Your nightlife thing is pretty weird. The Loop is Chicago's business district. It is dead after business hours. Don't be there. Wicker Park and Logan Square are neighborhoods, not single streets. There's also Lakeview, Avondale, Pilsen, Andersonville, and a bunch of others I'm forgetting. Maybe the argument is that together these neighborhoods constitute a pretty decent night-life, but it's hard to walk from Wicker Park to Andersonville if you want to start an evening eating tacos at the Big Star walkup and end it with beers at Hopleaf? That's fair, but that's what NYC is like too.
Compare that to London or Beijing where you feel safe at all time. Being a big city is not an excuse for feeling unsafe.
> Wicker Park and Logan Square are neighborhoods, not single streets
After one or two streets there is not much to see. Again I'm comparing this to european cities/asian cities where you can walk for hours in lively old centers/districts.
I'm not going to compare it to London or Beijing, but while I wouldn't move to Chicago from San Francisco to get away from crime, for most people, a move from SF to Chicago wouldn't be a move into significantly more crime either.
Yeah, I'm not sure why you're comparing to European/Asian cities here - I did qualify my recommend for Chicago only applies if you'd like to stay in the US. In my experience, the nightlife in Chicago is more diverse (with many more places and neighborhoods to go) than in San Francisco.
I'm making the reverse move at the moment, so I hope you're wrong :D but when it comes to nightlife aren't NYC, Boston, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Miami, etc. better?
NYC and LA, yes, of course (both are larger and more expensive). Maybe Miami? Miami seems like a metro area that specializes in nightlife. But Boston? Why would you think Boston was better in that regard? Move there and report back, please.
Your nightlife thing is pretty weird. The Loop is Chicago's business district. It is dead after business hours. Don't be there. Wicker Park and Logan Square are neighborhoods, not single streets. There's also Lakeview, Avondale, Pilsen, Andersonville, and a bunch of others I'm forgetting. Maybe the argument is that together these neighborhoods constitute a pretty decent night-life, but it's hard to walk from Wicker Park to Andersonville if you want to start an evening eating tacos at the Big Star walkup and end it with beers at Hopleaf? That's fair, but that's what NYC is like too.
It does get cold here!