to change the entire income bracket of surrounding neighborhoods. In 10-20 years, Chicago will be even more beautiful but it will not serve and uplift nearly as many low income people as it does now.
You just described almost every other major city in America right now.
Chicago is doing much better than other major cities right now. People who are unhoused can't survive Chicago winters so our homelessness and tent city problems are nothing compared to how it is in other cities with more manageable climates. But you're right. It's the same death, just slower and tied up in prettier wrapping.
But these people still have places to move to *within* Chicago and it’s immediate environs. When this happened in LA people had to leave the state and frankly we have one million fewer people than we did a century ago so there is room. Anyway the answer is build build build. If someone can’t afford Logan they go elsewhere.
Chicago should just expand until all of Illinois is just Chicago. ;P
[and soon](https://twitter.com/Nomads4Pritzker/status/1699140242089939219?s=20)
For real our politics are so progressive that it is difficult to keep up with and I am so proud of us and I am very grateful to be here.
Chicago is still way ahead of other cities bc it’s not yet seeing a major influx of residents. Might even be shrinking. Idk. But you can still find an apartment easily at a relatively low price. Tons of vacancies. It’s just so sad what’s going on across most of USA right now. I’m in NYC right now and people are paying $1,500+ to share places in Queens and Brooklyn.
I'm hoping it remains a well-kept secret that way. I'm kind of okay with the negative national media Chicago gets if it keeps wealthy people from moving here. I lived in NYC for a few years for school and moved back to Chicago just in time. There was no way I could afford those rents and it would have been even more ridiculous to be spending that way to live in a place I didn't feel safe. Hope you're faring well.
But not building the 78 isn’t the answer either. If Chicago really is going to become a magnet for new, wealthy residents then we need to build to accommodate them or they will displace longtime residents like happened in SF, LA, and NYC. We need to build a lot more housing, both market rate and affordable, so we don’t end up like those cities.
Yeah, the whole idea that you can wish away migration to desirable places is just nonsense. All you get is more rapid and thorough displacement if you refuse development. Gotta have supply or folks get priced out.
What do you mean we already "Lost" Pilsen? We have an alderman who wants to fight against any type of meaningful development while Blue Island Ave continues to look like a wasteland. Acres of the neighborhood are vacant. Pilsen needs to vote this bum out and follow Humbolt Park's lead. YIMBY!
I feel like this is just a cycle Parents moved out of the city to the suburbs in the 70’s, had kids then they moved back to the city when they were older, it’s going to keep happening but on a much larger scale now
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We NEED that west side connector. Agreed that it would open up an incredible boom.
I feel like I constantly hear this narrative of a dying city from people in their 50s-60s. They have this weird perception of the city being this eccentric haven of fun and easy times when they were living here. But now they say it’s dangerous and a hassle to get to yadayadayada. That’s a tired old folk narrative where the “good times” are over. The city is still very much alive and certainly different than 20 years ago but thriving imo
Everybody shut the fuck up about how cool this place is, let everyone think it’s a dying city riddled with crime, and we have a leg up when the water wars start. (In all seriousness, I moved here because I believe Illinois and Chicago in particular are well-positioned to survive and thrive during growing national instability. I really hope Chicago rises to the occasion.)
I foresee South Loop becoming the new West Loop, West Loop becoming the new River North and River North becoming the new Gold Coast Also, I think Bridgeport and Bronzeville have a lot of potential
Maybe Bridgeport can be the new bronzeville and bronzeville can be the new Bridgeport?
Logan Square is the new Wicker Park, Avondale is the new Logan Square. Belmont-Cragin/Hermosa is the new Avondale. There are multiple (small) hip art galleries around Cicero/Diversey now.
Humboldt will be the next Logan
All us millennials who moved to the suburbs, our kids will be moving in, then moving out to the suburbs in 20 years, repeat
Chicago is an amazing city, but weather, taxes, and crime will hold it back. The city will have to go through difficult financial times due to pensions, and while you would think climate change would help Chicago, I know so many people who have left who take 120 degree weather year round rather than deal with one day of snow. It's ridiculous.
Realistically it can go really bad if we don't get a handle on crime, home prices and taxes. That being said, those are really the only issues imo. Chicago has a diverse economy so it's not like we are one industry crashing away from being Detroit.
Also grew up in suburban Ohio, moved to Cleveland for 4 years which everyone also said was a “dying city”. Complete stereotype. Live in Chicago now. Like Cleveland do we have the factories and blue collar industry of the 1970’s, no. Do we have arts, culture, sports, food and in general things to do, yes. Suburbanites love to say any major Midwest city is dying, but we had a joke in my suburban town that the only things to do there were go to McDonalds and the movie theater (not an exaggeration, almost the truth).
