Moving to Chicago: Neighborhood Moving Guide
A podcast by Affordable City Movers
Moving to Chicago: The Neighborhood Guide
Practical, neighborhood-by-neighborhood guidance for anyone moving in Chicago. Parking realities, building types, when to book, and what actually happens on move day — from a crew that has done hundreds of moves across the city.
Each episode covers one neighborhood: what the buildings are actually like inside, where the truck can park, which weeks of the year are impossible, and a few local spots worth knowing once the boxes are in.
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Newest firstThe Trade You Make for Quiet
Roscoe Village traded transit quality for quiet on purpose, and it worked. A compact low-rise grid, wide alleys, basements that eat more time than the stairwells, and a park with a kayak launch on the Chicago River. Covers 60618 and 60657.
Wide Alleys, Diagonal Streets, and a Guitar Shop
Ask our crews for the easiest neighborhood in Chicago to move in and out of and a lot of them say North Center. Wide alleys, cooperative two-flats, and Lincoln Avenue cutting diagonally across the grid. Covers 60618 and 60613.
Maifest, Oktoberfest, and the Folk School
Twice a year Lincoln Avenue closes down for Maifest and Oktoberfest. The rest of the year this is one of the calmest places on the North Side to move, with bungalows, greystones, and the Old Town School of Folk Music down the street. Covers 60618 and 60625.
The Train Runs Through It
The Brown Line runs elevated straight through the middle of Ravenswood, so train noise is part of the deal. In exchange you get one of the easiest neighborhoods in the city to move in and out of. Covers 60613 and 60625.
Two Neighborhoods in Three Blocks
Walk three blocks in Edgewater and go from a twelve-story tower with a freight elevator to a brick two-flat with a gangway. Two housing markets side by side, and which one you land in changes everything about your first day. Covers 60660.
Charlie Chaplin, Jazz, and Very Long Hallways
Charlie Chaplin made films at Essanay Studios on Argyle before Hollywood was Hollywood, and the Green Mill has been running since 1907. Plus the pre-war courtyard complexes so large the walk from truck to front door is the part nobody plans for. Covers 60640.
Glogg, Pine Stairs, and Market Saturdays
Swedish roots and a ninety-year-old tavern, the Clark Street farmers market that owns Saturday mornings from June through October, and century-old pine stairs with risers steeper than anything built since. Covers 60640.
Carriage Houses, Wells Street, and Narrow Alleys
Carriage houses hidden behind main-street addresses, 1870s two-flats sitting next to 1990s townhomes on the same block, the split personality of Wells Street versus the side streets, and alleys that vary from truck-friendly to impassable. Covers 60610 and 60614.
Why You Can’t Move on a Saturday
The Gold Coast is the one Chicago neighborhood where your move date isn’t entirely your decision. Freight elevator windows that exclude weekends, limestone mansions on Astor with staircases built for a different era of furniture, and why January through March is the clearest stretch of the year. Covers 60610 and 60611.
The Park, DePaul, and 34-Inch Stairwells
Over 1,200 acres of lakefront park with a free zoo, the DePaul calendar that drives the whole neighborhood every August and May, and a housing stock that runs from narrow brownstone walk-ups to high-rises on the Drive. Covers 60614.
Six-Flats, Game Days, and Why People Stay
Courtyard six-flats, the Wrigley Field effect on daily life, why so many people arrive for one year and stay for nine, and the late-August week when the whole neighborhood turns over at once. Covers 60613 and 60657.
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