In many college towns the schools utterly dominate and everything you can do in town is driven by the school. The schools may offer a lot of sports/cultural activities but if you don’t want to hang on campus or tire of the college/student scene then you’re out of luck. Champaign-Urbana is big enough to offer you both worlds. The school has all the energy, sports, culture and education amenities a local could want or have access to but the towns of Champaign and Urbana each offer interesting downtowns with theaters, music venues and excellent restaurants, bars and cafes. For singles, couples and families who are not students this dual opportunity for social and cultural experiences is a big bonus. 

Mini-review from a local: *It’s a nice enough place to live, although as others have noted it lacks natural scenery. The university is a plus because it enables more dining and entertainment options than you would find in a non-college city of its size. It has a pretty fair regional Airport, Amtrak to Chicago, good interstate access and a friendly populace.*

Dual Worlds

The Best Thing About Champaign-Urbana?

The airport at Champaign-Urbana is pretty tiny, which means you’re going to have to drive a couple hours to Chicago or Indianapolis for bigger airport route options or puddle jump to a bigger airport before taking your direct flight. Big travelers will find this a pain. Also, if you want the best outdoor experiences locals will note you need to take a drive – at least 20-30 minutes to smaller local options and an hour plus to the state parks etc.. 

Check out a locals pov on the Willard local airport: *It’s the cost. Willard only serves commercial flights with an American Airlines affiliated regional airline. They currently only run flights to and from Chicago and Dallas. So that really only limits your flight options to OneWorld affiliated airlines and you will likely have a connection in Chicago anyway. The only cost effective way to fly in and out of Champaign is buying flights with airline miles, as that’s usually a set rate for any domestic flight. But really, it might not even be worth your time if the connection is greater than 3 hours anyway, so you can just take the bus from Chicago.*

The Drives

The Worst Thing About Champaign-Urbana?

As noted there is a lot of cultural activity around town, both on and off campus. The Krannert Center is the big performing arts event space on campus and offers free concerts, theater performances and speaking events. Classes are available for audit on campus and the library system in both towns are excellent. Both downtowns have excellent traditional american and ethnic food choices. There are theaters and music venues in each town, farmer’s markets and plenty of parks and city and neighborhood association activities throughout the year. Families enjoy those park systems, ball fields and excellent school systems that so frequently are found in college towns where professors and locals insist on great public schools for their kiddos. 

Check out the calendar of events for CU (Champaign-Urbana) to see what's going on over the course of a year: https://www.visitchampaigncounty.org/events/calendar-of-events


Lifestyle of Champaign-Urbana



Like a lot of college towns, the largest employer here is the university in particular and the education systems in general. Healthcare is also very typically #2. Champaign-Urbana, like some of the more robust economic college towns, particularly in the midwest, has some manufacturing, tech and finance employers and jobs. All of this means you’ll find a more robust economy here than other smaller options. One note of caution – you’re a couple hours from the larger cities of Chicago and Indianapolis so if working remotely is not an option then commuting won’t work if you move here and find yourself needing a job you can’t get in town. 


Workstyle of Champaign-Urbana

Champaign-Urbana is quite affordable relative to the bigger cities nearby and relative to other college towns in neighboring states like Ann Arbor or Columbus. Like those two competitors you get a great university experience but you also get an interesting, entertaining in-town experience separate from what the school has to offer. That makes the amazing college town experience quite reasonable. 


Why You Should Move Here Now?

The Downtown neighborhoods of Champaign and Urbana are both great options for young professionals and students. Champaign is much more intertwined with the campus experience, sports etc., so pick Champaign if experiencing the school first-hand is your goal for the move. Urbana is the more arts-centric town. The Krannert Performing Arts Center is here, along with an active music scene, the Japanese Gardens, and both student and local artists gravitate towards living here. 
- Downtown Champaign
- Downtown Urbana


Young Professionals/Students

Downtown (either)

If you favor historic neighborhoods with great walk scores to a commercial and business district then check out the East Urbana neighborhood in Urbana and the ‘In-Town/Downtown” neighborhood in Champaign. Filled with beautiful older homes and plenty of restaurants and shopping within walking distance from home. 

If you want more distance from downtowns and the school then check out the southwest/west and north sides of Champaign and the southeast side of Urbana. These neighborhoods are technically in the cities but they have a more suburban vibe with bigger yards, more bigger box shopping and safe streets and excellent public schools. 
- East Urbana
- In-Town/Downtown Champaign
- Southwest Champaign
- North Champaign
- Southeast Urbana


Families

East Urbana

Champaign-Urbana

**What's it like living in Champaign as a non-student?**

The downtown areas of Champaign and Urbana have developed a lot in the past decade and this area is becoming much more desirable for young professionals to stay here. There are quite a few nice bars and restaurants (a great BBQ option and a couple great Mexican places, among others), a few local breweries, and a lively crowd of grad students and young professionals.

Having a large university draws plenty of cultural events, music, etc., though usually smaller acts. But we do have a large arena for bigger concerts, and have major university sports. Also, the Krannert Center for the Performing arts is a world-class venue for a variety of musical and theater performances. Downtown Champaign also has the Art Theater, which shows some great films (classic, indie, foreign) and film series/events. Downtown Champaign also has the Virginia Theater which draws a variety of performances (e.g. Nick Offerman, ZZ Top recently), screens new and old films (e.g. Dunkirk in 70mm) and also hosts the annual Roger Ebert film festival.