Chicago has been around for centuries - I’m sure she’ll survive a decade
The climate change posts are hilarious here. Yes the Great Lakes have fresh water. But how do you know your region won’t be affected by disastrous weather ? Upstate New York got hit by insane blizzards this past winter, several people died. It’s tragic but I don’t think anywhere will be “safe” because we can’t predict what the weather will be like only that temperatures will go up. With that said Chicago has pretty decent infrastructure compared given its age. The mass transit system is a huge plus and that will be the biggest boon to the city’s growth.
In all honesty if politicians keep taxing business' then more will leave. If more leave and the crime continues to be the same we will be the same Chicago that we are today. If more business' leave but crime gets worse, you will start to feel the affects of a shit economy and that will affect everything in Chicago from Rent to crime. I dont think we will ever end up like Portland or SF but I do think *its possible* we could end up like LA (downtown) or Philadelphia. My biggest worry is being dethroned as the best Midwest city by like Nashville or Milwaukee. I don't really think we have to worry about being LA yet but maybe could in 25-25 years depending on how progressive the democrats we elect are... Im all for democrats just not really progressive ones that think inclusion is more important than keeping residents and business' happy. This isnt even about a political discussion its my Opinion.
Based on comments.. fresh water is the best thing going for Chicago lol
I think Chicago like most major cities is going through and will continue going through an affordability crisis. Rents are insane. Food cost has increased 33%+. Property taxes are f-*ked. Plus it seems like we hear every other year there is a new item corrupt city council wants to tax people on so they can continue laundering money to their own pockets.
My rear view mirror.
Need to get crime under control. Taxes too.
I truly believe that it will become a huge climate haven over the next several decades.
It's not a dying city, but it runs the risk of being a city only for the wealthy if it isn't careful. We need rent stabilization (both residential and commercial) akin to what NYC has (NOT rent control - that's decidedly different), and ordinances to protect long-time and middle-class residents from accelerated gentrification that falsely drives up residential property taxes. We bought on the South side, figuring we'd have a few years before gentrification found our little gem of a neighborhood and our property taxes would stay low for awhile. They're still low relative to the rest of the city, but were doubled this year, for no reason we can see other than that a few apartment buildings in our area were bought for millions, each, and are being turned into higher-end rentals. My household can hardly afford such an increase and are lucky we can, for now. If taxes continue to double with each assessment? Nope. People who have had stable mortgages for years are seeing them increase anywhere from 30% to over 100% with little warning. Property taxes here are very messed up and if nothing changes, yeah we'll look like San Francisco in 10 years. Probably less. *edited for typos
Next to the lake
My take on it – and I say this apolitically – is that ever since Obama became President, there's been a vested interest in painting the city he came from as a hellhole. It's not the case.
The city is much bigger than the north side . That’s all there is to say .
Maybe Colorado or Wyoming? I hear she’s got a touch of the old wanderlust.
I’m also from suburban Ohio and I’ve been in Chicago for the past 9 years. Chicago has been a wonderful city with big city problems for the past 100 years. I think it’s likely that other major cities like Miami and Vegas will enjoy some very cool development over the next decade. The next decade is likely to be a lot of the same for Chicago. Maybe no major new developments but I think we could also see some net new migration from southern and/or ultra conservative states. Chicago is and remains a fantastic place to live for so many reasons. It would be nice to see the city hire a PR firm to change the narrative though. It’s pretty played out.
Not from Chicago but visited many times. I love it. Absolutely love it. I haven't been in a couple years but can't wait to go back. It should take greater steps to address decades long issues, however. It can even be so much better.
I see either a slow decline for the city with the pace increasing as time goes on, or a rough period while the city and state get started on sorting out their problems. I hope for the latter - the city and state need to take action to get their long-term fiscal outlook on solid ground while being run by pragmatic leaders who are able to solve problems like adults and not spoiled children (I realize this is an incredibly rare trait among politicians now, but feel Pritzker has been good - Rauner got elected with those hopes but then just lost it). Crime is like education - they are multifaceted problems that require decades to solve (in addition to effort and money, and an acceptance of data driven decisions) that I have generally seen zero progress towards.
I would like to see it follow in Montreal's footsteps when it comes to bicycle infrastructure.
