Chicago Neighborhood Resources & Guide

 
 

Wondering where to live in Chicago?

If you are relocating to/within Chicago, check out this Neighborhood Guide where you’ll find information about some of the most popular and affordable neighborhoods for ACMs living in Chicago, and more detailed answers to housing FAQS. 

If you still have questions, reach out to your assigned City Year representative. They will be a great resource for local information, since they already live here in Chicago!

FAQs

When should I begin looking for housing?

You should plan to find housing before you begin service and search for housing based on where you want to live and spend your free time. We recommend you look on the west an south sides of Chicago so that you have an easier commute to your school. Check out our housing guide! If you live in the north or east sides, you may have a 60-75 minute commute to your school (and keep in mind - you will need to be at your school anywhere between 7:00-7:30am - so a 60 min commute means you’d be leaving your house by 6am at least). You won’t know your school until after training starts. School budgets & partnerships are renegotiated every summer so we do not have a final list of partner schools until the summer months - therefore, we cannot place corps members on teams until after service year start date.

After I secure housing, how will school placement take my address into consideration?

City Year Chicago primary placement consideration is ensuring all school partners and students are empowered by the service of a diverse team. City Year also takes into consideration: individual preferences, specific backgrounds and skills and minimizing commute times. We recognize that an unreasonable commute affects the AmeriCorps member’s experience– and we do our best to keep the average ACM commute between 45-60 minutes based on the address you submit to us when you take the Placement Survey on your Registration Day.

Where are most school partnerships?

Check out our current School Map HERE to see a rough guide to where are schools are located currently. Most school partners are located in neighborhoods on the West and South sides of Chicago. Please note that these can change each year, so our current map will not be exactly the same during your corps year.

 

Advice from the current City Year Chicago Corps

Where do most corps members live?

  • A large majority of our Corps Members live in neighborhoods on the South and West Sides (the popular neighborhoods are listed in the guide below).

    • If you live on the North side; live by the Red Line and prepare for an hour or longer commute each way because of limited partnerships in that area.

How do most corps members commute to service?

  • Most corps members take the ‘L’ (Chicago’s Train System) or the bus to service.

  • A majority of our Corps Members rode the bus as a part of their commute to service.

    • The CTA Bus Tracker is a great was to view the Bus Map as you are exploring apartments, and also view bus times during a commute.

  • The most common L routes that corps members take to service were the Blue, Green and Pink lines.

What Housing advice would You give to future corps members?

  • Live near public transportation to plan for a potential school placement that is not in your neighborhood. L Train lines can serve as the best access to the whole city.

  • Stay within the recommended budget for housing.

  • Start reaching out to potential roommates early and often

  • Try to video chat (or meet up) with potential roommates in person before committing.

  • Ask people to be open and honest on where they are in the process (if they're talking to other people etc.), and also be open and honest

  • Use the City Year Discord group! I found my first year apartment through a previous Team Leader through that group, and it allowed me to connect with other corps members as roommates.

  • Use Facebook marketplace to look to find cheap furniture.

  • Looking into taking advantage of housing resources and partner organizations on City Year’s housing page

  • Read through the Housing Manual and use the resources there!

 

Still have questions?

Make sure you’ve read through the Housing & Roommates page HERE.

This will provide more information on the process of finding an apartment, matching up with roommates from next year’s corps, and includes some great resources to utilize during your search.

Remember to reach out to your designated City Year Service Year Adviser, Ines, at ibrookens@cityyear.org or in the discord!