Wildwood-The Villages → Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Wildwood-The Villages to Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is less favorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 85.4 to 103.6 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent rises by $453/mo.
- +$13,324
- BLS median salary higher in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 210 to 277
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 17.8:1 to 14:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
- $1,752
- DOL infant care higher / yr in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
BEA Regional Price Parity, HUD Fair Market Rent, BLS OEWS, FBI UCR, NCES, and DOL. The table below lets you override the composite with your own priorities.
Pros of Moving
- + $13K higher median salary
- + Better student-teacher ratios
Cons of Moving
- - 18% higher cost of living
- - $453/mo more expensive rent (2BR)
- - Higher violent crime rate
- - More expensive childcare
Purchasing power tightens: BEA RPP rises from 85.4 to 103.6, so the same paycheck buys less in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin (ratio 1.21). HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent rises $453/mo ($5,436/yr) from $1,328 in Wildwood-The Villages to $1,781 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
Wildwood-The Villages still leads on 5 of 7 federal dimensions, the origin keeps the edge. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin sits #329 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (bottom third of the corpus). Wildwood-The Villages is #52/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Less Favorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $13,324 higher ($63,776 → $77,100). Labor-market size: 34,870 tracked jobs at origin vs 4,480,500 at destination.
State retirement friendliness is near-even: Florida 62 (C, #23/51) vs Illinois 58 (D, #31/51). Full state tax and healthcare sub-scores sit in the retirement desk below.
State retirement friendliness
Primary-state scores from PlainRelocate's retirement registry (tax + healthcare + climate composite). Metro pairs use each metro's primary state abbreviation.
- Income tax
- 100
- Property tax
- 67
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 12
- Income tax
- 95
- Property tax
- 46
- Estate tax
- 50
- Healthcare
- 46
Full retirement ranking · Source composite documented on methodology (Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides + federal healthcare/climate inputs).
Salary Adjustment Calculator
Enter your current salary in Wildwood-The Villages to see what you'd need to earn in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin to maintain the same purchasing power.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro profile · Livability rankings · Methodology
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA; retirement desk: Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides June 2026