CHICAGO | General Discussions

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ORD2010

Now I don't know all the information on this topic so please correct me if I am wrong, most of this is my own observation as a single man in his late 20's.

Chicago itself in the past few years has seen a growth in young educated professionals, and has been offsetting the natural population aging and loss of other areas in the state, hence the stagnant growth. Predictions do have its population growing up to 12+ mil metro in the next few years to become the only US entry to the mega city category. This of course was pre-pandemic.

I myself grew up in South Florida and let me tell you, I dislike it, to me it feels stagnant, and I have spent 6mo here now due to the pandemic WFH visiting family, and it feels the same (it is currently a big laughing stock among many young people due to its poor leadership with Covid as well). It's growing but with a population that is older, and don't stimulate the economy as much as I'd like to see or find super beneficial for locals. In my field, staying in SFL was not an option for long term growth, and the livability of a place like SFL for a young person with student loan debt is not ideal. There is no public transit, a lower base pay, a high cost of living (unless we're talking moving to places like Port St. Lucie or other smaller towns which again, great for some but for people looking to grow offer next to nothing) and frankly not many cultural institutions.

I wouldn't trade my life in Chicago for a few less tax dollars in SFL (though I could do without the -10 degree days) as it would lower my quality of life which I can afford comfortably in Chicago. Like me there are many, I can tell you almost everyone that I went to High School with (class of '12) who were pursuing complex careers or had big aspirations left and none of us have/plan to come back, (in fact when we talk one of the first topics we bring up is how happy we are that we left). We've gone to Chicago, NY, DC, LA/SF, Seattle, and some to Texas, we also grew up in a nice suburb with a well funded school. Now this isn't a thing that can't be reversed, but I have found myself seeing a brain drain occurring there in my opinion. However I will say I find public schools, in certain counties here, far better than Chicagoland.

I do think Florida will continue to grow, and let me tell you if I hear one more New Yorker here say how much they miss New York I will scream. But I think you gotta look at how Chicago is setting itself up for the future (life science and tech hub) and how it is handling it current growth, I think its being done well and in fact its gaining traction amongst the younger professionals which I'm afraid will raise prices.

One must also look at the climate issues threatening both places as it starts to play an even bigger role for the coming generations, Chicago sits at the best odds globally along with Toronto, not to mention the great lakes megalopolis is already one of the most populated mega regions in the world with over 50mil people. Meanwhile, dealing with constant flooding (more so in the actual suburbs not so much the condos on the barrier islands) is getting to be excessive, excessive heat (in 2001 our summer highs were around 80-90 to now around 90-100+ many days), we still have people with roofs that haven't been repaired or in insurance claim disputes from Hurricane Wilma in 2005, which was only a category 3.

Businesses are closing in Chicago, due to the pandemic and our tough restrictions, which are warranted, but I have also seen a plethora of businesses surprisingly opening, not to mention the amount of major corps in Chicago and start-up attitude the city has which is appealing to many. I think Chicago will have a tough time in the near future, as most major cities will, but will still come up on top later. There is a lot more that people look at aside from taxes when choosing where to move, and for many in the under 30 category thats not something we really look at in general for now. Not to mention that nothing compares to a Chicago summer, the festivals, events, the general atmosphere, really unmatched.

But that is my 2 cents based on my observations, you make valid points as well, but again 2 sides to every story.

Ultimately, the grass is greener on the other side. I've experienced it personally and I have friends who have experienced it. At the end of the day, people are pretty bad with calculating the total costs of where they're at currently vs. where they'd be at if they move. Sometimes it works out but other times people realize they made a decision based on incomplete data. Sometimes it works out - and that's awesome when it does wherever someone moves to.

A lot of people will put up with the high taxes in various places depending on what they do for a living and how much they make as well. Like if I made less than $100K/year, I wouldn't live in NYC or SF, but Chicago? As long as it was above $50K I probably would. There are just some industries that aren't present or very large in Florida, Nevada, Texas, etc that are only really present big time in cities like NYC and Chicago. There might be finance in Miami, but you're going to have a much harder time finding a job in a hedge fund or prop trading firm (yes even with a few moving there) today vs. NYC or Chicago.

The smartest things that cities in those 0 income states could do is attract those businesses. They have a little, but not that much in the grand scheme of things. Things might be shifting but it's not to the point where people just move. You find billionaires moving to places like Florida. Why is this news? They've been doing this for awhile and it's not indicative of a normal, every day person. The reasons for their move might both be financial in nature but they're both very different situations in reality.

I think the cities in the south have an opportunity to really "steal" a lot of people away but I think people believe it's further along in terms of making people forget where they came from than reality.