Which city is better for a younger professional to move to. Ideally I would like to move to a place where it's easier to meet new people and do things outside of work. Wanted to get some insight from people who have moved to these cities.
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It depends on you as an individual.
If you’re big into surfing, beach volleyball, cycling, tennis, clubbing, movies, etc. I’d say you should go to LA. You’ll connect with other movie people, you’ll make friends playing volleyball in Venice or surfing in Malibu.
I don’t know Chicago as well so maybe someone else can give the Chicago version of my spiel. But you get the idea: go where your people are
Chicago--unless you want to network with "influencers"
That’s like saying “Move to LA, unless you want to eat deep dish pizza for every meal 🤮🤮🤮”
Sure, would 1000% rather eat deep dish every meal than to put up with a city crawling with tiktok influencers--what's your point?
I have never lived in LA so I cannot offer a perspective there, but I can try to leave candid on what its like to live in Chicago. I am a Chicago native and also started my career here and also contemplated other cities.
The Good
1. The dollar goes extremely far in Chicago, especially given the city's size. No it is not NYC, but it is a top three US city in terms of offerings, job opportunities, and entertainment. A 80-120k base in Chicago goes very far, and will allow you to pay all living expenses with ease. You should expect to save 10-30% of your paycheck without living conservatively.
2. The nightlife is pretty solid. Due to the segmentation of the city, you can go out and have a great time on any budget, assuming you're willing to take a 10-30 minute uber. Where else could you go to a pre-game for $2.50 beers in a neighborhood full of college girls / recent grads and subsequently get bottle service at the same club as Kanye?
3. The Summers are awesome. Yes, its pretty hot and humid, but it is no worse than most other major cities. When you make a fair amount right out of UG and go to Chicago, you can rent boats / jet skis on the weekends and hopefully make friends with someone that has a boat. Cubs games, outdoor brunches, rooftop bars all make for a very good summer.
4. Tons of really good MM banking/PE opportunities. Many folks end up being MM career bankers and work pretty solid hours. The banks with the largest presence arent the same NYC BBs / EBs, but firms like WB / Lincoln close a ton of deals. From an exit ops perspective, you have BTD, MDP, CORE, and a number of other strong shops.
The Bad
1. The city doesnt compete with LA / NYC's locations. NYC and LA have much better nearby cities that are extremely enjoyable and great for a weekend getaway. Chicago simply doesnt have much, so a lot of people will usually just head to Wisconsin for short trips. While that is nice, it isnt the same by any means.
The Ugly
1. Chicago is trending in the wrong direction. The city is (has been) bankrupt and crime is on the rise. The mayor and DA have basically blown it and reduced sentencing and allowed many repeat offenders out on bail. Therefore, car jackings, robberies at gunpoint, and general assault numbers are through the roof. It is scary, especially for women. Criminals historically committed crimes in low income areas (south and west sides) with the exception of late at night or for petty theft (think lifting auto parts off of street parked cars). Now, even in the nicest areas (streets lined with $5-15 mm homes) crime rates have surged. My neighbor lives in a $2 mm house and crime jackings have gone up ~1000% YoY (we live in one of the more sought after neighborhoods). Areas like River North and Old Town have seen major upticks in crime, and shootings are becoming fairly regular. I used to walk through the city at 1 AM alone all the time, but this has definitely changed.
2. The extremely brutal housing shortage has resulted in properties selling for all time highs (houses getting 30+ offers in the first MORNING of a listing), which have also impacted rent. If you want to live close to the office, I would expect to pay roughly ~2,250-3000 for a 1BR in a prime location.
Also the extreme cold weather during the winters lol
One bedrooms are much more expensive than that in Chicago at the good buildings -- more like 2700-3500.
I said for a good location, not a top building + good location. I did update the rent estimate a bit though, didn't realize exactly how much rent rose YoY
Thoma Bravo is closing up shop in Chicago, pretty sure they only have Ops people in their office currently
Good catch, updated
LA is SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive in terms of rent & food, would definitely go w Chicago but I’m bias
Chicago is very cold.
Even Kenny G got iced out.
It’s not a horrible place, but the winters are bleak and Midwest. It doesn’t cary the same energy as New York either.
I’m just not a huge fan of it.
The vibes off there
Agreed - it's a sad place to work and live ft for most of the year
People are REALLY defensive about Chicago. If you’re from there or like Kansas/Nebraska/Indiana/(I can’t think of the other states) then Chicago is your meca. If you are from one of those states you could not fathom the lack of culture someone dogging on Chicago must have, the lack of class. They must be like someone from your small town that just doesn’t understand.
I hate Chicago. New York is superior in everyway. Why it costs more
Seriously, one of my favorite things to do on here is troll Chicagoans. Like, I get that it's a fine city. But just understand that is 2nd tier in every way to LA/NYC and that's why it costs so much less
I currently live in LA. I go to USC and will be working in IB in the bay. I like to think I have a well-rounded perspective because I lived in England for the first half of my life and on the east coast the 2nd half before school.
LA-Good
By far the best part of LA is the food. It's absolutely unreal how great the food is. I actually like colder weather but if you don't LA has great weather for you. Furthermore, if you are into outdoorsy stuff there are lots of trails in the mountains and just north/east of the valley that a lot of people I know really seem to enjoy. If you like to ski then Big Bear is 1.5 hrs east, and if you like the beach it's no more than 30 minutes west. There are lots of nice areas and beautiful vistas.
LA-Bad
Traffic. You need a car to go anywhere except there are no parking spots anywhere and half of the buildings you want to go into are not particularly car accessible. If you don't want to drive it gets expensive, as a segway to my next point. Depending on the time of day and demand I have had a one-mile Uber ride be $24. I've seen them be north of $100 from USC (just south of downtown) to Westwood. This is a 20-25 minute drive. Parking and gas and food and rent are also disgustingly high here. Finally, the dirtiness of the city has gotten much worse recently. The moronic local government has done nothing about the insane homeless issue and the city is slowly getting dirtier. (A friend of mine born in India came to visit me and said that some streets look like India and he couldn't tell we were in the states)
Overall, the longer I live in LA the less I like it. Not gonna come back after I leave school.
Chicago
I am not knowledgeable enough about the intricacies of living in Chicago to be able to compare the pros and cons well. However, I've been to the city many times and I absolutely love it (the north half at least). Definitely one of my favourite US cities.
Conclusion
One thing I didn't mention was the professional landscape. Again I'm quite young so won't pretend to know but from what it seems - LA is the right choice for professional development in our industry. I know IB is healthy here and lots of MFs are huge in LA.
Conclusion for me: Chicago has a better lifestyle and LA has better career opportunities.
Forgot to say - If you want to know more just comment and I'll PM you
Cacka
Chicago is the greatest city on the planet. I eat deep dish pizza 12 months out of the year and get to enjoy the outdoors for 2 months out of the year. What’s not to love? It has most of the shitty parts of NYC without any of the good parts, and it’s 2/3 the price, and therefore, better.
The question was Chicago or LA. Chill out
NY is the greatest city on the planet. I eat paper thin pizza 12 months out of the year and get to enjoy living in poverty while making 4x the national avg. salary. What's not to love? It's twice the price of Chicago, in the summer it smells like a dumpster, the people are stereotypically dickish and or mentally ill, it has the highest taxes in the country, isn't safe, and you get to pay 3k to live in someone's spare bedroom. For the above reasons, NYC is clearly the superior city.
Legend! Chicago til I die! Truly a tier 1 city
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