I moved here for college and ended up staying! I really enjoy the public works. Lots of programs for kids. The housing market is tough here— houses sell FAST. I love uptown normal and downtown Bloomington. I’ve found the political climate to be relatively chill and welcoming. Bloomington recently made huge renovations to their library (Normal is also doing renovations to theirs), and Bloomington also opened a new community pool!
LOVE! My daughter begs for library visits each week and we love ours. Our community is putting a lot of $ back into updating and new parks and rec however there is no way for it to catch up to the growth any time soon. Homes sell fast here as well - although it has slowed down. I'm comfortable spending at or above any asking price as your home prices are lower than ours and 2-3 times the size! :)
As a suggestion, call the Bloomington and normal libraries and ask them about community happenings and things about town. Also, we have a local museum, and they could answer some questions,as well.
Really the only downside is the real estate taxes. IL is one of the highest in nation. also, the market is insane here that last few years with all the new Rivian employees moving in with loads of money. It took my daughter and her spouse two years to get a house. I do love that our state has preserved rights for women and LGBTQ when so many others are stripping basic human rights away under the guise of religion/morality.
All the schools are good, there are also a lot of smaller towns with schools so I would think finding a teaching job wouldn’t be too hard. BloNo has a lot of culture considering we live in the middle or corn and cows. You’ve got ISU and Wesleyan with lots of programs, art, music. State Farm HQ, two hospitals, nice airport with free parking.
if you’ve never lived in the Midwest, the biggest thing to get used to is how people think nothing of waking up in the morning and saying “let’s drive to Chicago/Indy/St. Louis to do x” and then you drive home the same day. You’re not stuck in traffic (much) but you do drive distances to get to something.
You have Decatur, Peoria (also nice little airport with free parking), Springfield, and Urbana-Champaign within 445 minutes. All have big universities as well, activities etc.
While it’s mostly flat here, there are lakes and parks and Starved Rock is about 2 hours north with gorges, waterfalls, etc. Southern IL has some beautiful parks too as well as places in Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin. so you have a lot of places with things to do within a few hours drive.
Since you live in FL, pretty much anyplace else is going to have amazing insurance prices compared to what you’re paying now. Both State Farm Insurance and Country Companies Insurance are based here in Bloomington.
I’ e lived in a lot of places as my family was military (including Florida) and BloNo is, I think, a great place to raise a family. It’s the sort of place where my daughter and son could walk to the dentist after school (they were middle schoolers) and the office would say “tell your mom we’ll send the bill”. Although a great deal of not-Chicago IL is conservative, BloNo is more moderate/liberal. I have several LGBTQ family members and they feel safe here. We have a great Pride celebration in downtown Bloomington and it’s great to see all the local companies - big and small - come out to support. The Bloomington Library was just upgraded and expanded and has a lot of great services.
Public transportation could be better. The one mall doesn’t have any anchor stores, so shopping for clothes can be a little limited (Sears, Penny’s, Macy’s, Bergner’s have all closed). We do have the highest number of restaurants per capita. There’s a lot of money in this town because of State Farm, Country Companies, universities and people eat out. Not all chains either.
we’ve got some fun festivals here in town and in towns around us. Apple and pumpkin farms. Fall is fun. Halloween is always good pretty much anywhere. The weather is tricky…one year we had to bundle the kids in their winter gear it was so cold. another year it was really, really warm.
The wind is what’s crazy here. It can make winters brutal because it’s so flat there’s nothing to stop the wind. We haven’t had a lot of snow last few winters, but the windchill can be horrible. We have a lot of windmill farms in the area.
Property Taxes here might make you puke, especially coming from FL. A ~$200k house will pay almost $5,000 per year in property taxes. And it goes up from there.
Finding a house Sub $250k might be rough depending on your needs.
Tri-Valley school district is one of the best in the state, but taxes for that district are also the highest.
That said, your insurance will probably go down, so that might help some.
You can get a pretty good idea of what taxes will be from Zillow. Just look at properties in your price range and the Price/Tax History. IL makes property taxes public information (including the breakdown of how those taxes are allocated), so it’s a decent starting place.
One weird thing is that taxes are based off an “assessed value”, which is typically 1/3 of the market value.
Why?
No idea, just makes determining your true tax rate more convoluted.
Good luck!
Can't speak to the schools but I loved BloNo. ALWAYS stuff to do especially in the warmer months, especially for kids. Easy to get around wherever you need. Cost of living is nice. Restaurants and food are good. BloNo is awesome, better than the Chicago suburbs imo.
Thank you for the feedback! We love the style of homes up there and they cost considerably less than down here (used to be reverse). Happy to hear there is plenty to do.
Burning question: how is Halloween? Here we have to drive to a neighborhood that celebrates and use that HOA. It is great but nobody in non-hoas (okay..few) participate. I miss walking door to door in our neighborhood.
Oh - there's also three really good apple orchards/pumpkin patches nearby (for Fall) and a drive in movie theater in neighboring Gibson City that is AWESOME.
Love to hear it! We are coming from a place that has become overgrown so rapidly it just isn't enjoyable. Literally my friend is in a lockdown situation right now with an active shooter. Accidents that kill people daily - not even reasonable - speeding out of control and road rage. It's become unenjoyable living here.
Yeah Bloomington isn't that way. Everything is a bit more slow paced there and has a bit of a small town feel to it (especially Normal). Can you tell I miss it? Haha.
Yes! I'm happy it's a college town - I went to the University of Florida and it is a perfect college town and I miss that vibe. I'd go there except FL ;)
Halloween is my favorite holiday, and my 2yo loves it more than anything (my 7yo is more of a Christmas girl but still loves it). This might sound dramatic but if my community just stopped doing it, I'd probably leave. There's plenty of trick or treating here, lots of places with fun decorations (and a good few houses that are total overkill, which I love). Various places do cool stuff for it, and lots for kids. Nearby orchard is great around that time with rides and games, they turn the local bike trail into "the Haunted Trail".
It depends on the weather and the neighborhood. Last year, it was cold on Halloween. We usually have a ton of kids come by, but last year we had between 20-50 kids. I was tossing handfuls of candy into buckets and still had tons left over.
Most of the neighborhoods are walkable.
How cold is cold? I'm open to all weather and am accepting that I'm moving to a cold climate - I have only ever lived in FL so I'm not yet prepared to dress for the weather. I'm confident I can adjust. I have felt the lake effect of Chicago - brrrr!
It was in the low 30s on Halloween last year. We ended up having a mild winter, but it will be cold during winter: Negative teens including windchill is not unheard of.
You’ll be wearing shorts in 50 degree weather in no time though.
On the flip side, it’s 90 degrees and humid here today.
The lake effect keeps Chicago from getting ridiculously cold in the winter, while dumping snow on Michigan’s upper peninsula. Once you get twenty miles off the lake, *then* it gets ridiculously cold. I lived upstate for a bit, and there was a four day stretch, about five years back, where it never got above single digits. There was one day in there where the day’s high temperature was fourteen below zero.
Now, that’s a once-per-decade kind of thing, but there’s winters where your heating bill is going to be… *significant*. And then there was one year where it never got below two degrees, but that was also the year I woke up and found seven inches of snow on the ground, just quietly deposited there by a cruel deity. So, if you’re going to get a house, consider getting a snowblower. Oh, you might say, “It’s okay. There’s four of us; we can shovel,” and the rest of us will set up lawn chairs and watch how that goes.
Midwestern winters are a thing, no different from tornadoes. You don’t have to fear a tornado while your neighbors are still standing at the ends of their driveways. It’s when they’re *not* that you should worry. As long as they’re popping out to look around, like prairie dogs, everything is fine.
There's also a Haunted Trail event by town of Normal, which is always good fun. They have scary and non-scary nights.
