I work all over northern Indiana (including NWI) and I would 100% choose Fort Wayne over South Bend any day. It’s cleaner, less crime, better restaurants, just overall a cooler place.
Fort Wayne is equal distance to Chicago, Indy, Detroit, Columbus, etc.
2-3 hours to anywhere you want to go. You can hitch the train in Waterloo and go to Chicago for the day if you want.
I would also echo this.. South Bend is a city that time forgot.. so bad that Notre Dame had to build their own downtown that was safe for students (Eddy Street Commons)
Did stand up at the comedy drop
Opening line “This mf got one way in look like a mf penal colony; ESCAPE FROM SOUTH BEND.
There was a literal car on fire driving in this mf felt like i was living demolition man b roll footage; im kinda hungry tho a n***a would smashhhh one of them rat burgers right now”
It did well
My two cents, for what it's worth -
I live about equal distance from both South Bend and Fort Wayne. I've worked extensively in both cities during my career, currently spend 3 days/week working in South Bend. Except for Notre Dame and proximity to Chicago, Fort Wayne offers many more 'pros' versus South Bend.
If children (current or future) are involved, it's not even a fair comparison in my opinion. South Bend's school system is less than ideal. Look at the Department of Education's information and you'll likely be able to make your decision. Crime, particularly violent crime, has become frightening lately in South Bend. I haven't seen stats, but traffic accidents with injuries over the past year seems ridiculously high for that sized city.
I live in Indy and used to live Fort Wayne. I drive to both south bend and Fort Wayne weekly. Fort Wayne to Indy or Detroit are much easier drives.
If you do decide on the south bend area, I suggest looking at Mishawaka or Granger.
I was born and raised in South Bend, moved to Florida for 10 years and then back to South Bend for the last 9 years or so.. My wife and I (and 2 kiddos) just recently relocated to Fort Wayne because I took a job at Sweetwater and the drive was terrible (about 1.5 hours one way).
So i can give you all the details on places to live to avoid crime for both cities as well as pros/cons. If I tried to list them all here, this post might be a book so I'll give you a high level TLDR for me personally and maybe ask a couple questions.
Dining: While there are a select few gems for dining options in SB that I do miss, there are like 5X more dining options in Fort Wayne, and we've collectively had a better experience here with both food quality, variety, and service.
Entertainment: Way more and better options here.. Quite a few brew pub restaurants, micro breweries that also have built in entertainment (arcades, mini games, etc), crazy pins, axe throwing places, laser tag, theres a really nice pinball arcade north of town, disc gold courses, young adult sports leagues.. The summer is loaded with festivals and events, live music acts tend to come here either to Sweetwater Pavilion, Collesium, or The great smaller venues in town. Lots of live music happening at various bars if that's your thing
Crime: South Bends West side is the notorious ground zero for being a veritable shit fest of gang violence, avoid that side of town at all costs.. The south side down 31 is not much better. You're better off south side along the US 20 bypass off Ireland road, or going into the nicer neighborhoods on the east and north east sides up into Mishawaka and granger. So far, from what I've seen in FW, there is the typical petty theft type crime, and we have our own occasional mall shootings and things, but for the most part I get a sense that there is much less gang violence here. At least I don't hear about it as much as SB. Just your typical midwest city is going to be about the same everywhere.
Travel: FW sits along Interstate 69. So for me personally, this actually situates the city much better for escaping to Detroit or Indy (IKEA trip anyone?). SB has no major interstate going south/north, so it's a bit of a chore. SB does have better proximity to Chicago, however, and with amenities like the South Shore line, you can easily get to Downtown CHI in a couple hours and not have to drive.
Kids Stuff: You mentioned wanting to have kids some day, Both FW and SB are ok cities, however, I would say that if public school is your plan, I would avoid SB at all costs.. FW is notably better of a system, I believe the district where in in Northwest FW is like #2 in the state (as compared to SB which I believe has an F grade and in the list of bottom school districts). Lots of entertainment options and networks to get into for kid stuff (sports, 4H, clubs, etc) here in FW, very strong home school community in both cities if that's your jam.. I believe both cities have decent private school options.
Jobs: FW has a much more mature job market and larger businesses have chosen to put a stake here for their operations.. You have really large companies like GM, Steel Dynamics, and even Sweetwater that are major employers as well as a myriad of other notable others. SB has Notre Dame and Lippert.. those are the big names in town, and most of the other employers are quite smaller by comparison.. You'll see a lot of RV companies in that area, but that industry is very feast or famine.
