Champaign-Urbana, Illinois

Anonymous
1y ago
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it Is a pretty classic college town, with most things driven by the university. Despite IL taxes, the cost of living is low. You can still find plenty of affordable SFH in solid neighborhoods.

The university has a pretty sizable international student body, so you get a nice blend of restaurants for a city its size. The university makes the population somewhat transitory, but it’s really not all undergrads. And they tend to stay near campus anyway.

While basketball and football get all the attention, lots of the less popular sports are extremely high quality and a lot of fun to watch.

The Champaign Public Library is a goddamn gem and if you are there in the summer, I highly recommend the Urbana Farmer’s Market. The bus system punches so far above the city’s weight, as it’s supported by both the university and public school system.

Nice proximity to bigger cities, including Chicago, St. Louis, and Indy. It isn’t as good anymore, but you used to be able to catch the Amtrak up to Chicago for cheap.

Miserable-Whereas910
1y ago
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I've lived in Champaign for five years. I've enjoyed it, I think it deserves to be mentioned here more frequently. I'm also looking to leave.

The pros:

It's cheap. You can get a nice house for sub-250k.

It hits way above its weight in terms of cultural amenities. You have the university, of course, but also very nice city parks, a great library district, and pretty good live music and theatre for a town its size.

It's culturally diverse, which also translates into culinary diversity. It's a better food scene than most cities five times as large.

Almost zero traffic, and most everything in the cities is within a ten minute drive.

You're within daytrip distance of Chicago and St. Louis.

Bus service is respectable, bike infrastructure decent (it helps that it's so flat), and many neighborhoods between somewhat and very walkable.

The cons:

Weather isn't great. Winters aren't as brutal as the upper Midwest, and summers not as brutal as the south, but neither are pleasant. It's only really nice out for maybe four months a year.

Once you get outside of CU, there's very little to do that's less than two hours drive away. In particular access to nature is pretty badly limited.

Nearest proper airport is a 2.5 hour drive.

wavinsnail
1y ago
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I went to school in Champaign Urbana and really enjoyed it. It hits above its weight class in a lot of areas.

It has a good food scene, especially Asian food because of its high population of international students.

The bus system is expansive and reliable.

The library system is great because of the world class library school associated with the university.

Housing isn’t crazy expensive. Unless you’re looking to rent around campus. Which I wouldn’t do. I don’t know much about purchasing since I only rented when I lived there.

There is an amtrack station that can get you to major cities in the area. But also Chicago, and St Louis aren’t too far of drives. Easy weekend trip.

It does get quiet over the summer since there is such a large student population. There is also a lot of people who only live there temporarily, and move on to the next stage of their life. So I could imagine building relationships could be more difficult.

bantheguns
9mo ago
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Welcome! I'm glad you're considering our community.

I love living here. Mine is a one car household, although I recently bought an electric cargo bike since we have two kids. There are many neighborhoods with good biking and transit access to the two downtowns and the campus area.

All the local school districts have their own flavor of mess. It's not deterring us from enrolling our oldest in kindergarten in Champaign Unit 4 this coming fall. It's certainly loads better that what it sounds like you'd be leaving behind in Louisiana.

As far as race goes, my impression is that Champaign-Urbana is pretty good when you grade on a US-specific curve rather than an absolute curve. In other words, it's pretty good for an American community, but that doesn't mean it's as good as it should be. My wife and I are both white, so I cannot speak to any lived experience. I will note that many people report that the two cities of Champaign and Urbana are better in this regard than our small-town bedroom communities of Mahomet, St. Joseph, and Monticello.

For daycare, check out FUMCCC in downtown Champaign. Our kids go there, and we have lots of friends whose children attend too. We briefly enrolled in a different daycare, and while it was fine, our feeling is that FUMCCC is both better and cheaper than nearly all other daycare centers in town.

5 Reasons Champaign Urbana Is A Great Place To Live
Zoe gives you 5 reasons why Champaign-Urbana is a great place to live!

What is it like to live in Champaign, Illinois?

When I went to grad school there I was married with two kids. My wife loved it so much she wanted me to find a job there after I graduated so we could stay there, although beside the Solo Cup Company and Kraft Foods plants, there wasn’t much opportunity for that.

I thought it was a wonderful school both academically and in terms of environment. My professors were generally very good and resources, particularly the library, were excellent.

Politically, the school brought in a fairly equal share of left and right student ideology. This will date me, but when I was there both Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale came to campus and spoke to students out on the green in 1984. I loved the political discussions that occurred, much more civil and enriching than what shows up on most campuses today.

The university brought in some great concerts and plays, as well as providing some great school performances and activities that were family-friendly for the kids. Several times, we took the kids to a great children’s museum in Indianapolis and up to Chicago for the sites (lake, zoo, museums, etc.). Both are about 2 hours away.

We lived in Savoy, just south of campus, in a cooperative. It was a great place for families including a place to have a huge, prolific garden. We never had to water it because it rained a couple of times a week, usually at night. The biggest challenge was keeping down the weeds. The complex was highly diverse with students and their families from all over the world. We used to have a periodic pot-luck out on the commons where we could sample each other’s native cuisine. We met many wonderful people from all over and some came to our home to teach us their recipes and traditions.

The land is flat, so I biked to school most of the time and it was pretty easy to get everywhere. There was also a bus that picked up students from there, so there was a good alternative in the winter.

Living costs were very reasonable, there were a couple of very inexpensive grocery stores in town. We could get great sweet corn at roadside stands and there were farmer’s markets and U-Pick It places nearby where you could get great fresh produce.

Summers were hot and muggy. Winters could be cold and windy. Not a ton of snow, but it could drift high due to the wind. It was cold enough that I created a little skating rink on our patio that entertained the kids most of the winter. Spring and Fall were very nice.

Kickapoo Park is a very nice nearby state park. We spent a fair bit of time there with the kids. They loved the water, enjoyed chasing frogs, and just being kids.

I have a nephew who went there to grad school as well and met his wife there. He quite enjoyed his program and experiences. He rented a house off campus that my brother bought for that purpose because houses were so inexpensive.

We have very fond memories of our time there.