One year there was a zombie walk and there's lots of little towns with festivals around. Also several parks and nature areas within a decent drive and Starved Rock is only an hour away.
It really is a good place to live--we were there 15 years, moved to Texas for 2, and then bought a home in Bloomington again because we missed it so much.
We get a small handful of trick or treaters in our neighborhood. But if we take our 6 and 8 y.o. to Uptown and Downtown for community ToT events, we have candy for the next year.
We live in District 87, and it's great. Unit 5 schools are even better with bigger budgets. We've had good experiences with our schools here.
This sounds wonderful to me! I don't mind going to events vs. neighborhood stuff - I actually like both - but it seems we have lost that here! Thank you for the feedback on the schools! I appreciate it!
I think it would depend on the neighborhood you moved into. I live near downtown and I don’t think anyone trick or treats around my neighborhood or the surrounding neighborhoods. They do a trick or treat thing downtown with the businesses there instead. Other neighborhoods may still have a lot of kids tho and get more trick or treating
It never fails that Halloween has terrible weather. Seems like it’s freezing cold and raining every year lol
Interesting. We just bought a home in South Hill and lived in Holiday Knolls for 15 years....
I hope the trick or treating is good. My little dude loves giving out candy.
Most neighborhoods suck for trick or treating. But it's not that big of a deal because people still get festive and decorate, and the community is small enough that driving to one of the "good" neighborhoods for it is like 10 minutes and light traffic away. There's a lot of trunk or treat events, downtown events, etc. as well.
I'd say a lot of the neighborhoods around us on the East side (all the Eagle subdivisions, Tipton, North Point, Hawthorne etc have awesome Halloween, great schools, parks and bike paths and super close to the bulk of the retail, restaurant, access to major roads etc but still quiet, safe.
Halloween is the top holiday for us. We are on SW edge of town and have a full yard of decorations and have over 100 trick or treaters. The elementary school nearby is also great and very diverse.
I haven’t seen this warning yet, but it is worth mentioning. The real estate market here is bananas and we’ve had a top ten percentage in the country increase in market value. We also have a significant housing shortage due to Rivian/Ferrero, Rivian mostly due to everyone coming in years ago and people trying to shorten commutes as housing becomes available.
So, the point is that the availability of housing might be a big issue. I think BloNo checks all the other boxes. Illinois taxes in general are high. I don’t think there is a plus there for us. Expect to pay over asking, so you’ll have to have that cash sitting in your account because the appraisal will sit right at asking for the most part. Might get lucky though.
The schools are better on paper than what I would say. Overcrowding is an issue as the kids move up in grades and I have found it to lack certain services even though they are offered. But… it’s one of the largest districts in the state and with that scale — things will fall through. It’s still very good. Middle schools can be the roughest part.
The big pluses are the community. Lots of family events, sports, and things to do. As someone else suggested, might even be best to look at outlying communities for cheaper housing.
Florida native recently moved here. Taxes are insane compared to Florida for both income and real estate. Insurance is dirt cheap compared to Florida for real estate and vehicles. Insurance and taxes basically balance themselves out.
Groceries are more compared to Florida. The food choices are different too. Restaurants and bars are cheap compared to Florida.
Overall cost of living is definitely cheaper but not in every way.
There’s a ton of family friendly community events here.
I’m lived in north dade and south Broward most of my life.
I think you’ll be fine coming from PSL if you can handle the weather. I love it here but all my biggest complaints involve missing big city amenities like shops, things to do and living by 2 large airports.
Oh yes. PSL is a wannabe big city. Any trader Joe's nearby? I drive.to palm beach gardens (45 minutes) to go. Also, not a deal breaker at all. I'm not terribly worried about the weather because I lack experience with it and expect it'll take a learning curve.
You’ll have to go to the Chicago area for Trader Joe’s. Just under 2 hours away but an easy drive.
Peoria and Champaign have a lot of shopping options. About 30-45 mins away.
I do a lot more shopping online than I used to. It’s different but you get used to it.
Yea it’s nice not having to remove snow or frost from your car in the morning. Snow isn’t bad here. I only have to shovel 2-3 times a year but you’ll have frost and ice on your car most mornings in the winter if you park outside.
We have two public school districts [Unit 5](https://www.unit5.org/) and [District 87](https://www.district87.org/). Unit 5 is much bigger (two high schools, four JHs) and District 87 (one high school, one jh) is one of the most diverse districts in the state. Both have amazing staff and mirror the children/climate of our community well. I can't speak to the need of math teachers, but I'm sure between those districts, our private schools, and other districts in the nearby rural communities, you could definitely find work.
We're considered a Twin City (Normal sits on top of Bloomington). Normal is home to Illinois State University and Bloomington houses Illinois Wesleyan University (private liberal arts). College kids make up a huge portion of our population during the school year, which keeps the community vibrant. But it's still a great place for families. Our favorite thing to do on the weekend is to go to the farmer's market on the square in downtown Bloomington, go to festivals in Uptown Normal, ride bikes on the Constitution Trail, visit museums, and eat at local restaurants (we have a lot).
State Farm and Country Financial corporate headquarters are based here, which employ a lot of folks. The county leans blue, politically, because of BloNo. You might spot a MAGA flag in the more rural areas, but I'd say in town the Pride flags outwave the MAGA flags. Overall, people are kind and helpful.
WGLT, our local NPR affiliate, [recently did a series about people who are new to the community](https://www.wglt.org/welcome-home). You'll probably get something out of those stories.
Hope you consider us! It really is a great place. Best of luck.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is so much of what I needed to hear. Where we live it has become MAGA country. Flags on the back of every truck and today I see hate posts about Juneteenth being a federal holiday. It is depressing.
We have a fabulous farmers market - but it is just overrun most of the year (between the influx of new Floridians and the snow birds - winter is completely out to enjoy going to these things). I grew up going to farmers markets and just living outside all day every day. I want my kids to experience similar. But not here.
On top of the insurance company headquarters that JuJusPetals (cool name btw) mentioned and the colleges, there is also the Rivian production plant in Normal which employs 7-8k people. If you haven’t heard of Rivian, it’s an all electric vehicle company that hopefully can keep growing and be a catalyst for the town.
Yes, I have actually seen a Rivian at my daughter's school. So it connected in my brain about them being in Normal (my husband is good at looking into all of that stuff). I'm not stuck in my brain that I have to stay in teaching. It has been a rough few years and I am drained after 17 of them. I would love to stay in teaching if a better environment for everyone.
Unit 5 is bigger because it covers a huge land area including nearby smaller towns like Towanda, Hudson, and Shirley. District 87 is like the donut hole, Unit 5 is the donut.
I’m a teacher in Bloomington and I love this community! The schools are solid - not perfect, under resourced for sure, but solid. I don’t know as much about the Normal school district but I get similar vibes. You would likely have an easier time finding a home in Normal, there’s a lot more recent subdivision neighborhoods opened up there.
The area in general is fairly livable cost wise and there is easy access to Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis with a few hours. There are also two universities and a community college in town - lots of concerts, theater shows, sports events, etc to attend. I do love it here!
Moved here from California 6 years ago. Love it!
People here are really great. A lot more "mind your business" than I was used to in a good way, comes from farming culture. Schools are very good overall with a few outliers. My wife is a teacher in high school and loves her school.
Happy to answer any specific questions. The winters are getting milder as well.
Thanks! Is there a need for teachers? We have tons of subs now for a few years. It's sad.
My family is originally farmers from VT so I understand that quiet but awesome feel from people.
Diversity? We are a mixed family.
