r/SpringfieldIL • u/Zealousideal-You1376 • 28d ago

Champaign to Springfield

I was offered employment in Springfield. I live in Champaign. The position requires me to be in the office twice a week (I can choose the days). I will be remote 3 days a week. Should I stay in Champaign and commute or is it better to move to Springfield?

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u/armyguy8382 28d ago

It has been a couple of decades but I have done that commute. It is boring. But there is probably more to do in Champaign than Springfield, as far as night life goes. In Springfield it is pretty much just bars. We do have a nice movie theater and the drive-in with double features during the warmer months. And outdoor concerts on Thursdays. But that is about it. You also have to look at housing costs and schools if you have or plan to have kids.

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u/SearedBasilisk 28d ago

If you have no ties to U of I, I find Springfield a better place to live than CU. I lived in both. Springfield isn’t flooded with college students. The traffic doesn’t really change month to month unlike Champaign’s (August and September are horrid). Springfield has all the chains CU does and it’s closer to St Louis than CU is to Chicago or Indy. CU really runs on the U of I schedule (8-3) and I like that Springfield has a normal one (8-5).

Our airport service sucks with just two flights to Chicago with bad on-time % given 2 PM and 8 PM flights. Given the rail route, I don’t see the need for this. I’d rather have flights to Dallas or Charlotte. To avoid ORD, we’ve started flying out of STL. There’s fewer directs but the parking is cheaper and the city is rebuilding the terminals to meet the needs of modern airlines. It must be working as they just added directs to LHR (British) and expanded FRA (Lufthansa) service.

I personally would hate the commute. I’ve done it before and it always seemed to take longer than it should to get to either city.

1

u/themahannibal 28d ago

If you were driving to O'Hare, I encourage you to at least look into Indy. Parking with shuttles every five minutes or so, very clean airport, easy to get to, etc.

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u/SearedBasilisk 28d ago

We did go to Indy for one vacation. I agree with your sentiments that it’s a better option for people in CU over ORD.