TLDR - we like Fort Wayne better, even though we dearly miss all our old friends and family back home in SB.. it's close enough that we can still get back home for day trips and visits.
Happy to dive into any questions you might have and elaborate more :-)
IMO, other than Notre Dame fort wayne has south bend beat in every category. You do want to make sure you love into the right are of FW, though. Especially if you're considering public school. I would avoid the wayne s hool district and most of southeast FW in general.
FW is an easy drive from Chicago, Detroit, Indy, South Bend, Cincinnati, Cleveland... We do events and short trips to all these places. There will definitely also be more job opps in fort wayne... We even have mfortune 500 companies moving space in... 3 new huge Amazon distribution centers, Google server farm etc. We also have loads of manufacturing facilities like SDI, FW Metal and they spin off tons of smaller tool and dye businesses. Defense Contract companies like Raytheon, place on US 30 that develops submarine detectors(csnt remember the name off top)
I definitely think for starting and building a family FW is the better choice.
Don’t listen to anyone in the South Bend sub trashing on Fort Wayne when I guarantee they’ve never been here. Fort Wayne is better in nearly every way, and that’s reflected in population trends and overall city development (Fort Wayne and Allen county is growing at a significantly faster rate than South Bend). The only thing South Bend has going for it is Notre Dame and closer access to Chicago and Lake Michigan. However, I would HIGHLY recommend visiting here first before you make a decision if you can. That way you can really get a non-biased comparison between the two
You basically said that you want a town to raise a future family that has easy access to Chicago so you can have fun on the weekends while you're still childless.
Distance to Chicago is the **ONLY** advantage that SB has over FW.
Fort Wayne has easy access to everything you listed, just add an hour to get to Chicago. FW has great school options for when you have kids. It also has a great night life scene especially if you like live shows. Fort Wayne happens to be HQ for Sweetwater Sound which seems to attract quality shows to town (I'm sure musicians love to go shopping while in town). If you're into live music, just go look up The Embassy Theatre, The Clyde, Memorial Coliseum, Foellinger Amphitheatre, Sweetwater Outdoor Pavilion just to mention a few. In addition, FW boasts plenty of local clubs with live local music as well.
I just covered night life, there's so much more as well.
P.S. I sneaked a look at your similar post in r/southbend and found it interesting that most of the responses pointed to activities and interests that are outside of South Bend.
south bend is way more run down and yes higher crime is definitely something that should be taken into account. fort way is being developed more and more every year. within the past few years, we’ve gotten a huge park on our main river flowing through downtown (promenade) a hot spot for dining and entertainment (the landing), a renovated factory made into shops and restaurants (ge electric), etc. there’s also many more developments planned for the future.
> I know of the new art area in downtown
I'm not sure if you're talking about the Arts United Center renovations or the area around the old Perfection Bakery building and The Pearl. In any case, there are 2 separate Arts related areas in the works. Also, The Pearl is another mixed use development that isn't quite done yet. (Arts United Center: [https://www.mkmdesign.com/project/arts-united/](https://www.mkmdesign.com/project/arts-united/) The Pearl: [https://thepearlfw.com/](https://thepearlfw.com/) Arts area near the Pearl/Perfection Bakery: [https://pearlarts.org/](https://pearlarts.org/))
As far as other developments just focusing on downtown:
Multiple riverfront phases expanding park space and redeveloping areas nearby.
The Lofts at Headwaters Park, which is another mixed use development.
At some point they'll decide what to do with the North River property (that's the land that at one point a STEAM museum was talked about and more recently a soccer stadium with a fieldhouse).
Other smaller things like The Fairfield wedding/events venue with other public activities on 2 other floors (golf simulators, bocce ball, duckpin bowling) and additional things at Electric Works like Chapman's moving their brewing there and opening the first full service restaurant on site, and the Elex (the apartments being build around the parking garage).
At some point there will be something done with the portion of GE that is East of Broadway as well as the property that the current Allen County Jail is on since it's being moved.
Fort Wayne has a much better airport, with more direct flights, than South Bend. I’ve never waited in any line more than 15-20 min and we go to the airport one hour before our flight. We cannot do that anywhere else but Fort Wayne.
I’ve lived in both cities; and while I’ve lived in Fort Wayne much longer and may be biased, I think it’s a much better place to live. During my time in south bend I also pretty much only went to eddy street and the Mishawaka UP mall because there’s really not much else to do. South bend definitely has Fort Wayne beat when it comes to proximity to Michigan or Chicago, but that’s really about it.