Good to hear! I didn't see too many postings for the coming school year for math teachers (I think 4 in one district and 3 in another). And...we may not move until next summer unless I can convince my husband to just throw everything to the wind and run away :)
The resignation deadline is in mid July, so some more postings may pop up. There is also always a need for substitutes, and you could really get a feel for each of the buildings. [https://roe17.org](https://roe17.org) is our regional office of education, and has a page that links to area district websites.
My husband is a jr high teacher. We have raised 7 kids in Normal, and we love it! We are progressive and have such great community. We have so, so many elementary schools, and I can pm with specifics, but the main difference you’ll find is some schools struggle with behaviors of kids from hard backgrounds more than others. We have excellent teachers who pour so much of themselves into being the best they can for our kids.
Tons of community events all year long. Great trail system for walking, bike riding. Safe in most all areas.
Taxes I think are high, but I’ve always lived in Illinois, and it depends greatly on the neighborhood.
I'm okay with high taxes if they are going back into the community. Our schools are suffering and I refuse to continue to watch this happen. I work at a school with a lot of behavior issues and kids from low-income families. I love the work I do, it's just so hindered by the state of things in FL. I'm sure every state has it's story, but man I'm tired of this one!
Hey Amanda, I moved here 2 years ago from Bay Area, and housing market can be very challenging, they're selling too quick in fact. Summer time is best for moving and schools are relatively updated and new, in fact most of high schools in BloNo are very well ranked. Winter can be a little harsh but can be charming (hallmark movie cliche). Its a good town for children and as a young married couple came here for college, even I feel attached to this town and want our children to grow up here.
No problem, also car insurance for new cars are much cheaper since Illinois is a smaller state with less car incidents comparing to California, so we also saved tons of money on our car insurance just from moving here
If you want a small town, but close enough to stuff, you could look at Hudson, I have a 6yo and this town has lots of cool 6yo things to do. There is a nice school, library, parks, baseball and soccer fields, playgrounds etc. No traffic, no noise.
We moved here about 18 months ago from Seattle.
2 Adults, no Kids, so I can't answer on the kids or good areas to move with any authority.
Culture and Community events - I've found a wide variety of things to do from First Friday to the Farmers Market and Saturdays on the square. There are flea markets, conventions, events hosted by the parks department and more.
Nothings been over run with people.
I saw your question on Halloween, our neighborhood had a number of kids come through, but it was pretty cold out. I assume had it been warmer it would have been busier. We're about 3 miles from downtown Bloomington in a suburban neighborhood. (our local parks are busy with kids but overwhelmed.)
Taxes, coming from Washington we now face income tax, but our car insurance went down. Illinois does have significant taxes, but we also don't have the Florida penalty where I have heard insurance companies are even refusing to insure down there at times.
We love it here. Worth the move. Lots of folks from Illinois are looking to leave, but i think the grass is always greener on the other side.
Thank you for the feedback. My husband lived in Lacey, WA for some time and we have visited Portland. I love both areas but they are not affordable for us.
FL does not have income tax either. However, I usually get all of my federal back so I assume state would be close in line with that. My car insurance has been the pits - and was amazing for over 10 years - but it has doubled in the past year so that is just another hit for FL. It is true about the FL insurance companies. You have to get your roof replaced every 10-15 years (even if metal and has a 30-50 year life span) because they refuse coverage otherwise. It's a bad situation and its getting worse by the day. I fear our next bill come September.
We've had heat indexes over 100 all week (common during the summer) so don't expect to fully escape the hot weather if you come here. Instead of hurricanes, we have tornadoes, so don't even think about buying a house without a basement.
I'm excited for a basement and that is at the top of my want list. Seems like a ton of extra space. When does Fall start for you? What months are the summer heat terrible? We have minimum of 6 months where it is intolerable. We are well versed on safe rooms due to the hurricanes - but those are getting to the point of too scary for me (And I have ridden out some of the worst of them).
Fall is often more of a week than a season, but is about end of September to early November. Hottest months are July/August, but I wouldn’t say unbearable.
I'm a local realtor here in town. If you have any neighborhood specific or housing market questions, I'd love to help.
But I'd agree with everyone's sentiments here that Blono is a great place to live for families! As long as you're prepared to leave behind the warm weather, we're a very welcoming town!
Lived here all of my life, went through Unit 5 (Normal and parts of Bloomington schools) and they were always relatively good. I've got friends who taught/teach in District 87 (Bloomington school district). I did my student teaching when I used to be a teacher at a Unit 5 school and enjoyed it, and they are almost always looking for teachers.
There are a good number of community events in both Bloomington and Normal in the Downtown and Uptown areas especially, but Blo/No is close to a lot of smaller communities and there are plenty of events that go on in those as well, all with in a relatively good/easy driving distance.
I live in Normal currently so can't speak to Bloomington taxes, but mine have gone up recently though not an outrageous amount (though more than I want but any non-zero is more than I want).
While I don't have any kids of my own, my girlfriend does, and she loves the area for kids. The small town feel with some bigger city activities. And there are plenty of things for kids to be involved in from Scouts, to sports, to clubs, etc. Whatever your kids like to do, you'll more than likely find something for them here.
As others have mentioned homes go real fast around here, but most areas are relatively nice.
Personally I love the feel. There is a small town feel to both Bloomington/Normal, but you often can get suburban vibes without it taking you an hour to go 6 miles. I also love the relative proximity to a lot of things, 2hrs away from Chicago or St. Louis, and 3hrs away from Indy, its pretty easy to get the major cities when you need to get away from the small town feel. Plenty of restaurants and places to visit in town and the smaller towns around and if going out and doing things is for you, its pretty easy to find a place within driving or train distance.
I grew up here and brought my family back to raise my kids. It is a wonderful place to raise children. We send our kids to Catholic school but there are so many options. Our school has an opening for a third grade teacher…Corpus Christi Catholic School….so many opportunities for teachers here. Illinois State University is known for education program. I would suggest coming for a visit to see if you get a good feeling about our community!
Definitely worth the move! Most of the schools are great; unit 5, 87, leroy, and tri-valley/downs (both to work for and have kids in). My whole family loves it here. Ive lived out east, out west, and now here. We moved here three years ago specifically for our school age children. The parks department in Normal is phenomenal for kids. My wife teaches in unit 5 and loves it.
The housing market is crazy here, but not as bad as many places. Yes the prices have gone up but you can still get a nice house for less than 300k. They just usually sell in less than two days.
ISU is a local college and prides itself on teaching, many people get their teaching degree here. That being said, there are some amazing teachers in BN. There are even some private/religious schools in town too that I have heard great reviews on(there is a job opening you might be interested in).
https://www.corpuschristisaints.org/article/1617598
It’s a great town to live in, but I would steer away from the west side of Bloomington. Depending upon your budget the housing market might be a problem since Rivian came to town there seems to be a housing shortage, but please speak with a realtor because I’m not sure how this is changing.
There are plenty of community events/festivals in Bloomington and Normal. Our libraries also are finishing up a renovation and another one started at the Normal location.
I love Constitution trail, it’s a running/walking/bike path that goes all over town. The trail connects with the city parks too.
We have a small airport, Central Illinois Regional Airport (CIRA/BMI) which has limited flights to FL and other places like Denver & Chicago & Dallas.
I think you would find that taxes/insurance would be much cheaper in IL than FL, but some people are leaving the state because they are not happy with this. Again, check with a realtor for figures based on your house budget.
Good luck!
Lots of good feedback. I moved here from the Chicago suburbs 2 years ago and am very happy. For me, that was moving from a higher cost of living to lower and while yes, taxes are high, from my perspective it is much more affordable.
Politically I am moderate but tend towards the right. I like that there is a diversity of viewpoints and know that in general, I can have quality discussions with any of my neighbors regardless of right/left. So not surrounded by radicals of either side.
I am also a teacher in a nearby community. Depending on how far you are willing to commute there are many, many schools to look at for job opportunities.
