Leaving Illinois for Indiana

[dwh79]

Love Indiana only other place I would consider living with my family is Arizona but love raising my daughter in Indiana.

 

[Ziggidy]

I'm originally from the Chicago western suburbs then moved to Evansville in 1991 and fell in love with Indiana. Had to move back to Illinois in 2000, unfortunately. 2 years ago we moved to Indianapolis and although I would prefer to live outside the city, I still love Indiana. My son is a pastor and took a church in Indy a year before I was able to retire. Once I retired, I moved - actually moved 2 weeks after I officially retired.

Love Indiana. Illinois has become worse and worse. I believe people stay in Illinois only because they are trapped by a job, family or finances (or all of the above - like me). As soon as I was able, adios!

 

[Bfish]

I’ve got a pretty strong philosophy that Indiana is just about the best state. Hear me out:

Outside of Indy/B-town, relatively conservative values all around.
Still on the conservative end of gun rights.
Far enough north to not have unbearable summers.
At least in Central/Southern Indiana, far enough south to not have unbearable winters.
No hurricanes like the east coast.
No apocalyptic tornadoes like the states west of us.
No mountains or oceans. So those places remain interesting to us compared to someone who lives at the ocean or mountains. Basically everywhere outside of Indiana seems like a vacation.

This is a pretty good summation! I do with we had a bit more topography, but I still love it here!

OP, it's way better than Chicago. About anywhere but west coast and north east are. Come on over and get some freedom! Just please don't try and make us anything like IL!

 

[yeahbaby]

I have lived in NWI my entire life with the exception of when I was in the Air Force. I have worked in Valparaiso for 10 years and have friends who live there. You really can't go wrong. The housing market goes from modest to exorbitant. Before the whole COVID thing there are a lot of restaurants in town. Hopefully they are surviving. Are you going to be commuting back into Illinois for work. If so, take into consideration the cost, wear and tear on your vehicles. And the amount of time going to and from work. Years back I made the work commute from Portage to Hyde Park. Did that for 8 years. I was making a really good salary at the time, so cost was not so much a factor. Although there were days in the winter that sucked. Or if there was an accident causing delays. I'm super spoiled now, my work commute is 23 minutes. Just some things to consider. Good luck!

 

[Jps1983]

I have lived in NWI my entire life with the exception of when I was in the Air Force. I have worked in Valparaiso for 10 years and have friends who live there. You really can't go wrong. The housing market goes from modest to exorbitant. Before the whole COVID thing there are a lot of restaurants in town. Hopefully they are surviving. Are you going to be commuting back into Illinois for work. If so, take into consideration the cost, wear and tear on your vehicles. And the amount of time going to and from work. Years back I made the work commute from Portage to Hyde Park. Did that for 8 years. I was making a really good salary at the time, so cost was not so much a factor. Although there were days in the winter that sucked. Or if there was an accident causing delays. I'm super spoiled now, my work commute is 23 minutes. Just some things to consider. Good luck!

I will most likely make the commute temporary until I find work close to where we move to. My wife may be able to work from home, we will know definitely when the time is closer though.

 

[Butch627]

Watching one cornfield turn into duplexes seemingly every month in Lake County near the boarder I wonder how many of them are coming here for the lower taxes and bringing all their other political and social ideas. I know many people from Illinois that are discussing moving here to keep their jobs that would vote for the same policies that caused the mess in Illinois. When I point that out all I get from them is blank looks and maybe a rant on how much they hate Trump

 

[04FXSTS]

Watching one cornfield turn into duplexes seemingly every month in Lake County near the boarder I wonder how many of them are coming here for the lower taxes and bringing all their other political and social ideas. I know many people from Illinois that are discussing moving here to keep their jobs that would vote for the same policies that caused the mess in Illinois. When I point that out all I get from them is blank looks and maybe a rant on how much they hate Trump

As a recent transplant from illanoys I hate these people more than you. I think you will find the people moving from the north of illinois to Indiana will be like that. People from my area of central and southern Illinois are moving not just from high taxes but from the gun laws and corruption in government. Also the fact my vote means nothing in that state because of the sheer numbers in the chicago area. The current governor was elected by IIRC four counties, Cook and two others and one other near East St Louis, another "free stuff" area. Jim.

