Moving to a new city is stressful enough, but add to that trying to find a decent person to share a relatively small space—it’s enough to make a person just move into their parents’ basement and hibernate.
Have no fear! According to U.S. Census Data, roughly 25 percent of Chicago’s residents are between 20 and 39. That means a quarter of the city’s population is in their prime “roommate needing” years. With the average rent for a two-bedroom coming in at $1,900 and a one-bedroom at $1,500, you can save a pretty penny by splitting a two-bedroom apartment with a roommate. Plus, add to that the cable, internet, and utility bills you’d be sharing and the savings will add up quickly! Here are some tips and tricks to help you find a great roommate for your Chicago apartment.
Search Your Network
Before taking to Facebook or Instagram to announce to the world you’re moving, talk to your close network of friends and family. Do you have a cousin/brother’s best friend/aunt’s hairdresser’s daughter who lives in Chicago? If it’s someone who is roughly your age, they may have the inside scoop on who’s looking for a roommate.
If you already have a job lined up and know the HR Director at your new company, you could ask them about finding a good roommate. Be warned though, living with a co-worker can be a lot of fun but it can also lead to a potentially stressful working AND living situation. Your home should be your sanctuary, try to keep it that way!
Do Some Interviews
Sure, your friends and family might connect you with some awesome people who are looking for a roommate, but being a great friend and colleague doesn’t always translate to being the perfect roommate. You’ll want to make sure you do your due diligence and interview each person before agreeing to be roommates.
Sit down with each potential roommate and get some of the basics out of the way. Are they particular about certain things in their living situation? Do they have standards for how clean the apartment should be? Make sure you both align on your living situation priorities so you know it will be a good fit. Take the time to meet with people more than once; the more you meet with someone the better idea you will have of what that person is really like. Then, you can decide which neighborhood is right for you both.
Use Resources for Finding Roommates
When you’ve run out of options in your personal network, there are always online resources. Roomie Match is among the top-rated roommate finders in large cities. The basic service is free to use, but if they match you with a roommate you do have to pay a fee and $19.95 gets you a premium account for one year. The great thing about this service is that actual human beings (not computers with algorithms) screen all of the profiles and weed out any scammers.
On the other hand, Roomi has been called “Tinder for Roommates” because it’s about as easy to use as the app. Unlike Roomie Match, most of the burden falls to the renter. No humans are involved in making matches based on your profile—it is, however, a completely free service. Roomi also allows you to message prospective roommates without revealing your personal e-mail or contact info.
You may have to do some digging, but the Chicago Housing Subreddit can be good place to find other folks looking for housing. Be wary of scammers though—Reddit doesn’t screen its postings. Likewise, Craigslist Chicago is a decent, if a little outdated, option for finding a roommate in a pinch. Again though, beware of scammers and places that seem too good to be true. For instance, someone who posts that they’re looking for a roommate to share a spacious condo overlooking Lincoln Park for $900? It’s definitely too good to be true.
If you’re willing to take your roommate search public, you can of course post to social media, but the apps and services described above can take some of the legwork out of the process for you. In using your personal social network, there are certainly benefits in knowing (through of a friend of a friend, or a classmate’s sister, etc.)—who you’ll be living with.
For more tips and information, read our comprehensive Moving to Chicago guide.
This article was updated on 6/14/18.
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