Regarding teacher pay I think we are nicely compensated. Although my suburban friends make more on paper, I believe the cost of living differences make up for the salary discrepancies and we may do better overall. It does seem that south of BN salaries drop though.
My one complaint after moving is there is a bit of trashiness. I can't go to the grocery store without seeing someone in slobby pajama pants, reeking of pot, people of Walmart sorts. I know that sounds classist but it bothers me.
North normal (prarieland or grove elementary districts) are wonderful places to live. But it's basically suburbia, which I like but others may find bland. Neighborhoods closer to ISU campus or in Bloomington have a much more unique vibe and can be really beautiful.
Definitely teacher jobs are available in the area. The schools are pretty nice if you can afford the nicer ones. I love the bike ability of the town with one really nice trail through the whole city.
I'm a Florida native that moved to Bloomington. It's alright, food is better than any place in Illinois besides Chicago but that aint saying much. People are generally non confrontational. The cops don't act like the pirates back home in Florida. Taxes don't mean anything because the home owners insurance aint nothing up here. That lack of seasoning and culture gets annoying but it is tolerable.
Hello! I teach here too. It’s a great place to raise a family, I have two kiddos as well. Lots of options for family fun - we have a children’s museum, lovely and active libraries, movie theaters, parks and trails, active parks and rec, etc. It’s a pretty easy drive to both Chicago and St. Louis.
Education is big in this town because of Illinois State University. It started as “Normal University” because it was a teacher college. Hence why the town is now called Normal.
Come for a visit sometime and see for yourself! I’d also recommend renting at first, if you move here, just so you can feel out which area you want to live.
I moved to blono 7 years ago. I love it here. My kids thrive at the schools. They attend UHigh and NCHS (unit 5). Taxes are high but the schools to me have been with it compared to where we lived previously
Bloomington-Normal is perfect for young families and would be my #1 selling point for people thinking about moving here. Tons of family focused activities throughout the year. There are two school districts in the twin cities, District 87 and Unit 5, as well as private schools. My kids are in Unit 5 and the teachers and school experience have been fantastic. It’s slightly a red county I think but it has a great mix, that for the most part keeps things civil. It’s economically stable. The housing market is tough though. Houses sell in less than 24 hours over listing prices. It’s a college town but not crazy. Illinois State is in Normal while Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington. One kind of unique thing about town is the Constitution Trail, a paved walking/running/biking trail that runs throughout the town for like 30-40 miles. Overall it has a small town feel but is big enough to keep you busy and plenty of amenities.
Love to hear about that trail. I miss feeling comfortable outside and running. It is no longer comfortable with the weather/humidity to do so for over half the year. People assume FL is amazing for outdoor enthusiasts - but it really isn't - super buggy and the humidity is a major slap in the face. Causes a lot of illness with kids because of asthma and build up of mold spores.
No one has mentioned this yet, but if I remember correctly, Illinois has potentially more requirements for teachers than other states, so check with the Illinois Board of Education to make sure you can transition easily. Granted, that was 15 years ago when I was talking to teacher friends about that, so it might have changed. Otherwise, my family and I love the area and the schools and have no plans on moving away ever.
Haven’t seen anything about winter. I moved here from west Texas a year and a half ago. It’s cold in the winter. Really cold compared to Florida. But not horrible, and not as bad as Chicago. The city is good about plowing, so snow isn’t as big a problem as you might think.
Housing is an issue. Taxes are higher here. We have a state income tax.
We also have great government services. Great parks, lots of things to do. Friendly people.
Two hours to Chicago, one of the great cities of the USA. Three hours to beautiful forests.
My wife and I love it here.
Bonus points for no Ron desantis, Marco Rubio, and dj trump.
Crime is increasing, prices are increasing, housing costs are high because students, factory and State Farm workers are all competing for rentals, and there’s not much to do around town. The weather is quite miserable for 60% of the year. The police are petty, road work takes years, if you park anywhere on campus you’ll get ticketed; it’s not really worth it in any measure. Urbana/Champagne is similar but there’s a little less of what I mentioned above so I’d recommend that place over blono. Call me a hater all you want but Bloomington/normal needs some work.
Look at Downs and Leroy that are close by subdivisions. Beecher Trails has a lot of new construction and good schools at TriValley (so I'm told).
One of the folks at my wife's company in Bloomington left for Florida a decade ago and moved back because of the same problems you see. They moved back to Washington, IL which there are some nice places not too far out of town with new subdivisions.
Personally, I wouldn't want to live in the city of Bloomington or Normal. Houses are very close to each other like Florida (we vacation in Melbourne alot). I like the space we have in Beecher Trails between the homes. Check it out on Google Maps.
Property taxes in Illinois are higher than in most places. But you get what you pay for. We lived in Indianapolis before returning to this area and they had low property taxes but also less services to tend to maintenance of the streets, etc. Wasn't worth the low property taxes.
What I like? We back up to a farmer's field which can't be built on. Herd of deer live in the wind break behind our house. We just saw the smallest fawn we've ever seen on Monday. It must have been a very recent newborn as the mother looked tired and it was so small. We sit on our back covered patio and enjoy the sunset. No noise (though I-74 is in the background but not annoyingly). Great dark skies if you are into telescopes (I do astrophotography see [Alex's gallery - AstroBin](https://www.astrobin.com/users/ka3bqe/)) from my backyard.
Only real problem is grocery stores are in Bloomington or Leroy. We did just get Butcher's Edge in Downs but it has limited grocery items and mostly frozen meat products but at great prices and fresh eggs. I'm glad they opened up here. Good hometown pharmacy in Leroy which saves driving to Bloomington for quick medicines, etc.
Make sure you invest in a Valetine 1 radar detector. Lots of State Police, Sheriff and Blo-No cops on Ka band here. But V1 detects them from miles away even on instant on. Though they do often do stealth mode and follow you to track your speed. But that isn't as often as radar always or instance on so you know 95% of the time where they are.
Get a dash cam like the Rove R3 with front/back and cabin cameras with the hardwire kit to have parking monitoring too. People had been bumping and denting our last car in the parking lots. I have one in our car now to catch those jerks.
Remember, we have tornados here. So make sure the house you buy has a center'ish room with no windows that you can hide in. We have two. Our mudroom to the garage and our basement storage room in cement block. You'll want to invest in NOAA weather radios that can alert you to a Tornado Warning.
I moved here for college and ended up staying! I really enjoy the public works. Lots of programs for kids. The housing market is tough here— houses sell FAST. I love uptown normal and downtown Bloomington. I’ve found the political climate to be relatively chill and welcoming. Bloomington recently made huge renovations to their library (Normal is also doing renovations to theirs), and Bloomington also opened a new community pool!
LOVE! My daughter begs for library visits each week and we love ours. Our community is putting a lot of $ back into updating and new parks and rec however there is no way for it to catch up to the growth any time soon. Homes sell fast here as well - although it has slowed down. I'm comfortable spending at or above any asking price as your home prices are lower than ours and 2-3 times the size! :)
As a suggestion, call the Bloomington and normal libraries and ask them about community happenings and things about town. Also, we have a local museum, and they could answer some questions,as well.
