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Did You Leave Chicago For New York? Tell Us Why

By Mae Rice in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 9, 2016 2:27PM

ChicagoFlagTowers.jpg
Photo via Marty Gabel on Flickr

Chicago's population isn't actually shrinking, but if you live here, you know a person—or, more likely, 20 people—who have left. People are always leaving Chicago for greener pastures, and New York is the most threateningly green pasture of them all: a city that's bigger than Chicago, with arguably better public transit and also Hamilton.

New York isn't the city Chicagoans leave for most often—that would be Champaign-Urbana—but still, it's the third-most common destination for Chicagoans abandoning ship. More than 6,000 people left Chicago for New York from 2009 to 2013, according to census data, and we want to know why. We know on a general level (jobs, money, Hamilton, people not realizing Big Star has breakfast tacos now), but we want specifics.

So: If you've left Chicago for New York, we want you to email us at tips@chicagoist.com. Use the subject line "Chicago vs. New York," and tell us the following:

* Your name and age
* When you moved to New York
* What prompted you to move to New York
* What's better about New York
* What you miss about Chicago
* Whether you regret the move

We'll publish the most scintillating responses in a post—and we have no doubt you guys are going to scintillate our faces off. The last time we asked for reader input, you did NOT let us down.