 

[halfmileharry]

I'm getting way too close to 70 now, former military, and I've lived in a lot of places in this country and abroad.
Somehow I keep coming back to INdiana.
Stay away from the Govt controlled liberal cities and IN is a great place. Even then there's enough hard earned freedoms that even the libs have to stay off your arse.
Keep this place free as long as we can. I can't afford any more liberalism and democrats

 

[Jps1983]

Watching one cornfield turn into duplexes seemingly every month in Lake County near the boarder I wonder how many of them are coming here for the lower taxes and bringing all their other political and social ideas. I know many people from Illinois that are discussing moving here to keep their jobs that would vote for the same policies that caused the mess in Illinois. When I point that out all I get from them is blank looks and maybe a rant on how much they hate Trump

Yea I get what you mean, but not all illinoisans are trying to come to Indiana and bring there liberal bs with them. We are a conservative family just trying to escape the non sense state of Illinois.

 

[Bfish]

Watching one cornfield turn into duplexes seemingly every month in Lake County near the boarder I wonder how many of them are coming here for the lower taxes and bringing all their other political and social ideas. I know many people from Illinois that are discussing moving here to keep their jobs that would vote for the same policies that caused the mess in Illinois. When I point that out all I get from them is blank looks and maybe a rant on how much they hate Trump

Unfortunately the same thing is happening to Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon/Washington from what I understand as people flee California in mass. Texas seems to be a hot spot and you can see the effect. People out in Phoenix I've been around talk pretty openly about the California transplants and how they are not in favor as well.

 

[purdue98]

Indiana is perfectly well off to live and raise a family

Hi everyone, I'm new to the site. My wife and I have a 3 yr old son and thinking about having another child. We have been in Illinois all our lives. We are currently in a suburb of Chicago. We have been throwing the idea around of leaving Illinois due to the high taxes and moronic government they have. We have been looking into homes in the Valparaiso area and like what we see so far. Indiana appears to be pretty cost friendly. I think they are less strict with there gun laws and things of that nature too. But I'm just curious to see what you guys and gals think of Indiana as a place to raise a family? Thanks and have a good day.

Indiana is perfectly fine. During military service I lived in OK and TX. Both fine. After graduation from Purdue, I lived in NC and Iowa. Equally good. The State of Mind in most important and the State of the Government that rules over you is equally important. Blue is nice on a flower but smells to hell if it's political.
Stay out of Indianapolis (Democrat controlled), Bloomington is beautiful but equally a swamp of liberalism (lived there 3 years).
Overall, if you can find an outlier community near a larger city, that is perfect but Indiana is nice to raise a family.
Cheers.

 

[walleyepw]

Indiana! I enjoy living in a state that has respectable moral values. As many have stated there are some free-loader, Marxist hot spots in the state, but overall better than my home state of Michigan. I live in Indiana an work in Illinois. Both in home and work is in small central towns. When I obtained the job in Illinios, I could not fathom living in the state that was controlled by the corruption of Commi-Cook county.

 

[thelefthand]

I've lived in Indiana my entire life as well, and have no plans to live anywhere else at this point. I've traveled the world through work, and there are plenty of nice places to visit, but this is where I choose to live. Anyone who's willing to let a job dictate where they live, deserves the politics they get. I've turned down plenty of opportunities in Mich, Ill, and even a few in Calif. I lived in South Bend for a few years, but left because I wasn't willing to raise a family around that liberal BS. I don't actually see any benefit to living in or near any major metro area. The people I've met who've lived in both rural and urban/metro areas, and prefer the urban/metro also tend to vote liberal. The two go hand in hand, so if you want the bigger city, you're going to get the liberal politics to go with it.

For anyone considering a move to Indiana, if you're okay with the weather and typography, you'll love it here. Personally, I prefer more snow in the winter and less heat in the summer. I can always put more cloths on, but if I take enough off, eventually someone calls the cops.... For some reason people around here prefer 38 degrees, muddy, raining, and ice covered roads to 28 degrees and snowing. I'm pretty sure most of them are liberal transplants from IL

 

[cbvet]

I made the move 30 years ago & am glad I did.

 

[soupergenius]

Don't come to Indiana. Tell all your friends to stay in Illinois also. Indiana is horrible. The sun never shines. Roads are terrible. All the people are fat. Tons of tornado damage. They salt the roads. The schools are terrible. You should build a wall on the border. Nothing to see here. keep moving.