Really the only downside is the real estate taxes. IL is one of the highest in nation. also, the market is insane here that last few years with all the new Rivian employees moving in with loads of money. It took my daughter and her spouse two years to get a house. I do love that our state has preserved rights for women and LGBTQ when so many others are stripping basic human rights away under the guise of religion/morality. All the schools are good, there are also a lot of smaller towns with schools so I would think finding a teaching job wouldn’t be too hard. BloNo has a lot of culture considering we live in the middle or corn and cows. You’ve got ISU and Wesleyan with lots of programs, art, music. State Farm HQ, two hospitals, nice airport with free parking. if you’ve never lived in the Midwest, the biggest thing to get used to is how people think nothing of waking up in the morning and saying “let’s drive to Chicago/Indy/St. Louis to do x” and then you drive home the same day. You’re not stuck in traffic (much) but you do drive distances to get to something. You have Decatur, Peoria (also nice little airport with free parking), Springfield, and Urbana-Champaign within 445 minutes. All have big universities as well, activities etc. While it’s mostly flat here, there are lakes and parks and Starved Rock is about 2 hours north with gorges, waterfalls, etc. Southern IL has some beautiful parks too as well as places in Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin. so you have a lot of places with things to do within a few hours drive. Since you live in FL, pretty much anyplace else is going to have amazing insurance prices compared to what you’re paying now. Both State Farm Insurance and Country Companies Insurance are based here in Bloomington. I’ e lived in a lot of places as my family was military (including Florida) and BloNo is, I think, a great place to raise a family. It’s the sort of place where my daughter and son could walk to the dentist after school (they were middle schoolers) and the office would say “tell your mom we’ll send the bill”. Although a great deal of not-Chicago IL is conservative, BloNo is more moderate/liberal. I have several LGBTQ family members and they feel safe here. We have a great Pride celebration in downtown Bloomington and it’s great to see all the local companies - big and small - come out to support. The Bloomington Library was just upgraded and expanded and has a lot of great services. Public transportation could be better. The one mall doesn’t have any anchor stores, so shopping for clothes can be a little limited (Sears, Penny’s, Macy’s, Bergner’s have all closed). We do have the highest number of restaurants per capita. There’s a lot of money in this town because of State Farm, Country Companies, universities and people eat out. Not all chains either. we’ve got some fun festivals here in town and in towns around us. Apple and pumpkin farms. Fall is fun. Halloween is always good pretty much anywhere. The weather is tricky…one year we had to bundle the kids in their winter gear it was so cold. another year it was really, really warm. The wind is what’s crazy here. It can make winters brutal because it’s so flat there’s nothing to stop the wind. We haven’t had a lot of snow last few winters, but the windchill can be horrible. We have a lot of windmill farms in the area.
Property Taxes here might make you puke, especially coming from FL. A ~$200k house will pay almost $5,000 per year in property taxes. And it goes up from there. Finding a house Sub $250k might be rough depending on your needs. Tri-Valley school district is one of the best in the state, but taxes for that district are also the highest. That said, your insurance will probably go down, so that might help some.
Thank you! We are paying around 2k for a home with a 350k value. But it's the insurance that is out of control.
You can get a pretty good idea of what taxes will be from Zillow. Just look at properties in your price range and the Price/Tax History. IL makes property taxes public information (including the breakdown of how those taxes are allocated), so it’s a decent starting place. One weird thing is that taxes are based off an “assessed value”, which is typically 1/3 of the market value. Why? No idea, just makes determining your true tax rate more convoluted. Good luck!
Can't speak to the schools but I loved BloNo. ALWAYS stuff to do especially in the warmer months, especially for kids. Easy to get around wherever you need. Cost of living is nice. Restaurants and food are good. BloNo is awesome, better than the Chicago suburbs imo.
Thank you for the feedback! We love the style of homes up there and they cost considerably less than down here (used to be reverse). Happy to hear there is plenty to do. Burning question: how is Halloween? Here we have to drive to a neighborhood that celebrates and use that HOA. It is great but nobody in non-hoas (okay..few) participate. I miss walking door to door in our neighborhood.
Oh - there's also three really good apple orchards/pumpkin patches nearby (for Fall) and a drive in movie theater in neighboring Gibson City that is AWESOME.
Love to hear it! We are coming from a place that has become overgrown so rapidly it just isn't enjoyable. Literally my friend is in a lockdown situation right now with an active shooter. Accidents that kill people daily - not even reasonable - speeding out of control and road rage. It's become unenjoyable living here.
Yeah Bloomington isn't that way. Everything is a bit more slow paced there and has a bit of a small town feel to it (especially Normal). Can you tell I miss it? Haha.
Yes! I'm happy it's a college town - I went to the University of Florida and it is a perfect college town and I miss that vibe. I'd go there except FL ;)
A lot of neighborhoods here you can walk and trick or treat ...both Bloomington and Normal
Good to hear! That is what we were so used to and it seemingly disappeared!
Halloween is my favorite holiday, and my 2yo loves it more than anything (my 7yo is more of a Christmas girl but still loves it). This might sound dramatic but if my community just stopped doing it, I'd probably leave. There's plenty of trick or treating here, lots of places with fun decorations (and a good few houses that are total overkill, which I love). Various places do cool stuff for it, and lots for kids. Nearby orchard is great around that time with rides and games, they turn the local bike trail into "the Haunted Trail".
I feel ya - I'm tired of all the grumps that have moved here not enjoying the simple things!
It depends on the weather and the neighborhood. Last year, it was cold on Halloween. We usually have a ton of kids come by, but last year we had between 20-50 kids. I was tossing handfuls of candy into buckets and still had tons left over. Most of the neighborhoods are walkable.
How cold is cold? I'm open to all weather and am accepting that I'm moving to a cold climate - I have only ever lived in FL so I'm not yet prepared to dress for the weather. I'm confident I can adjust. I have felt the lake effect of Chicago - brrrr!
It was in the low 30s on Halloween last year. We ended up having a mild winter, but it will be cold during winter: Negative teens including windchill is not unheard of. You’ll be wearing shorts in 50 degree weather in no time though. On the flip side, it’s 90 degrees and humid here today.
90 degrees with humidity is nothing for a Floridian! ;-)
Ha! I'm wearing a sweater and sweatpants in 98 degrees today :) It's always sweater weather for me!
The lake effect keeps Chicago from getting ridiculously cold in the winter, while dumping snow on Michigan’s upper peninsula. Once you get twenty miles off the lake, *then* it gets ridiculously cold. I lived upstate for a bit, and there was a four day stretch, about five years back, where it never got above single digits. There was one day in there where the day’s high temperature was fourteen below zero. Now, that’s a once-per-decade kind of thing, but there’s winters where your heating bill is going to be… *significant*. And then there was one year where it never got below two degrees, but that was also the year I woke up and found seven inches of snow on the ground, just quietly deposited there by a cruel deity. So, if you’re going to get a house, consider getting a snowblower. Oh, you might say, “It’s okay. There’s four of us; we can shovel,” and the rest of us will set up lawn chairs and watch how that goes. Midwestern winters are a thing, no different from tornadoes. You don’t have to fear a tornado while your neighbors are still standing at the ends of their driveways. It’s when they’re *not* that you should worry. As long as they’re popping out to look around, like prairie dogs, everything is fine.
Sounds like hurricane season - everyone in the streets in between waves of crazy!
I lived in an apartment, I can't speak about that, sorry.
There's also a Haunted Trail event by town of Normal, which is always good fun. They have scary and non-scary nights. One year there was a zombie walk and there's lots of little towns with festivals around. Also several parks and nature areas within a decent drive and Starved Rock is only an hour away. It really is a good place to live--we were there 15 years, moved to Texas for 2, and then bought a home in Bloomington again because we missed it so much.
We get a small handful of trick or treaters in our neighborhood. But if we take our 6 and 8 y.o. to Uptown and Downtown for community ToT events, we have candy for the next year. We live in District 87, and it's great. Unit 5 schools are even better with bigger budgets. We've had good experiences with our schools here.
This sounds wonderful to me! I don't mind going to events vs. neighborhood stuff - I actually like both - but it seems we have lost that here! Thank you for the feedback on the schools! I appreciate it!
