<p>You do not need a car in Chicago as long as you choose your neighborhood with care. It's a lot like Boston that way.</p>
<p>In a true apples-to-apples comparison (size, amenities, view, location relative to downtown), my home in Chicago would cost, at a bare minimum, 4 times as much in NY. And that's insofar as condos like mine even exist at comparable locations in Manhattan, which for the most part they don't. Financially, we do indeed make out like bandits in Chicago.</p>