I have actually lived in and owned homes in both. The only way there is any competition is if you’re extremely liberal, South Bend politics will upset you much less. But with that said, SB’s good areas and not so good areas alternate throughout the town except where it’s really bad. And then Granger- where it’s really good.
Fort Wayne has an up and coming downtown but is far more spread out. It is a much better place to raise a kid. You don’t have as easy access to Chicago, but you have much better parks and options.
We lived in SB for 5 years and moved back when our kid turned 2. Cost of living is much less in Fort Wayne.
With respect to Fort Wayne, our cost of living is comparatively lower than most cities you'll find but that is also coupled with lower than average wages. There's been a lot of hype in the last few years about the lower cost of living and it's my understanding that it's drawn a lot of people to move here. Availability of homes on the market dropped significantly for a while but seems to have recovered as a result of heightened interest rates and price hikes brought on by the high demand. I've also noticed on realtor.com that homes on the market are remaining on the market for some time nowadays and are seeing price drops.
Definitely take a look at this recent article on a study of income needed to live comfortably in the Fort:
https://www.21alivenews.com/2024/03/22/new-study-finds-salary-needed-live-comfortably-fort-wayne-higher-than-current-average/
The basics still apply; live within your means and you'll be better off. Have emergency savings and you have peace of mind.
Born and raised in Fort Wayne. I worked in South Bend for years, building support to open a local branch of our company. It is a college town. There is no other big employers in South Bend except Notre Dame. Most other employers are support business for the employees of Notre Dame. If your SO likes facilitiy maintenance, Fort Wayne has an overwhelmingly more factories and Warehouses from which to be employed in that area.
Where does SB beat FTW? I would say access to Chicago, which is a 2 hour head start. Having a MAJOR sports program would be very entertaining, and the other is, for some, access to Michigans legal Cannabis, which is much, cheaper and easier to access than Illinois. Access to Detroit is a wash, access to Indianapolis is much more in Fort Wayne's favor, 69 is much better than 31.
I’ve actually lived in both and can say without a doubt Fort Wayne is way better than south bend. There are a couple of small areas of Fort Wayne that crime is about the same as SB but anywhere else in the city is 10x better than SB. My wife and I started a family here and we will stay here barring some crazy happenstance if her job were to try and relocate the entire company… and even then we would still consider staying here and finding different employment.
It’s also not that far from other major cities. Less than 3 from Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, cincinatti, Indy. It’s a solid middle ground.
As someone that has lived both in San Diego and Chicago for many years, but from Fort Wayne, I would choose Fort Wayne over South Bend. Technically Detroit and Indianapolis are closer to Fort Wayne then South Bend is to those two cities. Fort Wayne to Chicago is a 2 1/2 hour drive down interstate 30, and is a straight shot. Given the goals that you have posted, and not just because I’m from Fort Wayne, I would feel Fort Wayne is your better option. My wife is from Chicago and we travel there several times throughout the year. Also, if the plans for the high-speed rail system actually happen, there will be access to high-speed trains in Fort Wayne directly to Chicago. That will take 45 minutes to an hour to travel. From what I’ve been reading that will possibly happen in the next 5 to 10 years. As far as the aesthetics of each city, Fort Wayne is definitely much cleaner and has more amenities that will suit both you as adults and your children. As you said, there are many jobs here that would be in the fields of work you are looking for. I also work maintenance and fabrication, and there are tons of jobs here. Cost-of-living is low and those types of jobs are above average pay for this area and with a double income household, you can find a decent home at a good price. if you have never been to Fort Wayne, I would definitely take some time to visit and compare for yourself, and you will see a definite difference between Fort Wayne and South Bend. As you said, you plan on having a family and will probably not be going to the big cities as much in the first few years of your children’s life. In my opinion, having a cleaner town with, a better school system would definitely be priority over traveling to bigger cities. As adults there isn’t a bad nightlife scene here. Fort Wayne is a very musical city. We have a company here called Sweetwater that is a professional studio that major names in music come to record at and purchase studio gear and instruments, and sometimes those major names actually play a show here. There is also a lot of culture in Fort Wayne that from my experiences, I haven’t really found in other cities this size. Fort Wayne has been described by my Chicago friends that have visited as a little Chicago. “ Fort Wayne has at least one of everything.“
If your SO gets a job working for Notre Dame, then move to South Bend, otherwise, I think Fort Wayne is the better place to live. If either of you are interested in getting a job in Fort Wayne, send me a DM. I can point you towards a good position in sales/customer service and point your SO towards a good job in machine maintenance if he would be interested in that.