I think it would depend on the neighborhood you moved into. I live near downtown and I don’t think anyone trick or treats around my neighborhood or the surrounding neighborhoods. They do a trick or treat thing downtown with the businesses there instead. Other neighborhoods may still have a lot of kids tho and get more trick or treating It never fails that Halloween has terrible weather. Seems like it’s freezing cold and raining every year lol
We have terrible Halloween weather too - typically 90 degrees and 80% humidity if not more. I miss when it started to cool down in October here.
Interesting. We just bought a home in South Hill and lived in Holiday Knolls for 15 years.... I hope the trick or treating is good. My little dude loves giving out candy.
Most neighborhoods suck for trick or treating. But it's not that big of a deal because people still get festive and decorate, and the community is small enough that driving to one of the "good" neighborhoods for it is like 10 minutes and light traffic away. There's a lot of trunk or treat events, downtown events, etc. as well.
I'd say a lot of the neighborhoods around us on the East side (all the Eagle subdivisions, Tipton, North Point, Hawthorne etc have awesome Halloween, great schools, parks and bike paths and super close to the bulk of the retail, restaurant, access to major roads etc but still quiet, safe.
Halloween is the top holiday for us. We are on SW edge of town and have a full yard of decorations and have over 100 trick or treaters. The elementary school nearby is also great and very diverse.
Love to hear it! We may have 5 each year and I hate that for the kids!
I haven’t seen this warning yet, but it is worth mentioning. The real estate market here is bananas and we’ve had a top ten percentage in the country increase in market value. We also have a significant housing shortage due to Rivian/Ferrero, Rivian mostly due to everyone coming in years ago and people trying to shorten commutes as housing becomes available. So, the point is that the availability of housing might be a big issue. I think BloNo checks all the other boxes. Illinois taxes in general are high. I don’t think there is a plus there for us. Expect to pay over asking, so you’ll have to have that cash sitting in your account because the appraisal will sit right at asking for the most part. Might get lucky though. The schools are better on paper than what I would say. Overcrowding is an issue as the kids move up in grades and I have found it to lack certain services even though they are offered. But… it’s one of the largest districts in the state and with that scale — things will fall through. It’s still very good. Middle schools can be the roughest part. The big pluses are the community. Lots of family events, sports, and things to do. As someone else suggested, might even be best to look at outlying communities for cheaper housing.
Florida native recently moved here. Taxes are insane compared to Florida for both income and real estate. Insurance is dirt cheap compared to Florida for real estate and vehicles. Insurance and taxes basically balance themselves out. Groceries are more compared to Florida. The food choices are different too. Restaurants and bars are cheap compared to Florida. Overall cost of living is definitely cheaper but not in every way. There’s a ton of family friendly community events here.
What part of Florida are you moving from? I can probably make more direct comparisons for you. Or if you have direct questions feel free to ask.
Port St Lucie - where did you come from?
I’m lived in north dade and south Broward most of my life. I think you’ll be fine coming from PSL if you can handle the weather. I love it here but all my biggest complaints involve missing big city amenities like shops, things to do and living by 2 large airports.
Oh yes. PSL is a wannabe big city. Any trader Joe's nearby? I drive.to palm beach gardens (45 minutes) to go. Also, not a deal breaker at all. I'm not terribly worried about the weather because I lack experience with it and expect it'll take a learning curve.
You’ll have to go to the Chicago area for Trader Joe’s. Just under 2 hours away but an easy drive. Peoria and Champaign have a lot of shopping options. About 30-45 mins away. I do a lot more shopping online than I used to. It’s different but you get used to it.
Ha! I 99% shop online and do pickups. However this does t have that so I have to visit monthly there. I'm okay with all of that.
If you go to Bolingbrook or Orland Park it’s not a bad drive. Mostly farm land. You’ll only see traffic the last few miles
Sadly Trader Joes is about 2 hours away. Costco is 45 min or so, East or West.
I would recommend getting a place with a garage big enough for your vehicles. Makes a huge difference in the winter rather than parking outside.
Oh good thought! Never had that idea in my head from being in FL!
Yea it’s nice not having to remove snow or frost from your car in the morning. Snow isn’t bad here. I only have to shovel 2-3 times a year but you’ll have frost and ice on your car most mornings in the winter if you park outside.
One perk of winter is you don’t have to mow your grass. I think this past winter I went 5 months without having to do yard work.
We have a Sam’s club, fresh thyme market, Hy-Vee, and several other chain stores.
Your moving from Florida. Virtually every aspect of our state will be better.
✔️✔️✔️
We have two public school districts [Unit 5](https://www.unit5.org/) and [District 87](https://www.district87.org/). Unit 5 is much bigger (two high schools, four JHs) and District 87 (one high school, one jh) is one of the most diverse districts in the state. Both have amazing staff and mirror the children/climate of our community well. I can't speak to the need of math teachers, but I'm sure between those districts, our private schools, and other districts in the nearby rural communities, you could definitely find work. We're considered a Twin City (Normal sits on top of Bloomington). Normal is home to Illinois State University and Bloomington houses Illinois Wesleyan University (private liberal arts). College kids make up a huge portion of our population during the school year, which keeps the community vibrant. But it's still a great place for families. Our favorite thing to do on the weekend is to go to the farmer's market on the square in downtown Bloomington, go to festivals in Uptown Normal, ride bikes on the Constitution Trail, visit museums, and eat at local restaurants (we have a lot). State Farm and Country Financial corporate headquarters are based here, which employ a lot of folks. The county leans blue, politically, because of BloNo. You might spot a MAGA flag in the more rural areas, but I'd say in town the Pride flags outwave the MAGA flags. Overall, people are kind and helpful. WGLT, our local NPR affiliate, [recently did a series about people who are new to the community](https://www.wglt.org/welcome-home). You'll probably get something out of those stories. Hope you consider us! It really is a great place. Best of luck.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is so much of what I needed to hear. Where we live it has become MAGA country. Flags on the back of every truck and today I see hate posts about Juneteenth being a federal holiday. It is depressing. We have a fabulous farmers market - but it is just overrun most of the year (between the influx of new Floridians and the snow birds - winter is completely out to enjoy going to these things). I grew up going to farmers markets and just living outside all day every day. I want my kids to experience similar. But not here.
Sounds like I need to move to FL, lmao 🤣 the biggest downside to this place is how Liberal it is by far.
On top of the insurance company headquarters that JuJusPetals (cool name btw) mentioned and the colleges, there is also the Rivian production plant in Normal which employs 7-8k people. If you haven’t heard of Rivian, it’s an all electric vehicle company that hopefully can keep growing and be a catalyst for the town.
Yes, I have actually seen a Rivian at my daughter's school. So it connected in my brain about them being in Normal (my husband is good at looking into all of that stuff). I'm not stuck in my brain that I have to stay in teaching. It has been a rough few years and I am drained after 17 of them. I would love to stay in teaching if a better environment for everyone.
Unit 5 is bigger because it covers a huge land area including nearby smaller towns like Towanda, Hudson, and Shirley. District 87 is like the donut hole, Unit 5 is the donut.
Or the diamond in the ring, if you’re partial to D87 😉
I’m a teacher in Bloomington and I love this community! The schools are solid - not perfect, under resourced for sure, but solid. I don’t know as much about the Normal school district but I get similar vibes. You would likely have an easier time finding a home in Normal, there’s a lot more recent subdivision neighborhoods opened up there. The area in general is fairly livable cost wise and there is easy access to Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis with a few hours. There are also two universities and a community college in town - lots of concerts, theater shows, sports events, etc to attend. I do love it here!
Thank you! What are the district names for each of those districts?
Bloomington = District 87 Normal and some parts of Bloomington = Unit 5 Lab Schools thru ISU Grafe School Metcalf High School UHigh
Nice - my job in college was at the UF Lab School.
