Joliet Area

Though the most popular city of Illinois is probably Chicago, Aurora isn't far off, having the distinction of being the second largest city in Illinois and also a part of Chicago's metropolitan area. Far too large to just be a suburb of Chicago, it is a great option for folks looking for a great place to live close to Chicago without actually living in Chicago.With a population of over 170,000 people, Aurora is hardly a small community. The city offers a lot of amenities in terms of businesses, retail stores, restaurants, and arts and culture venues. The city has its own zoo, called Phillips Park Zoo, and downtown is full of great entertainment options, like the Paramount Theatre, a large live performance theater that's even on the National Register of Historic Places. Downtown is also home to the Hollywood Casino, and tons of museums like Aurora Regional Fire Museum, the David L. Pierce Art and History Center, the SciTech Interactive Science Museum and more. The Aurora Public Library and a branch campus of Waubonsee Community College are also downtown. Aurora is divided into several distinguishable regions, like The West Side, located of west of the Fox River; The East Side, an area east of the Fox river and Fox Valley. Aurora also has a number of diverse neighborhoods in the city, home to their own housing styles and cultural attitudes, like Cherryhill, Dutchtown, Georgetown, Little Italy and more. Aurora's Wikipedia entry has a great breakdown of each neighborhood with descriptions. For those interested in educational pursuits, Aurora's also a great place to live because it's home to Aurora University.Because of Aurora's size and diversity, there's a wide array of residential housing options available. You can find two bedroom apartments for $700-$800 a month, one bedroom apartments from $650 to houses and condos into the $2000 a month range. It really depends on what neighborhood you choose to live in. Craigslist is best for finding the right price range for your budget. Getting around Aurora shouldn't be a problem: there is a bus service and a commuter rail service. Overall, Aurora is nice-sized city with plenty of options for jobs and entertainment, with lower housing prices than Chicago, but still a close drive to the city.

Lisle, Illinois is a village considered a part of Chicago's metropolitan area, with a population of just fewer than 25,000 people. Lisle is surrounded by a lot of natural beauty and offers its residents many amenities. The village is also located along the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor, which is an area of Illinois where there is a large amount of companies and research centers, so there are plenty of good jobs in the area for those qualified. Lisle is also a pretty idyllic village of Illinois: there are many natural activities to partake in and many facilities for those looking to enjoy nature, like the Lisle Park District where you can play sports, the Meadows Center, the Sea Lion Aquatic Park, the River Bend Golf Course, and plenty more playgrounds located in neighborhoods. The Bulls/Sox Training Academy is also located in Lisle, and is a sports training complex for athletes operated by the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls. Also in Lisle is the famous Morton Arboretum, a natural preserve covering over 1,700 acres.For those interested in Lisle's rich history, there are museums to enjoy, like the Museums at Lisle Station Park complex, which features five historic buildings to explore. Shoppers will find that Lisle provides plenty of neighborhood shopping centers, and the village's location to many other larger cities means that great businesses to visit are never far away. And though Lisle is a fairly small area, there are public transportation options available both around Lisle (the Pace bus service) and to other cities around with the train system.There are plenty of residential options available in Lisle. You can find one bedroom and two bedroom apartments running anywhere from $600-$900 a month, and larger apartments, condos or houses for rent for $1000 a month and up. There is a pretty good variety of housing types here, and with a good search you should be able to find an affordable option. Overall, Lisle, like many of the other villages in the area, offers a great place to live for families and young professionals!

Rockford is a large city in Northern Illinois that's located on the banks of the Rock River. It has a city population of around 150,000 people, but it's estimated that over 300,000 people live in the surrounding metropolitan area. Though the city has much to offer its residents, the country's economic woes have hit the city pretty hard, and it has been seeing pretty high unemployment rates. Rockford is at the intersection of three major highways: I-90, US-20, and I-39, the airport is the Chicago Rockford International Airport and several major freight railways service the city, like Union Pacific, Canadian National, and the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern. There are a number of secondary schools in the city, like the Rockford Business College, Rockford College, Rock Valley College, and St. Anthony College of Nursing, to name a few. Rockford is also home to lots of places of interest and entertainment value, some of which are the Anderson Japanese Gardens, Klehm Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum, Rock Cut State Park and more. For residents, there are restaurants of all types of foods, retail stores, shopping centers, grocery stores and other essentials. Probably the best thing about Rockford is the abundance of affordable housing options. Prices range pretty wildly, with one bedroom apartments starting as low as $395 a month, two bedroom apartments going for as much as $725 and houses for renting going for $900 a month or more. Craigslist is a great place to find housing in Rockford. For those looking to enjoy Rockford but don't want to live quite inside of town, plenty of suburbs surround the city, like Cherry Valley, Loves Park, Machesney Park, Belvidere and New Millford, to name a few.