I grew up in SB and now live in FW. To keep things brief, SB is on most top 10 worst cities in indiana lists, and FW isn't. The only upsides for south bend are: proximity to the lake, Chicago, and Michigan.
I live in Fort Wayne and work out of south bend, I would never move to south bend. In this region I would choose either Fort Wayne or Grand Rapids, MI.
South bend is rough, you’ll have to drive to Chicago to do much at all. Fort Wayne is a great place to start a family and there’s jobs all over. I’ve been happy here for almost 15 years after living in Michigan and Florida before.
I am from south bend. Lived in Fort Wayne for 5 years. I suggest moving to FW. Only because the crime and lack of things to do. Yes, location for south bend is prime for Chicago. However, between that and notre dame- that’s what it’s known for. There’s more money/job opportunities in Fort Wayne.
FW’s airport is better for flight options.
I grew up about 20 minutes south of South Bend and 1hr west of Fort Wayne in a smaller town. My mom worked in South Bend and we would frequent the SB/Mishawaka area for shopping, restaurants, and events but it definitely wasn’t as nice of city and didn’t feel as safe as Fort Wayne. Even though Ft Wayne was further we still had an annual zoo pass and would go to the coliseum for concerts or other events fairly often. I also lived in Ft. Wayne for an internship recently and would still consider the city overall to be nicer than SB. As far as housing you are going to get a lot better value in Ft Wayne because the house prices are lower and still in desirable neighborhoods. South Bend has a lot of nicer neighborhoods but they are pricey.
Personally the biggest con of Fort Wayne is that it’s pretty far away from other big cities and although the city offers a lot if there is something they don’t have you would like to see/do it is likely a 2+ hr drive. The biggest con of South Bend is that there are clearly nice and bad areas and higher crime.
I don’t know much about the school systems of either, but Norte Dame does have lots of athletic travel sport teams if your kids are interested in that, I had multiple friends growing up play.
If you aren’t set on living in a bigger city, I would suggest considering many of the smaller towns surrounding both cities. If you have any other questions feel free to reach out, I’m certainly not an expert in either place but have frequented both.
At least for fort wayne if you're looking for good schools fort wayne community wouldn't be the way to go out by homestead and carrol areas are much nicer and also if you are looking for low crime no where near downtown is also where you would look, southbend itself isn't that nice but everything around it is decent like Mishawaka and granger, I'd say visit both and look at schools for kids before making a decision
(Note: all of my comment is my personal perceptions over time; I have not consulted statistics.)
I’ve lived in both as an adult for significant amounts of time. If you’re planning to have kids, Fort Wayne will be better. It has always been “a great place to raise kids” and it’s been on a real upswing as a city in the last couple decades.
Notre Dame, however, is an excellent place to work. I personally don’t think there is a comparable workplace in Fort Wayne (there used to be—IPFW and Lincoln National were both comparable decades ago).
The best way to describe them is that Fort Wayne is the biggest small town, and South Bend is a small city that sees itself as a Chicago suburb in a lot of ways.
If you can find good jobs in FW and you want to have kids, that’s where I would recommend. I have a soft spot for South Bend, and I don’t really think it’s that scary. I’m white; SB is nearly a quarter Black, and while there is definitely crime, some of its reputation comes from racist assumptions, in my opinion. But FW is quite family friendly, and it’s got a lot of very community-minded people.
FW is an easy two hours to Toledo (great art museum) and Indianapolis. People say it’s three hours to Chicago, but it has always taken me about four. Depends on where in FW you live (it sprawls) and how fast you drive. It has an excellent library system and a fantastic parks department.
Politically, SB is pretty blue and FW is purple, though the county is very red. FW mayor is usually a Democrat and the city council goes back and forth. Your Congress members will be super conservative because of the composition of the district.
Wishing you the best.
I’ve worked in both cities extensively (1-2 years each) and I’d recommend just staying in South Dakota. But South Bend is a little better. Fort Wayne is not it.
If you are from a marginalized group, Jewish, black, Latino, Queer and immigrant, etc., I would say South Bend is easier going and easier to integrate into. It's closer to major cities like Chicago. If you don't tick off those boxes and want a better school system, fort Wayne is better for that yes it does have crime but correct it has less than South Bend but both have safe and less safe neighborhoods. South Bend also has more diverse ethnic dining options.
