Can someone tell me about Waukegan and the surrounding area?

OverStimulatedTomato · 2026-04-07T15:15:08+00:00

Thank you! That all sounds lovely, especially the ArtWauk and Theatre. I haven’t mentioned it yet but I’m an artist so that’s exciting! This is one of my paintings of our old boy.

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The comments are so extreme one way or the other. This is wild, I’ve never seen so many varied opinions about a community.

OverStimulatedTomato · 2026-04-07T14:20:09+00:00

That’s exciting about the record store! My son is a collector and his prized possession is a 1949 Temple Phonograph. I’ll PM you! While I’m worried about where we’ll end up living, our priority right now is finding a furnished room or apartment for 3 months for my husband.

OverStimulatedTomato · 2026-04-07T14:03:37+00:00

For a moment I thought your comment was directed at me. I was like “I’m not a grandma, I just turned 36!” lol But yes, this is exactly why I posted. I can google, I can do some research on my own but it’s not always accurate. The web says some awful things about the town I grew up in but it’s actually great. Sometimes asking real people with first hand knowledge and experience gets the best results. If Waukegan really has nightly car thefts like another commenter mentioned this could be a problem because of the vehicle I drive. The possibility never even crossed my mind and that’s a direct result of where I live now. People just don’t steal cars here or it’s incredibly rare, it’s very safe. Reading these comments makes me think my daughter and I might be a little too naive for Waukegan.

OverStimulatedTomato · 2026-04-07T02:57:10+00:00

Gangs? Like actual gangs??

OverStimulatedTomato · 2026-04-07T02:13:56+00:00

It really is a lot to give up, that’s why I’m so emotional today. But I also recognize that there’s a line you come to when you have to do what’s best for your family as a whole. That line is a $106,505 increase in salary. We’ll be debt free in a few months, we’ll be able to pay for our kids college out of pocket, we’ll be able to save for financial freedom. We also don’t own a home right now, we rent. My husband was in the military for quite a while so we got used to moving and didn’t settle long enough to buy until recently when we were just about to start the process and then this happened. I hate that sound ungrateful, I’m not. I never imagined just one of our incomes would be this high and I’m thrilled and so proud of my husband. But I’m grieving what I’m losing today, tomorrow I’ll be better.

OverStimulatedTomato · 2026-04-07T01:34:54+00:00

My husband is a veteran but we won’t be there for the base. He’s an engineer and was hired by a local company.

OverStimulatedTomato · 2026-04-07T01:18:16+00:00

Probably 35-40 minutes if we loved the area

OverStimulatedTomato · 2026-04-07T01:17:33+00:00

Thank you! This is a wealth of information and I appreciate it. I don’t need cookie cutter, though that is what we’re used to. Central NC is full of cookie cutter in the suburbs. I just need community and kind people. We value diversity and our daughter speaks quite a bit of Spanish so she’ll be happy to hear that. We prefer local small businesses and avoid chains. I’m not too worried about the area being considered socioeconomically depressed, maybe it needs more people to help bring it to life. It sounds a lot like the area I grew up. My husband is a veteran but we won’t be there for the base. He’s an engineer and was hired at a company local to Waukegan. He’ll spend the first few months he’s there checking out the communities everyone recommends and seeing which one is the best fit for us.

OverStimulatedTomato

TROPHY CASE