17 Reasons Not to Move to Lake County, Illinois (Voted by the locals!)

Lake County Illinois can be seen as a good or bad place to live. There are many different reasons as to why Lake County might not be a good place to live.

Here are some especially negative things to consider, from a local, to think about when deciding if you should or should not move to Lake County Illinois.

17. College Options Are Bad

The college experience is important to consider when thinking about living or moving to a new city. The college options in Lake County, Illinois is saddening. Lake County has several 49+ Universities available to attend. Some include Northwestern and Lake Forest College. Lake Forest College averaged 26K after aid, and Northwestern averaged about the same. So, even if you received student aid, you would most likely have to take out student loans to pay for a tuition that large.

The options available are expensive, and honestly, not very challenging for the student. I attended a community college in Grayslake, Lake County, and I enjoyed my time there but thought the subjects taught were not as challenging as I wanted them to be.

If you’re planning on attending college in Lake County or having children who might, it’s important to note just how expensive the colleges are and the low level of challenging courses that are offered.

16. Decreasing Population Rates

The population of a County is an important factor to look into when deciding where to live. In Lake County, the population rates are decreasing drastically. In 2020, the numbers were at 714,342. Which seems like a pretty big number.

But, in 2022, the Lake County population dropped to 687,379. This means we dropped 26,963 people in just two years. If we lost that many people in two years, imagine what would happen in four, or five years. We are drastically losing people as the years go on.

High population rates lead to economic and business growth, improved demographic in our society, and the help in reducing unemployment rates.

It’s essential to factor in every element when choosing where to live. Population rates may not seem important on the surface, but if you dig deeper you can see just how important it is that the population of the city in which you live isn’t decreasing drastically.

15. Low Performing Schools

School’s in Illinois, and specifically Lake County, aren’t meeting the needs required by the state. It’s so important to live in a state and area that is doing what they need to do to be the best. As you decide where you live in the future or even now, you need to make sure the schools are top-notch.

If you ever want to start a family, teach, or be involved in the education system at all, you’ll want to make sure the schools are doing their part. Unfortunately, schools in Lake County are not. Even schools in Chicago generally just aren’t matching up to the expectations of schools in the nation.

This sad statistic is unfortunate but essential and detrimental to a child’s education if they are not receiving a proper and sufficient education.

14. Illinois’ Corrupt Politicians

A county’s political standing is extremely important and beneficial to pay attention to. Lake Counties politicians are sadly corrupt, and they continue to make decisions that are not best for the people.

Corruption is believed to be worse in Lake County than in Chicago, and that’s saying something. The corruption of political officers means that you can’t trust those who are in charge of making important decisions for you, your family, your community, and your businesses.

Trusting those who have influence over your lives is essential when choosing where to live and being happy. Consider the fact that Lake County’s politicians are not righteous in their actions.

13. Not a Lot of Change

Change can be scary, but it is essential in making goals, moving on, and being ultimately happy. Without change, we would always stay the same and never grow and develop. Lake County has been stuck in a sort of never changing environment that has been going on for years. The buildings, landscape, business, and the general society, just like to stay exactly where they are.

This can cause many negative results like a decrease in population, negative economic effects, etc. It would be very beneficial to consider just how detrimental staying stagnate is.

12. Flat Landscape and Nature is Limited

Lake County is a county that is part of the state where the landscape is flat, the nature is limited, and therefore the people aren’t as happy. Don’t get me wrong, Lake County has plenty of parks and lakes, but when it comes to the abundance of trees, beaches, and hills or mountains, Lake County is definitely lacking.

Nature makes people happy, and if nature is lacking, you might regret moving somewhere that doesn’t have a lot of it.

11. Too Much Food Can Be a Bad Thing

Hear me out. Food is great, but too much of it can cause your money to decrease and your unhealthy weight to increase. Lake County has some pretty dang good food. Deep dish Lou Malnati’s Pizza, Portillos Hot dogs (cheese fries, burgers, and milkshakes), and breakfast restaurants at every corner. These are some of my personal favorites, and I can tell you that I’ve wasted plenty of money on food like this.

You might be able to save yourself the pain of losing money and gaining unhealthy weight by not moving to Lake County, Illinois.

10. Horrible Traffic

Nobody likes traffic, especially in Lake County. In Lake County, there is an abundance of traffic. Traffic in both directions that doesn’t end for hours. This causes people to be late, appointments to be missed, and often even causes people to just not travel due to traffic. It’s horrible missing something important just because there are too many cars driving too slowly in the same direction as you.

If you like to get where you’re going on time and quickly, then I’d consider staying away from Lake County Illinois. Save yourself the two-hour traffic wait.