C-U also has a few larger summer festivals, like the Urbana Sweet corn festival and other festivals in the surrounding area (county fairs, Illinois State Fair ~1hr drive, the Homer Soda Festival, etc.)

Check out this website of events in the area and websites like smilepolitely.com to get an idea of what goes on here.

Also, check out the wonderful contributions of our sub's MVP, u/queerdeviant who has posted weekly summaries of events, among other things.

**What's it like living in Champaign as a non-student?**

It's a good place to live. Tons of grad students, so not all middle aged families and undergrads. I'll be honest though, most activities in town do involve eating and drinking. If you like hiking, you'll be doing some driving. Kickapoo and Forest Glenn are pretty good, but are ~.5-1hr drive. For longer hikes, Shawnee, Mark Twain, Wyalusing, and Red River aren't super far. I've never felt the "need" to go up to Chicago, but have went up that way a few times for festivels and museums. Indianapolis and St Louis are also close by. A big plus to the area is the extremely low cost of living. It is super cheap to live here. Lastly, not sure where you are coming from in the south, but Chambana is extremely liberal/open minded. No one has ever asked me what church I go to.




**What's it like living in Champaign as a non-student?**

There's a ton of cultural activity available around town, both on and off campus. Both Champaign and Urbana have thriving little downtowns with great restaurants and bars that don't see a lot of students. There's always something going on somewhere in town, and while it's mostly family-friendly a lot of it isn't kid-oriented.

I'm an alum, but I'm no longer directly affiliated with the university, nor is my husband, and we still live here and enjoy it a lot.

In addition to the hiking options already mentioned, there's a really cool little park on a private estate in Monticello called Allerton, about 20-30 minutes outside of Champaign. It has multiple hiking trails around the estate featuring several very distinct and really neat gardens, with interesting statues scattered around the forested parts of the trails.

There's also a lot of geocaching in the area if you're looking for a different way to get outdoors and have fun exploring.

**What's it like living in Champaign as a non-student?**

I retired here, after a long career in New York City. I knew what I was choosing: a quieter, less stressful life, that is affordable. And that is exactly what I got. If I want world class city stuff, I go to Chicago for day trips, and then come home to cozy C-U. I love the cultural offerings at Krannert Center, the many free concerts through the University, I can audit classes on campus, and take OLLI courses too. For a population of about 150,000 there is a great variety of ethnic food choices, and I love the many different Asian restaurants in town. The public library systems in C-U are both excellent, and as a state resident, I have access to the university library system too. Traffic is nothing compared to any big city, there are no real traffic jams. And the people are nice: I've made friends with smart and pleasant people. Let's just say I love it here as a townie, and a big part of it is that it's a quintessential American college town...9.5 out of 10 for me :)

**5 Reasons Champaign Urbana Is A Great Place To Live**
Zoe gives you 5 reasons why Champaign-Urbana is a great place to live! 

**What is it like to live in Champaign, Illinois?**

When I went to grad school there I was married with two kids. My wife loved it so much she wanted me to find a job there after I graduated so we could stay there, although beside the Solo Cup Company and Kraft Foods plants, there wasn’t much opportunity for that.

I thought it was a wonderful school both academically and in terms of environment. My professors were generally very good and resources, particularly the library, were excellent.

Politically, the school brought in a fairly equal share of left and right student ideology. This will date me, but when I was there both Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale came to campus and spoke to students out on the green in 1984. I loved the political discussions that occurred, much more civil and enriching than what shows up on most campuses today.

The university brought in some great concerts and plays, as well as providing some great school performances and activities that were family-friendly for the kids. Several times, we took the kids to a great children’s museum in Indianapolis and up to Chicago for the sites (lake, zoo, museums, etc.). Both are about 2 hours away.

We lived in Savoy, just south of campus, in a cooperative. It was a great place for families including a place to have a huge, prolific garden. We never had to water it because it rained a couple of times a week, usually at night. The biggest challenge was keeping down the weeds. The complex was highly diverse with students and their families from all over the world. We used to have a periodic pot-luck out on the commons where we could sample each other’s native cuisine. We met many wonderful people from all over and some came to our home to teach us their recipes and traditions.

The land is flat, so I biked to school most of the time and it was pretty easy to get everywhere. There was also a bus that picked up students from there, so there was a good alternative in the winter.

Living costs were very reasonable, there were a couple of very inexpensive grocery stores in town. We could get great sweet corn at roadside stands and there were farmer’s markets and U-Pick It places nearby where you could get great fresh produce.

Summers were hot and muggy. Winters could be cold and windy. Not a ton of snow, but it could drift high due to the wind. It was cold enough that I created a little skating rink on our patio that entertained the kids most of the winter. Spring and Fall were very nice.

Kickapoo Park is a very nice nearby state park. We spent a fair bit of time there with the kids. They loved the water, enjoyed chasing frogs, and just being kids.

I have a nephew who went there to grad school as well and met his wife there. He quite enjoyed his program and experiences. He rented a house off campus that my brother bought for that purpose because houses were so inexpensive.

We have very fond memories of our time there.

Champaign-Urbana, Illinois

Chambana

Looklyloo Score: 82

We're on it!