ORD easy commutes and alternative cities for a millennial

RamRise

RamRise

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, new hire at Skywest here, based in ORD at the moment and looking to plan the next 2-4 yrs around this job and base before I can hopefully move on to a major. I've packed up and moved from the west coast and am settling in but I wanted to get some quick advice on other cities this side of the Rockies that might be suitable and easily commutable. Seeing as ORD is the junior ERJ base for FOs and CAs, looks like I may be based here a while. I figure most of you will say keep living in base, but perhaps others may provide some intel.

I'm liking Chicago so far, plenty of cultural attractions, but it is tough to live on first year FO wages in this city and not live like a peasant. Also, I'm a very outdoorsy type and not that into frigid weather, and I feel like after time the strictly city life is gonna start to eat away at me. I'm willing to give it a shot but also entertaining ideas of relocating to somewhere comfortable for the short term (2-4yrs), hoping to hear your guys experience and opinions on a few cities with a one leg commute that are more affordable and may be more my style (mid size, young crowd, outdoor/health conscious, and more affordable). I'm looking to travel abroad atleast part of the time hopefully and just need a place to come home to that is more human scale if you know what I'm saying. It would be great if I could also find an affordable place with a bit of a backyard for bbq and gardening. Somewhat easy ocean access would be another bonus. A city of 300k to 1 mil with an downtown core and restaurants/bars/clubs would be a nice addition as I am single. I know I'm asking a lot but hopefully there is a place for me!

What are you thoughts on: Atlanta, RDU, STL, PIT, Columbus, Milwaukee, Savannah, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Richmond/Norfolk ? Feel free to reply on as many or few of those cities or others I haven't thought of.

Thanks.
 
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General ORD area does have some outdoorsy stuff not too far away. Mostly in Wisconsin though. Door County is beautiful, and so are few other spots here and there - Devils lake comes to mind. It's been a while so googling might be a better bet. Michigan has beautiful spots, Indiana's got dunes and Gary. Don't go to Gary.
Never got living in the city, although have a couple of friends that do.
Suburbia isn't bad on the NW side.
Weather - waiting to see what the summers are like these days, but either the damn place got colder or years of Florida thinned out my blood - but yeah, it's been friggin frigid lately.
Can't comment on commute or any other airline stuff.
Milwaukee isn't bad. Orlando gets too hot in the summer, gotta live closer to the coast. Flying standby to/from MCO/FLL/MIA/TPA as a SA1 on United sucks, haven't tried other carriers
 
I live in Milwaukee and am based out of ORD.
The drive for me is about 1:15 door to crewlot. With that, I can plan on jumpseating, and if I miss it (i.e. Get bumped because it's always a Skywest bird... ... ... wink wink...) I can still get to work in time.

There are plenty of outdoors things to do, and Mikwaukee, much to Dergs chagrins, has a city life too.

More importantly, the cost of living here is great. I could still afford my mortgage on first year ULCC wage... that should say something...
Winters aren't too bad, I've lived in Northern Canada and Alaska so take that with a grain of salt. Also. They use a lot of that on the roads, so prepare for rusty fenders.
 
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Nark said:
I live in Milwaukee and am based out of ORD.
The drive for me is about 1:15 door to crewlot. With that, I can plan on jumpseating, and if I miss it (i.e. Get bumped because it's always an Skywest bird... ... ... wink wink...) I can still get to work in time.

There are plenty of outdoors things to do, and Mikwaukee, much to Dergs chagrins, has a city life too.

More importantly, the cost of living here is great. I could still afford my mortgage on first year ULCC wage... that should say something...
Winters aren't too bad, I've lived in Northern Canada and Alaska so take that with a grain of salt. Also. They use a lot of that on the roads, so prepare for rusty fenders.
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What my bro says.

MKE is awesome.

Other alternatives would be Racine and Kenowsha if you wanted to drive in. Frankly, I'd live in Cudahy and count my dollars again.
 
I highly recommend you look a little harder, there are lots of affordable options in Chicago. Well worth not commuting if you can.
 
bLizZuE said:
I highly recommend you look a little harder, there are lots of affordable options in Chicago. Well worth not commuting if you can.
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Yup. I decided to commute for "a couple of years." A decade later I'm finally getting the option to move to base. Life gets in the way. I'd set yourself up from the get go.
 
MKE is a nice town.

DAL/DFW is also convenient to everywhere, relatively inexpensive and you've got a lot of commuting options. I think.




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Thanks for the replies ! I'll plan on making a trip up to MKE to scope it out at some point before my summer sublet is over. I've read they have an urban gardening intiative up there for empty lots. I should look into that as well.
 
RamRise said:
Thanks for the replies ! I'll plan on making a trip up to MKE to scope it out at some point before my summer sublet is over. I've read they have an urban gardening intiative up there for empty lots. I should look into that as well.
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Milwaukee is cool - there was a guy who had a massive vertical farm stashed away on some abandoned lots that he bought up.
 
ppragman said:
Milwaukee is cool - there was a guy who had a massive vertical farm stashed away on some abandoned lots that he bought up.
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My current employer has an office there and it's where we're doing some really interesting things with voice applications.

The one thing I've noticed (and it's an admittedly small sample set) is that while you can get really excellent beer in many places, it's much harder to find something along the lines of a dinner salad.
 
I agree with living in base, and that commuting sucks, but one of the great things about this job is you can live really anywhere if you want to. With a company as big as OO with as many bases as they have, I don't see a reason to stick yourself in a city/base you won't enjoy for 4 years. That's too much of your life to waste not being happy. Sure, you may get nicer trips, but do you want your happiness to be at work or at home?

That said, if you're single Chicago can be a lot of fun. I lived there my first year at the airlines and while there's a ton of fun stuff to do, the overall lifestyle of living in a massive city just really isn't my cup of tea.
 
killbilly said:
My current employer has an office there and it's where we're doing some really interesting things with voice applications.

The one thing I've noticed (and it's an admittedly small sample set) is that while you can get really excellent beer in many places, it's much harder to find something along the lines of a dinner salad.
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George Webb diners as far as the eye can see...
 
If you're outdoorsy / active and don't need a big city, check out Madison WI. Very active people there, and the demographics skew young thanks to the University.

If you're willing to commute by Air, Knoxville may be worth a look too. Nice and warm and right next to the Great Smokies.
 
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