9. Rude People

You would hope that every human being in the world is kind, but, unfortunately, the people in Lake County aren’t always as nice as you think. I’ve come across many rude and unhappy people in Lake County, and I never enjoy it.

If you stay away from Lake County, you’re staying away from a plethora of unhappy, unkind people.

8. Unemployment Rates

Unemployment rates are a never-ending headache that affects more than just those who are unemployed. In Lake County, the unemployment rates have increased a horrible amount throughout the years. In 2021, the unemployment rate was at 3.8, but in 2022, the rate decreased to 4.9.

Unemployment rates could be caused by expensive housing and amenities, but it has massive negative effects as well. Decreasing employment rates can cause a reduction in our economy’s output, a decrease in open and running businesses, and therefore a decrease in population as people lose jobs.

The horrible effects of decreasing unemployment rates are clearly decreasing more and more as the years go on. This can negatively affect your life and I suggest you stay as far away as possible from Lake County and its unemployment rates.

7. Property Taxes

Property taxes can get really pricey, and in Lake County the property taxes are indeed quite expensive. The normal rate of taxes is around 1.08%. Now, get this. The property tax rate in Lake County Illinois is a whopping 2.16%. Meaning that the property tax rate in Lake County is higher.

This means that fewer people will buy houses, houses will then be more expensive, it will be more difficult to get loans, and in the end, this can cause serious financial issues. Ugh! Horrible right?

High property taxes are not fun and create stress in financial and in general life. If you want to pay property taxes that expensive, go for it! But if not, I’d suggest not living in Lake County Illinois.

6. Opinionated Political Standings

It completely depends on your political standing, but Lake County tends to be very opinionated with its political views. If you’re democratic, republican, or anything in between, all you want is to be accepted and understood. It might be somewhat hard to do that in Lake County due to its high opinionated liberals. You’ll find several other people that have different views other than liberal ones, but the majority will be liberal.

Growing up in a conservative family in a major liberal state, and county was very difficult. Our views were very different from all of our friends and our political views were often questioned and debated. So if you don’t like your views being judged constantly, I wouldn’t move to Lake County.

5. Bad Weather

Everyone has heard of the windy city, and Lake County is part of that, but probably worse. In Chicago, streets will tend to get plowed quickly and constantly. But suburbs like Lake County will take a long time to get plowed meaning that you might be stuck in your home.

When it’s not snowing, it’s either raining, humid, or never-ending heat. There seems to be no in-between when it comes to bad weather in Lake County. Sometimes, it will rain in December, snow in June, or be hot in February. There’s no telling just how bad the weather is going to be.

If you like spontaneous weather that never lets up and never calms down, then Lake County is not the place for you!

4. Segregated Communities

Diversity and equality are necessary to be happy and enjoy life. Lake County tends to not be diverse at all. There are certain parts of town that might seem like they are diverse, but once you look at the numbers, you might change your mind.

In Lake County, the population is 80.9% white, 7.5% Black or African American, 0.9% American Indian and Alaska Native alone, and 8.4% Asian. These amounts are saddening! The diversity is almost non-existent.

Diverse schools, neighborhoods, and jobs are so important when living life and teaching children about the world. If you live in a bubble that doesn’t have a lot of diversity, you won’t ever fully be able to understand the world around us. I’d suggest moving somewhere with more diversity and not Lake County.

3. Tourist Towns

Lake County is right by Chicago, meaning that you’re going to get a lot of tourists driving in and out of the city and driving right through Lake County to get to the city. This could mean that traffic increases drastically, lines at restaurants and events will be longer, and things will therefore cost more due to the demand increasing. Nobody wants to spend more money!

When choosing where to live, think long and hard about the location and what the causes of tourist towns, like those in Lake county, would be.

2. Crime Rates

Crime in Chicago is disheartening and increasing every day. It’s horrible how many people are dying and the amount of gang violence in the city. Unfortunately, the city is right next to Lake County, meaning that they will get a lot of cross-over as people move in and out of the city and into Lake County. The more crime there is, the less you want to move there, and sadly, it’s increasing in huge amounts.

You want to keep you and your family happy and safe, and moving to Lake County might hinder that goal. I’d seriously consider the negative effects that might be caused because of the crime rate if you move to Lake County.

1. Expensive Homes

Lastly, the extremely expensive cost of homes in Lake County is a huge reason not to move to Lake County, Illinois. The median listing home price for homes in Lake County is $350,000 and that’s just the median! This can then cause financial problems and issues with paying rent. Especially when it gets cold during the winter, keeping up with heating bills is almost impossible.

Keep in the back of your mind just how expensive having a home in Lake County would be if you decided to move there.