If you're on the hunt for a tiny, community-oriented, family-friendly American town, they don't come more genuine than Cortland, Illinois. With a population of around 4,000 people, Cortland isn't exactly a bustling urban city. Nestled in between corn and farm fields, Cortland provides a tight-knit community and a small-town feel. Officially considered an incorporated town, Cortland's slogan is "The Third Largest Town in Illinois."As you can imagine, there aren't a lot of things to do in Cortland, but it's no ghost town. There are a lot of businesses for farming needs, like hardware stores and the like, but the town also offers a general store and other businesses, as well as a few local restaurants, like Sam's Family Restaurant, Casey's Carry Out Pizza, Taxco Restaurant and more. Larger cities Dekalb and Sycamore offer more in the way of retail stores, commercial businesses and restaurants, as well as jobs. Many are attracted to Cortland for its community feel, and even though it is a small town it still offers a post office, a library, a fire department, a church, an elementary school and a community park. As you might imagine, there aren't huge apartment complexes here for rent, but there are a few rentable housing options. You could pay $1250 for a one bedroom condo, $875 for a three bedroom apartment or even find houses for rent for as little as $595 a month. Options are limited, but there are still some available; Craigslist and local papers are a good bet for finding more information on housing options.

Downers Grove is a township located 19 miles west of Chicago, Illinois. More than just a suburb of Chicago, Downers Grove offers a rich town history and lots of current cultural events. At an estimated population of around 50,000 people, it's a perfect combination of small town-feel mixed with the cultural and entertainment offerings of a larger city. Founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, the once small town has seen two large bursts of popularity due to added transportation methods: in 1862 when a railroad was built through town to connect the cities of Aurora and Chicago and in 1989 when two major toll roads were built above and below the town, further connecting Downers Grove to Chicago. If you're wondering why the name "Downers Grove" is missing the apostrophe, you won't get an answer anytime soon: it remains a local unsolved mystery.As you've probably gathered, Downers Grove is rich with history, having an array of gorgeous older homes in the town, of nearly all the styles and periods represented. Downers Grove is also home to an unusually large amount of the Sears-Roebuck Catalog Homes, which were homes you could order as a kit through a catalog and would be delivered to your home on a truck, mainly from 1908 to 1940. Don't think checking out old homes is the only thing to do in Downers Grove, though; the town has a number of retail stores, essential businesses, restaurants and other commercial businesses in town. The town also offers plenty in the way of outdoor activities, with a thriving park district that maintains parks, fields, sports complexes and facilities. Downers Grove is even home to one of the last original prairies in Illinois, the 25-acre Belmont Prairie. The town also plays host to a number of festivals and events for all ages. The good news is that Downers Grove is a safe, family-friendly and well-kept town with a lot of gorgeous older homes and fancy new homes. The bad news is there isn't a ton of affordable housing options. Definitely offering a variety of renting options, from houses, to small apartments, to condos and larger apartment complexes, expect prices to start at around $850 for one bedroom apartments and go up all the way to $2000 a month for larger units. But, considering the easy access to Chicago and other parts of the state with the railroad and all the great schools in the area, Downers Grove just might be worth the price.

Great town.

Rochelle, Illinois, located 75 miles west of Chicago and 25 miles south of Rockford, is a small city with a population just under 10,000 people. It made its name by being a uniquely located city in terms of transportation, both with roadways and railways. Rochelle is known by its nickname "Hub City" due to the intersection of Interstate 39, Interstate 88, and the Transcontinental Route 30 Lincoln Highway meeting in Rochelle. Because of all these roads converging, Rochelle is often favored as a stop along the way to other destinations by travelers, and the city happens to have the only conference hosting capabilities as well as the most hotel rooms in Ogle County. Interstate highways aren't the only draw to Rochelle, also intersecting the city are two major rail lines: the Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway mainlines. When looking at a map, Rochelle's "Hub City" nickname is evident when you see all the road and railways that meet up at Rochelle. Interestingly, the local high school's sports teams are even called the "Hubs." Rochelle also has the distinction of being the home of the country's first dedicated railway park, the Rochelle Railroad Park, where fans of trains and the railway can view and photograph trains safely. In case you're worried there are only roads and railroads in Rochelle, know that the city also has a variety of parks, recreational facilities, excellent schools, and some restaurants, businesses and retail stores.   For those looking to rent in Rochelle, you're in luck; there are affordable choices. You can find one and two bedroom apartments from $425 a month to $600 a month, and houses and larger apartments are not much more. Though a bit industrial, Rochelle has plenty of jobs and good schools for families.

Another town of Illinois considered a part of the Chicago Metropolitan area, Lemont is a rather affluent village, featuring nice homes, a rich history and a number of entertaining area attractions. Though small, with a population around 14,000 people, Lemont offers big character. And located only 27 miles from Chicago, you can enjoy Lemont's small town-feel and escape to Chicago's urban oasis if you need a little more. Lemont's history and founding has a lot to do with the Illinois and Michigan Canal that was created in that area---which led to the discovery of many valuable minerals in Lemont, and subsequently spawned a successful mining and quarry economy in the area. Because of these successes, Lemont's history is also full of many culturally diverse ethnic groups who moved to the area for work. In this small town alone, you can find museums like Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont Area Historical Society and Museum, Lithuanian World Center, Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor, Slovenian Cultural Center and more, all celebrating the town's beginnings. Lemont now has an interesting relationship with Hollywood, being the set for a number of music videos, movies and other shows. A number of notable famous people have connections with this quaint village. If you are looking for something more than museums or celebrities, Lemont delivers: they have plenty of retail stores, commercial business and even some tasty restaurants. As far as residential options go, there's a pretty good variety of types and prices. Searching on Craigslist we found some nice two bedroom apartments for $800 a month and a few three bedroom apartments for $900 or less. Some places were a little less, some more, but otherwise pretty reasonable in terms of what you're getting. With close transportation options to Chicago (train), lots of schools and a safe environment, Lemont is a good choice for young families and professionals.