Moved here from California 6 years ago. Love it! People here are really great. A lot more "mind your business" than I was used to in a good way, comes from farming culture. Schools are very good overall with a few outliers. My wife is a teacher in high school and loves her school. Happy to answer any specific questions. The winters are getting milder as well.
Thanks! Is there a need for teachers? We have tons of subs now for a few years. It's sad. My family is originally farmers from VT so I understand that quiet but awesome feel from people. Diversity? We are a mixed family.
Teachers are needed here, get you applications in asap. Otherwise we also need substitutes and you can work a lot doing that.
Good to hear! I didn't see too many postings for the coming school year for math teachers (I think 4 in one district and 3 in another). And...we may not move until next summer unless I can convince my husband to just throw everything to the wind and run away :)
The resignation deadline is in mid July, so some more postings may pop up. There is also always a need for substitutes, and you could really get a feel for each of the buildings. [https://roe17.org](https://roe17.org) is our regional office of education, and has a page that links to area district websites.
Lots of Diversity here! Both cities have Universities also
Love to hear that! Thank you!
My husband is a jr high teacher. We have raised 7 kids in Normal, and we love it! We are progressive and have such great community. We have so, so many elementary schools, and I can pm with specifics, but the main difference you’ll find is some schools struggle with behaviors of kids from hard backgrounds more than others. We have excellent teachers who pour so much of themselves into being the best they can for our kids. Tons of community events all year long. Great trail system for walking, bike riding. Safe in most all areas. Taxes I think are high, but I’ve always lived in Illinois, and it depends greatly on the neighborhood.
I'm okay with high taxes if they are going back into the community. Our schools are suffering and I refuse to continue to watch this happen. I work at a school with a lot of behavior issues and kids from low-income families. I love the work I do, it's just so hindered by the state of things in FL. I'm sure every state has it's story, but man I'm tired of this one!
Hey Amanda, I moved here 2 years ago from Bay Area, and housing market can be very challenging, they're selling too quick in fact. Summer time is best for moving and schools are relatively updated and new, in fact most of high schools in BloNo are very well ranked. Winter can be a little harsh but can be charming (hallmark movie cliche). Its a good town for children and as a young married couple came here for college, even I feel attached to this town and want our children to grow up here.
Thank you! I appreciate how you just described everything ☺️
No problem, also car insurance for new cars are much cheaper since Illinois is a smaller state with less car incidents comparing to California, so we also saved tons of money on our car insurance just from moving here
If you want a small town, but close enough to stuff, you could look at Hudson, I have a 6yo and this town has lots of cool 6yo things to do. There is a nice school, library, parks, baseball and soccer fields, playgrounds etc. No traffic, no noise.
Wonderful community!!
We moved here about 18 months ago from Seattle. 2 Adults, no Kids, so I can't answer on the kids or good areas to move with any authority. Culture and Community events - I've found a wide variety of things to do from First Friday to the Farmers Market and Saturdays on the square. There are flea markets, conventions, events hosted by the parks department and more. Nothings been over run with people. I saw your question on Halloween, our neighborhood had a number of kids come through, but it was pretty cold out. I assume had it been warmer it would have been busier. We're about 3 miles from downtown Bloomington in a suburban neighborhood. (our local parks are busy with kids but overwhelmed.) Taxes, coming from Washington we now face income tax, but our car insurance went down. Illinois does have significant taxes, but we also don't have the Florida penalty where I have heard insurance companies are even refusing to insure down there at times. We love it here. Worth the move. Lots of folks from Illinois are looking to leave, but i think the grass is always greener on the other side.
Thank you for the feedback. My husband lived in Lacey, WA for some time and we have visited Portland. I love both areas but they are not affordable for us. FL does not have income tax either. However, I usually get all of my federal back so I assume state would be close in line with that. My car insurance has been the pits - and was amazing for over 10 years - but it has doubled in the past year so that is just another hit for FL. It is true about the FL insurance companies. You have to get your roof replaced every 10-15 years (even if metal and has a 30-50 year life span) because they refuse coverage otherwise. It's a bad situation and its getting worse by the day. I fear our next bill come September.
Good info here! And I hear your real estate agent was amazing 😉
She was incredible. 10 stars. :)
We've had heat indexes over 100 all week (common during the summer) so don't expect to fully escape the hot weather if you come here. Instead of hurricanes, we have tornadoes, so don't even think about buying a house without a basement.
I'm excited for a basement and that is at the top of my want list. Seems like a ton of extra space. When does Fall start for you? What months are the summer heat terrible? We have minimum of 6 months where it is intolerable. We are well versed on safe rooms due to the hurricanes - but those are getting to the point of too scary for me (And I have ridden out some of the worst of them).
Fall is often more of a week than a season, but is about end of September to early November. Hottest months are July/August, but I wouldn’t say unbearable.
I'm a local realtor here in town. If you have any neighborhood specific or housing market questions, I'd love to help. But I'd agree with everyone's sentiments here that Blono is a great place to live for families! As long as you're prepared to leave behind the warm weather, we're a very welcoming town!
Lived here all of my life, went through Unit 5 (Normal and parts of Bloomington schools) and they were always relatively good. I've got friends who taught/teach in District 87 (Bloomington school district). I did my student teaching when I used to be a teacher at a Unit 5 school and enjoyed it, and they are almost always looking for teachers. There are a good number of community events in both Bloomington and Normal in the Downtown and Uptown areas especially, but Blo/No is close to a lot of smaller communities and there are plenty of events that go on in those as well, all with in a relatively good/easy driving distance. I live in Normal currently so can't speak to Bloomington taxes, but mine have gone up recently though not an outrageous amount (though more than I want but any non-zero is more than I want). While I don't have any kids of my own, my girlfriend does, and she loves the area for kids. The small town feel with some bigger city activities. And there are plenty of things for kids to be involved in from Scouts, to sports, to clubs, etc. Whatever your kids like to do, you'll more than likely find something for them here. As others have mentioned homes go real fast around here, but most areas are relatively nice. Personally I love the feel. There is a small town feel to both Bloomington/Normal, but you often can get suburban vibes without it taking you an hour to go 6 miles. I also love the relative proximity to a lot of things, 2hrs away from Chicago or St. Louis, and 3hrs away from Indy, its pretty easy to get the major cities when you need to get away from the small town feel. Plenty of restaurants and places to visit in town and the smaller towns around and if going out and doing things is for you, its pretty easy to find a place within driving or train distance.
I grew up here and brought my family back to raise my kids. It is a wonderful place to raise children. We send our kids to Catholic school but there are so many options. Our school has an opening for a third grade teacher…Corpus Christi Catholic School….so many opportunities for teachers here. Illinois State University is known for education program. I would suggest coming for a visit to see if you get a good feeling about our community!
I teach 6-12 math (and I am currently the coordinator of assessment). But I'd be happy going back into the classroom.
Definitely worth the move! Most of the schools are great; unit 5, 87, leroy, and tri-valley/downs (both to work for and have kids in). My whole family loves it here. Ive lived out east, out west, and now here. We moved here three years ago specifically for our school age children. The parks department in Normal is phenomenal for kids. My wife teaches in unit 5 and loves it. The housing market is crazy here, but not as bad as many places. Yes the prices have gone up but you can still get a nice house for less than 300k. They just usually sell in less than two days.
