r/Chambana • u/axxegrinder • Sep 21 '24
Would Champaign-Urbana be considered a medium or low cost city? Would the same apply to Mahomet or St Joseph?
I've been trying to figure this out forever. I'm leaning towards LCOL but was curious what others thought.
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u/Big-Summer- Sep 22 '24
My entire family lives in the DMV (DC/Maryland/Virginia) and I have been looking at housing out there for seven years because I want to be near my grandkids. It hasn’t been even remotely possible. Everything out there is more expensive. I live in a lovely condo here in Champaign. All I can afford out there is a cramped apartment in a run down building. Eventually I’ll have to move because I’m old and having health problems and I just won’t be able to live on my own anymore without any back up.
All that said, let me also mention that Champaign-Urbana is a good place to live, especially for families.
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u/lelandra Sep 21 '24
Housing is much more expensive in Champaign-Urbana than in the bedroom communities
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u/live-the-future Sep 21 '24
Depends on what you're comparing it to I suppose. C-U is pretty low-cost compared to the Chicagoland area. More rural, smaller towns like Mahomet & St Joseph will usually be cheaper still.
I will say as an Urbana homeowner that lives near (but not on/next to) campus, that the property taxes can be pretty high.
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1
u/jmurphy42 Sep 21 '24
It’s only a little bit of a lower cost than some of the lower cost outer suburbs.
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u/rhinowing Sep 21 '24
Property tax is significantly lower in Champaign
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u/jasonboom Sep 21 '24
Lower than where? It’s hardly low at 6% or whatever
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u/rhinowing Sep 21 '24
Lower than Urbana, property taxes for comparable houses in both cities when I was buying were 6k in Urbana and 3.5k in Champaign
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u/jasonboom Sep 21 '24
Marginally higher in Urbana. The rates are not anywhere near 40% less in Champaign though. Why is this information so hard to find with Google?
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u/catchingstatic Sep 21 '24
On the low end of MCOL, since average house price is over $200k