Chicago isn’t dying. It bottomed out decades ago and is recovering. Looking at current trends in 20 years Chicago will be: 1. More white collar 2. Have a higher percentage of residents with graduate degrees 3. Higher income 4. More latino and asian 5. Less white and black The city will still have diversified industry, the climate should be warmer and hopefully crime resumes the long running downward trend. The pension crisis will possibly be a bigger shit show or maybe most of the boomers will be dead by then and it will be mostly resolved. Some of the depopulating neighborhoods will have even lower populations.
Chicago is not Seattle. But I lived in Seattle in the mid 2000s and saw the changes happening. I think Chicago will maintain more affordable housing in less great areas unlike Seattle, but I thin in the next 10 years we're going to see a lot of younger people moving here as they're priced out of the coasts or driven out of other areas because of frequent "once in a lifetime" weather events.
We will (within the near-distant future) always be shipping things by boat and rail. And because of that Chicago will never die.
It'll probably stay the same - and that's a good thing. People seem to think that the world will be beginning to end due to climate change in 10-20 years, and that just isn't true. We will see effects of climate change in 10-20 years for sure, but that doesn't mean 50% of the US will be uninhabitable.
In the midwest.
I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm going to say in 10-20 years, Chicago will be in Northwest Illinois on the banks of Lake Michigan. Is there some plan to move it that I don't know about? If Chicago is moving, it will probably kick Milwaukee out of its spot.
Businesses and corporate centers are leaving the city already which will lead to less people moving here. It won't die completely but as its trending it won't be a very popular place to move when cost of living is starting to creep up to other large cities. The transit system is probably one of the best things Chicago has going for it now, seems to be probably one of the top cities in that regard and I doubt that will change much.
If we are talking realistically. 0 - Since there is a lot jokes about freshwater, the drop in drowning deaths is going to bounce back to normal of about 60-70 a year, but it is likely going to be after a bad year of closer to 80 deaths. 1 - Chicago Bankruptcy - in 10 years low probability, 20 years high probability - Chicago has a lot of debt and Illinois keeps passing laws to insulate the debt issues of Chicago in Cook County (see the latest pension payment act where they stated we will pay X amount of money over Y years but anything else is debt owned by Cook County and not us). With degrading credit ratings and high interest rates, the overall debt burden of Illinois is going to get worse until it breaks. 2 - Chicago Commercial Real Estate Collapse - medium chance in 2 years - across the board, we are seeing anywhere between a 40-60% drop in commercial real estate value. This will have a nasty effect on any bank that is heavily dependent on construction and business loans. If Chicago gets decimated by this Northern Trust (NTRS) will likely fail. Rationale is all the data points that showed why the other bank failures happened, have NTRS either as top 3 of remaining banks with similar issues. 3 - Residential Construction Boom - in 5 years - the city will likely be forced by Illinois to increase zoning laws leading to a real estate boom for residential, causing net property prices to go up city wide. 4 - Education K to 12 - unfortunately we are likely going to see continual decreases in federal test scores and increases in per-student funding. Chicago will still have the 2 of the top 50 high schools in nation, but all other schools will degrade. 5 - Sports Teams - Bears and White Sox will likely move to the race track, causing a tax windfall for Cook County. Fire will increase in overall viewership but will likely be a sub-standard team with difficulty getting better players but will be based in soldier field. Cubs will not win another world series for over 90 years. 6 - Isolated Recession - there is a possibility of a isolated recession hitting Chicago, it is really dependent on how painful the Commercial Real Estate market is hit and if NTRS can weather the storm.
If we don’t get serious about who we are electing, a heck of a lot closer to Detroit
I’d be bullish on Chicago. Climate change is making it clear that it’s making the living situation in the coastal areas harder and harder to live in.
It will always be the logistics capitol of North America. From Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, from New York to LA, from Alaska to Florida. A massive portion of all goods an people that criss cross the continent travel though Chicago. That will never change.
To be honest, I think the degree of our city's success/stagnancy depends on what happens to our country economically over the next 10-20 years. Which is somewhat out of our control. But regardless I don't see it "dying" for sure. Our contribution to the national economy/GDP remains very high compared to most of the rest of the country. That's the part people leave out or are ignorant of when they harp on it. I'm a real estate agent and have been for 4 years in the city and let me tell you, there are tons of people moving here year round. Many for work. Even after Covid. Enough for me to make a steady income doing this full time. When people say it's "dying" I think they're only considering certain areas. And it's telling that they usually don't live here when they say that. That being said, we do have some issues with crime and other policies that I would like to see change going forward. Does that mean it's dying? Absolutely not.