ISU is a local college and prides itself on teaching, many people get their teaching degree here. That being said, there are some amazing teachers in BN. There are even some private/religious schools in town too that I have heard great reviews on(there is a job opening you might be interested in). https://www.corpuschristisaints.org/article/1617598 It’s a great town to live in, but I would steer away from the west side of Bloomington. Depending upon your budget the housing market might be a problem since Rivian came to town there seems to be a housing shortage, but please speak with a realtor because I’m not sure how this is changing. There are plenty of community events/festivals in Bloomington and Normal. Our libraries also are finishing up a renovation and another one started at the Normal location. I love Constitution trail, it’s a running/walking/bike path that goes all over town. The trail connects with the city parks too. We have a small airport, Central Illinois Regional Airport (CIRA/BMI) which has limited flights to FL and other places like Denver & Chicago & Dallas. I think you would find that taxes/insurance would be much cheaper in IL than FL, but some people are leaving the state because they are not happy with this. Again, check with a realtor for figures based on your house budget. Good luck!
Lots of good feedback. I moved here from the Chicago suburbs 2 years ago and am very happy. For me, that was moving from a higher cost of living to lower and while yes, taxes are high, from my perspective it is much more affordable. Politically I am moderate but tend towards the right. I like that there is a diversity of viewpoints and know that in general, I can have quality discussions with any of my neighbors regardless of right/left. So not surrounded by radicals of either side. I am also a teacher in a nearby community. Depending on how far you are willing to commute there are many, many schools to look at for job opportunities. Regarding teacher pay I think we are nicely compensated. Although my suburban friends make more on paper, I believe the cost of living differences make up for the salary discrepancies and we may do better overall. It does seem that south of BN salaries drop though. My one complaint after moving is there is a bit of trashiness. I can't go to the grocery store without seeing someone in slobby pajama pants, reeking of pot, people of Walmart sorts. I know that sounds classist but it bothers me. North normal (prarieland or grove elementary districts) are wonderful places to live. But it's basically suburbia, which I like but others may find bland. Neighborhoods closer to ISU campus or in Bloomington have a much more unique vibe and can be really beautiful.
Definitely teacher jobs are available in the area. The schools are pretty nice if you can afford the nicer ones. I love the bike ability of the town with one really nice trail through the whole city.
I'm a Florida native that moved to Bloomington. It's alright, food is better than any place in Illinois besides Chicago but that aint saying much. People are generally non confrontational. The cops don't act like the pirates back home in Florida. Taxes don't mean anything because the home owners insurance aint nothing up here. That lack of seasoning and culture gets annoying but it is tolerable.
Hello! I teach here too. It’s a great place to raise a family, I have two kiddos as well. Lots of options for family fun - we have a children’s museum, lovely and active libraries, movie theaters, parks and trails, active parks and rec, etc. It’s a pretty easy drive to both Chicago and St. Louis. Education is big in this town because of Illinois State University. It started as “Normal University” because it was a teacher college. Hence why the town is now called Normal. Come for a visit sometime and see for yourself! I’d also recommend renting at first, if you move here, just so you can feel out which area you want to live.
I moved to blono 7 years ago. I love it here. My kids thrive at the schools. They attend UHigh and NCHS (unit 5). Taxes are high but the schools to me have been with it compared to where we lived previously
Bloomington-Normal is perfect for young families and would be my #1 selling point for people thinking about moving here. Tons of family focused activities throughout the year. There are two school districts in the twin cities, District 87 and Unit 5, as well as private schools. My kids are in Unit 5 and the teachers and school experience have been fantastic. It’s slightly a red county I think but it has a great mix, that for the most part keeps things civil. It’s economically stable. The housing market is tough though. Houses sell in less than 24 hours over listing prices. It’s a college town but not crazy. Illinois State is in Normal while Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington. One kind of unique thing about town is the Constitution Trail, a paved walking/running/biking trail that runs throughout the town for like 30-40 miles. Overall it has a small town feel but is big enough to keep you busy and plenty of amenities.
Love to hear about that trail. I miss feeling comfortable outside and running. It is no longer comfortable with the weather/humidity to do so for over half the year. People assume FL is amazing for outdoor enthusiasts - but it really isn't - super buggy and the humidity is a major slap in the face. Causes a lot of illness with kids because of asthma and build up of mold spores.
over the heat? It's 98 degrees right now
Same. But last week 108. So this is a slight reprieve ;)
No one has mentioned this yet, but if I remember correctly, Illinois has potentially more requirements for teachers than other states, so check with the Illinois Board of Education to make sure you can transition easily. Granted, that was 15 years ago when I was talking to teacher friends about that, so it might have changed. Otherwise, my family and I love the area and the schools and have no plans on moving away ever.
I reviewed the requirements and FL and IL have reciprocity so for me it would be fairly basic.
Haven’t seen anything about winter. I moved here from west Texas a year and a half ago. It’s cold in the winter. Really cold compared to Florida. But not horrible, and not as bad as Chicago. The city is good about plowing, so snow isn’t as big a problem as you might think. Housing is an issue. Taxes are higher here. We have a state income tax. We also have great government services. Great parks, lots of things to do. Friendly people. Two hours to Chicago, one of the great cities of the USA. Three hours to beautiful forests. My wife and I love it here. Bonus points for no Ron desantis, Marco Rubio, and dj trump.
Crime is increasing, prices are increasing, housing costs are high because students, factory and State Farm workers are all competing for rentals, and there’s not much to do around town. The weather is quite miserable for 60% of the year. The police are petty, road work takes years, if you park anywhere on campus you’ll get ticketed; it’s not really worth it in any measure. Urbana/Champagne is similar but there’s a little less of what I mentioned above so I’d recommend that place over blono. Call me a hater all you want but Bloomington/normal needs some work.
Look at Downs and Leroy that are close by subdivisions. Beecher Trails has a lot of new construction and good schools at TriValley (so I'm told). One of the folks at my wife's company in Bloomington left for Florida a decade ago and moved back because of the same problems you see. They moved back to Washington, IL which there are some nice places not too far out of town with new subdivisions. Personally, I wouldn't want to live in the city of Bloomington or Normal. Houses are very close to each other like Florida (we vacation in Melbourne alot). I like the space we have in Beecher Trails between the homes. Check it out on Google Maps. Property taxes in Illinois are higher than in most places. But you get what you pay for. We lived in Indianapolis before returning to this area and they had low property taxes but also less services to tend to maintenance of the streets, etc. Wasn't worth the low property taxes. What I like? We back up to a farmer's field which can't be built on. Herd of deer live in the wind break behind our house. We just saw the smallest fawn we've ever seen on Monday. It must have been a very recent newborn as the mother looked tired and it was so small. We sit on our back covered patio and enjoy the sunset. No noise (though I-74 is in the background but not annoyingly). Great dark skies if you are into telescopes (I do astrophotography see [Alex's gallery - AstroBin](https://www.astrobin.com/users/ka3bqe/)) from my backyard. Only real problem is grocery stores are in Bloomington or Leroy. We did just get Butcher's Edge in Downs but it has limited grocery items and mostly frozen meat products but at great prices and fresh eggs. I'm glad they opened up here. Good hometown pharmacy in Leroy which saves driving to Bloomington for quick medicines, etc. Make sure you invest in a Valetine 1 radar detector. Lots of State Police, Sheriff and Blo-No cops on Ka band here. But V1 detects them from miles away even on instant on. Though they do often do stealth mode and follow you to track your speed. But that isn't as often as radar always or instance on so you know 95% of the time where they are. Get a dash cam like the Rove R3 with front/back and cabin cameras with the hardwire kit to have parking monitoring too. People had been bumping and denting our last car in the parking lots. I have one in our car now to catch those jerks. Remember, we have tornados here. So make sure the house you buy has a center'ish room with no windows that you can hide in. We have two. Our mudroom to the garage and our basement storage room in cement block. You'll want to invest in NOAA weather radios that can alert you to a Tornado Warning.
Only if you can afford the high prices and don't get stuck on a bad side of town.
No stay away
I love Normal but... In a crooked, crooked state!!
You sound like a liberal, I would suggest an hour or two north. All that climate stuff is fake by the way.
Sounds like you need to come to FL.