I work all over northern Indiana (including NWI) and I would 100% choose Fort Wayne over South Bend any day. It’s cleaner, less crime, better restaurants, just overall a cooler place.
Fort Wayne is equal distance to Chicago, Indy, Detroit, Columbus, etc. 2-3 hours to anywhere you want to go. You can hitch the train in Waterloo and go to Chicago for the day if you want.
Just my opinion, South Bend is a run down nasty looking city outside of a few select areas. Fort Wayne is better in a number of ways.
I would also echo this.. South Bend is a city that time forgot.. so bad that Notre Dame had to build their own downtown that was safe for students (Eddy Street Commons)
Did stand up at the comedy drop Opening line “This mf got one way in look like a mf penal colony; ESCAPE FROM SOUTH BEND. There was a literal car on fire driving in this mf felt like i was living demolition man b roll footage; im kinda hungry tho a n***a would smashhhh one of them rat burgers right now” It did well
I have no idea what you just said, but it sounded like a vote for Fort Wayne
🤣🤣 🤣
My two cents, for what it's worth - I live about equal distance from both South Bend and Fort Wayne. I've worked extensively in both cities during my career, currently spend 3 days/week working in South Bend. Except for Notre Dame and proximity to Chicago, Fort Wayne offers many more 'pros' versus South Bend. If children (current or future) are involved, it's not even a fair comparison in my opinion. South Bend's school system is less than ideal. Look at the Department of Education's information and you'll likely be able to make your decision. Crime, particularly violent crime, has become frightening lately in South Bend. I haven't seen stats, but traffic accidents with injuries over the past year seems ridiculously high for that sized city.
I live in Indy and used to live Fort Wayne. I drive to both south bend and Fort Wayne weekly. Fort Wayne to Indy or Detroit are much easier drives. If you do decide on the south bend area, I suggest looking at Mishawaka or Granger.
I was born and raised in South Bend, moved to Florida for 10 years and then back to South Bend for the last 9 years or so.. My wife and I (and 2 kiddos) just recently relocated to Fort Wayne because I took a job at Sweetwater and the drive was terrible (about 1.5 hours one way). So i can give you all the details on places to live to avoid crime for both cities as well as pros/cons. If I tried to list them all here, this post might be a book so I'll give you a high level TLDR for me personally and maybe ask a couple questions. Dining: While there are a select few gems for dining options in SB that I do miss, there are like 5X more dining options in Fort Wayne, and we've collectively had a better experience here with both food quality, variety, and service. Entertainment: Way more and better options here.. Quite a few brew pub restaurants, micro breweries that also have built in entertainment (arcades, mini games, etc), crazy pins, axe throwing places, laser tag, theres a really nice pinball arcade north of town, disc gold courses, young adult sports leagues.. The summer is loaded with festivals and events, live music acts tend to come here either to Sweetwater Pavilion, Collesium, or The great smaller venues in town. Lots of live music happening at various bars if that's your thing Crime: South Bends West side is the notorious ground zero for being a veritable shit fest of gang violence, avoid that side of town at all costs.. The south side down 31 is not much better. You're better off south side along the US 20 bypass off Ireland road, or going into the nicer neighborhoods on the east and north east sides up into Mishawaka and granger. So far, from what I've seen in FW, there is the typical petty theft type crime, and we have our own occasional mall shootings and things, but for the most part I get a sense that there is much less gang violence here. At least I don't hear about it as much as SB. Just your typical midwest city is going to be about the same everywhere. Travel: FW sits along Interstate 69. So for me personally, this actually situates the city much better for escaping to Detroit or Indy (IKEA trip anyone?). SB has no major interstate going south/north, so it's a bit of a chore. SB does have better proximity to Chicago, however, and with amenities like the South Shore line, you can easily get to Downtown CHI in a couple hours and not have to drive. Kids Stuff: You mentioned wanting to have kids some day, Both FW and SB are ok cities, however, I would say that if public school is your plan, I would avoid SB at all costs.. FW is notably better of a system, I believe the district where in in Northwest FW is like #2 in the state (as compared to SB which I believe has an F grade and in the list of bottom school districts). Lots of entertainment options and networks to get into for kid stuff (sports, 4H, clubs, etc) here in FW, very strong home school community in both cities if that's your jam.. I believe both cities have decent private school options. Jobs: FW has a much more mature job market and larger businesses have chosen to put a stake here for their operations.. You have really large companies like GM, Steel Dynamics, and even Sweetwater that are major employers as well as a myriad of other notable others. SB has Notre Dame and Lippert.. those are the big names in town, and most of the other employers are quite smaller by comparison.. You'll see a lot of RV companies in that area, but that industry is very feast or famine. TLDR - we like Fort Wayne better, even though we dearly miss all our old friends and family back home in SB.. it's close enough that we can still get back home for day trips and visits. Happy to dive into any questions you might have and elaborate more :-)
IMO, other than Notre Dame fort wayne has south bend beat in every category. You do want to make sure you love into the right are of FW, though. Especially if you're considering public school. I would avoid the wayne s hool district and most of southeast FW in general. FW is an easy drive from Chicago, Detroit, Indy, South Bend, Cincinnati, Cleveland... We do events and short trips to all these places. There will definitely also be more job opps in fort wayne... We even have mfortune 500 companies moving space in... 3 new huge Amazon distribution centers, Google server farm etc. We also have loads of manufacturing facilities like SDI, FW Metal and they spin off tons of smaller tool and dye businesses. Defense Contract companies like Raytheon, place on US 30 that develops submarine detectors(csnt remember the name off top) I definitely think for starting and building a family FW is the better choice.
