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We provide:
- General information on neighborhoods, suburbs, and commuting throughout the Chicago area
- Assistance finding properties to purchase or rent focusing on neighborhoods near campus: Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Kenwood, South Shore, and Woodlawn
- Consultations about housing options and the Chicago real estate market
- Short-term housing referrals for academic visitors
- Referrals to real estate agents, leasing agents, and local landlords
- Resources for first-time home buyers
- Assistance for academics looking for tenants during sabbatical leave
Neighborhoods
The University is located eight miles south of downtown Chicago. The campus is surrounded by spacious parks, Lake Michigan, and dynamic neighborhoods. We’ve highlighted the five neighborhoods adjacent to campus that many in our community call home.
Read Your Way Through the South Side
This reading list connects you to the history of the University and its surrounding neighborhoods:
- Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago's South Side by Lee Bey
- University of Chicago: A History by John Boyer
- Everywhere You Don't Belong by Gabriel Bump
- Move on Up by Aaron Cohen
- And All These Roads Be Luminous by Angela Jackson
- The City in a Garden by John Mark Hansen
- Never a City So Real: A Walk in Chicago by Alex Kotlowitz
- An Academic Life by Hanna Holborn Gray
- Chicago's Historic Hyde Park by Susan O’Connor Davis
- The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by
Eric Larson - Wild Hundreds by Nate Marshall
- The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America by Ethan Michaeli
- The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation by Natalie Moore
- High Rise Storie: Voices from Chicago Public Housing by Audrey Petty
- Painting the Gospel: Black Public Art and Religion in Chicago by Kimberly Pinder
- The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
- The Wall of Respect: Public Art and Black Liberation in 1960s Chicago by Rebecca Zorach
Learn more »Find Housing
Learn about private and University-owned housing options near campus and throughout Chicagoland.
Learn more »Relocation
The Office of Dual Careers and Faculty Relocation is available to work with academic families relocating to the Chicago area.
FAQs
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Can you help me find a real estate or rental agent?
Yes, contact our office so we can introduce you to an agent specializing in your preferred neighborhood.
Yes, the University manages several residential buildings for academics and staff.
Please contact us and we can share additional resources for finding housing within your budget.
Both the Metra Rail and CTA run trains and buses to Hyde Park at peak commuting hours. Downtown Chicago, Bronzeville, the South Loop, South Shore, and suburbs like Floosmoor are directly connected to Hyde Park without transferring between multiple buses and trains. Many other neighborhoods are easily accessible via public transit, but may require taking more than one form of transit.
Many University-affiliated people who live in Hyde Park, Kenwood, and Woodlawn walk or bike to work. Many families do not have cars or use cars minimally.
Hyde Park, Kenwood, and Woodlawn are all within a 25-minute walk of the University’s Main Quadrangles.
Yes, we can discuss different neighborhoods and suburbs and help you strategize a commute that works for your lifestyle. Also view this commuting information.
"Liv has helped our visiting professors and our new, full-time faculty find housing. She is extremely knowledgeable about Hyde Park, has a wealth of resources, and is quick to respond to faculty members’ inquiries. This office is valuable when recruiting faculty because potential candidates can get a better idea of the housing available in and around Hyde Park before they make the huge decision to accept a position at the Law School."