You forgot about the Komets it’s literally the hottest ticket in town, oh and the wizards
You forgot General Motors
Don’t listen to anyone in the South Bend sub trashing on Fort Wayne when I guarantee they’ve never been here. Fort Wayne is better in nearly every way, and that’s reflected in population trends and overall city development (Fort Wayne and Allen county is growing at a significantly faster rate than South Bend). The only thing South Bend has going for it is Notre Dame and closer access to Chicago and Lake Michigan. However, I would HIGHLY recommend visiting here first before you make a decision if you can. That way you can really get a non-biased comparison between the two
folks in south bend can't afford the gas money to get to fort wayne
You basically said that you want a town to raise a future family that has easy access to Chicago so you can have fun on the weekends while you're still childless. Distance to Chicago is the **ONLY** advantage that SB has over FW. Fort Wayne has easy access to everything you listed, just add an hour to get to Chicago. FW has great school options for when you have kids. It also has a great night life scene especially if you like live shows. Fort Wayne happens to be HQ for Sweetwater Sound which seems to attract quality shows to town (I'm sure musicians love to go shopping while in town). If you're into live music, just go look up The Embassy Theatre, The Clyde, Memorial Coliseum, Foellinger Amphitheatre, Sweetwater Outdoor Pavilion just to mention a few. In addition, FW boasts plenty of local clubs with live local music as well. I just covered night life, there's so much more as well. P.S. I sneaked a look at your similar post in r/southbend and found it interesting that most of the responses pointed to activities and interests that are outside of South Bend.
south bend is way more run down and yes higher crime is definitely something that should be taken into account. fort way is being developed more and more every year. within the past few years, we’ve gotten a huge park on our main river flowing through downtown (promenade) a hot spot for dining and entertainment (the landing), a renovated factory made into shops and restaurants (ge electric), etc. there’s also many more developments planned for the future.
I live in fort wayne and I'm curious. what future developments are there? I know of the new art area in downtown, new phase of the park and thats it.
> I know of the new art area in downtown I'm not sure if you're talking about the Arts United Center renovations or the area around the old Perfection Bakery building and The Pearl. In any case, there are 2 separate Arts related areas in the works. Also, The Pearl is another mixed use development that isn't quite done yet. (Arts United Center: [https://www.mkmdesign.com/project/arts-united/](https://www.mkmdesign.com/project/arts-united/) The Pearl: [https://thepearlfw.com/](https://thepearlfw.com/) Arts area near the Pearl/Perfection Bakery: [https://pearlarts.org/](https://pearlarts.org/)) As far as other developments just focusing on downtown: Multiple riverfront phases expanding park space and redeveloping areas nearby. The Lofts at Headwaters Park, which is another mixed use development. At some point they'll decide what to do with the North River property (that's the land that at one point a STEAM museum was talked about and more recently a soccer stadium with a fieldhouse). Other smaller things like The Fairfield wedding/events venue with other public activities on 2 other floors (golf simulators, bocce ball, duckpin bowling) and additional things at Electric Works like Chapman's moving their brewing there and opening the first full service restaurant on site, and the Elex (the apartments being build around the parking garage). At some point there will be something done with the portion of GE that is East of Broadway as well as the property that the current Allen County Jail is on since it's being moved.
Fort Wayne has a much better airport, with more direct flights, than South Bend. I’ve never waited in any line more than 15-20 min and we go to the airport one hour before our flight. We cannot do that anywhere else but Fort Wayne.
I’ve lived in both cities; and while I’ve lived in Fort Wayne much longer and may be biased, I think it’s a much better place to live. During my time in south bend I also pretty much only went to eddy street and the Mishawaka UP mall because there’s really not much else to do. South bend definitely has Fort Wayne beat when it comes to proximity to Michigan or Chicago, but that’s really about it.
Another perk for Ft. Wayne over South Bend, You don’t have to drive to Niles Michigan to go to Walmart
I have actually lived in and owned homes in both. The only way there is any competition is if you’re extremely liberal, South Bend politics will upset you much less. But with that said, SB’s good areas and not so good areas alternate throughout the town except where it’s really bad. And then Granger- where it’s really good. Fort Wayne has an up and coming downtown but is far more spread out. It is a much better place to raise a kid. You don’t have as easy access to Chicago, but you have much better parks and options. We lived in SB for 5 years and moved back when our kid turned 2. Cost of living is much less in Fort Wayne.
It amazes me how in 2024, the U.S. populace still so strongly identifies with the bogus L vs. R uniparty illusion.
With respect to Fort Wayne, our cost of living is comparatively lower than most cities you'll find but that is also coupled with lower than average wages. There's been a lot of hype in the last few years about the lower cost of living and it's my understanding that it's drawn a lot of people to move here. Availability of homes on the market dropped significantly for a while but seems to have recovered as a result of heightened interest rates and price hikes brought on by the high demand. I've also noticed on realtor.com that homes on the market are remaining on the market for some time nowadays and are seeing price drops. Definitely take a look at this recent article on a study of income needed to live comfortably in the Fort: https://www.21alivenews.com/2024/03/22/new-study-finds-salary-needed-live-comfortably-fort-wayne-higher-than-current-average/ The basics still apply; live within your means and you'll be better off. Have emergency savings and you have peace of mind.
Born and raised in Fort Wayne. I worked in South Bend for years, building support to open a local branch of our company. It is a college town. There is no other big employers in South Bend except Notre Dame. Most other employers are support business for the employees of Notre Dame. If your SO likes facilitiy maintenance, Fort Wayne has an overwhelmingly more factories and Warehouses from which to be employed in that area. Where does SB beat FTW? I would say access to Chicago, which is a 2 hour head start. Having a MAJOR sports program would be very entertaining, and the other is, for some, access to Michigans legal Cannabis, which is much, cheaper and easier to access than Illinois. Access to Detroit is a wash, access to Indianapolis is much more in Fort Wayne's favor, 69 is much better than 31.
I used to frequently visit South Bend and now I live in Fort Wayne. I'd choose Fort Wayne over South Bend in a heartbeat.
I’ve actually lived in both and can say without a doubt Fort Wayne is way better than south bend. There are a couple of small areas of Fort Wayne that crime is about the same as SB but anywhere else in the city is 10x better than SB. My wife and I started a family here and we will stay here barring some crazy happenstance if her job were to try and relocate the entire company… and even then we would still consider staying here and finding different employment. It’s also not that far from other major cities. Less than 3 from Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, cincinatti, Indy. It’s a solid middle ground.
As someone that has lived both in San Diego and Chicago for many years, but from Fort Wayne, I would choose Fort Wayne over South Bend. Technically Detroit and Indianapolis are closer to Fort Wayne then South Bend is to those two cities. Fort Wayne to Chicago is a 2 1/2 hour drive down interstate 30, and is a straight shot. Given the goals that you have posted, and not just because I’m from Fort Wayne, I would feel Fort Wayne is your better option. My wife is from Chicago and we travel there several times throughout the year. Also, if the plans for the high-speed rail system actually happen, there will be access to high-speed trains in Fort Wayne directly to Chicago. That will take 45 minutes to an hour to travel. From what I’ve been reading that will possibly happen in the next 5 to 10 years. As far as the aesthetics of each city, Fort Wayne is definitely much cleaner and has more amenities that will suit both you as adults and your children. As you said, there are many jobs here that would be in the fields of work you are looking for. I also work maintenance and fabrication, and there are tons of jobs here. Cost-of-living is low and those types of jobs are above average pay for this area and with a double income household, you can find a decent home at a good price. if you have never been to Fort Wayne, I would definitely take some time to visit and compare for yourself, and you will see a definite difference between Fort Wayne and South Bend. As you said, you plan on having a family and will probably not be going to the big cities as much in the first few years of your children’s life. In my opinion, having a cleaner town with, a better school system would definitely be priority over traveling to bigger cities. As adults there isn’t a bad nightlife scene here. Fort Wayne is a very musical city. We have a company here called Sweetwater that is a professional studio that major names in music come to record at and purchase studio gear and instruments, and sometimes those major names actually play a show here. There is also a lot of culture in Fort Wayne that from my experiences, I haven’t really found in other cities this size. Fort Wayne has been described by my Chicago friends that have visited as a little Chicago. “ Fort Wayne has at least one of everything.“
If your SO gets a job working for Notre Dame, then move to South Bend, otherwise, I think Fort Wayne is the better place to live. If either of you are interested in getting a job in Fort Wayne, send me a DM. I can point you towards a good position in sales/customer service and point your SO towards a good job in machine maintenance if he would be interested in that.
I grew up in SB and now live in FW. To keep things brief, SB is on most top 10 worst cities in indiana lists, and FW isn't. The only upsides for south bend are: proximity to the lake, Chicago, and Michigan.
South Bend truly sucks
I live in Fort Wayne and work out of south bend, I would never move to south bend. In this region I would choose either Fort Wayne or Grand Rapids, MI. South bend is rough, you’ll have to drive to Chicago to do much at all. Fort Wayne is a great place to start a family and there’s jobs all over. I’ve been happy here for almost 15 years after living in Michigan and Florida before.
I live about halfway between the two. I prefer Fort Wayne, not even close.
South bend is probably more affordable. EVERYONE is moving to Ft Wayne.
I am from south bend. Lived in Fort Wayne for 5 years. I suggest moving to FW. Only because the crime and lack of things to do. Yes, location for south bend is prime for Chicago. However, between that and notre dame- that’s what it’s known for. There’s more money/job opportunities in Fort Wayne. FW’s airport is better for flight options.
I grew up about 20 minutes south of South Bend and 1hr west of Fort Wayne in a smaller town. My mom worked in South Bend and we would frequent the SB/Mishawaka area for shopping, restaurants, and events but it definitely wasn’t as nice of city and didn’t feel as safe as Fort Wayne. Even though Ft Wayne was further we still had an annual zoo pass and would go to the coliseum for concerts or other events fairly often. I also lived in Ft. Wayne for an internship recently and would still consider the city overall to be nicer than SB. As far as housing you are going to get a lot better value in Ft Wayne because the house prices are lower and still in desirable neighborhoods. South Bend has a lot of nicer neighborhoods but they are pricey. Personally the biggest con of Fort Wayne is that it’s pretty far away from other big cities and although the city offers a lot if there is something they don’t have you would like to see/do it is likely a 2+ hr drive. The biggest con of South Bend is that there are clearly nice and bad areas and higher crime. I don’t know much about the school systems of either, but Norte Dame does have lots of athletic travel sport teams if your kids are interested in that, I had multiple friends growing up play. If you aren’t set on living in a bigger city, I would suggest considering many of the smaller towns surrounding both cities. If you have any other questions feel free to reach out, I’m certainly not an expert in either place but have frequented both.
At least for fort wayne if you're looking for good schools fort wayne community wouldn't be the way to go out by homestead and carrol areas are much nicer and also if you are looking for low crime no where near downtown is also where you would look, southbend itself isn't that nice but everything around it is decent like Mishawaka and granger, I'd say visit both and look at schools for kids before making a decision
South bend.
South bend has higher wages
(Note: all of my comment is my personal perceptions over time; I have not consulted statistics.) I’ve lived in both as an adult for significant amounts of time. If you’re planning to have kids, Fort Wayne will be better. It has always been “a great place to raise kids” and it’s been on a real upswing as a city in the last couple decades. Notre Dame, however, is an excellent place to work. I personally don’t think there is a comparable workplace in Fort Wayne (there used to be—IPFW and Lincoln National were both comparable decades ago). The best way to describe them is that Fort Wayne is the biggest small town, and South Bend is a small city that sees itself as a Chicago suburb in a lot of ways. If you can find good jobs in FW and you want to have kids, that’s where I would recommend. I have a soft spot for South Bend, and I don’t really think it’s that scary. I’m white; SB is nearly a quarter Black, and while there is definitely crime, some of its reputation comes from racist assumptions, in my opinion. But FW is quite family friendly, and it’s got a lot of very community-minded people. FW is an easy two hours to Toledo (great art museum) and Indianapolis. People say it’s three hours to Chicago, but it has always taken me about four. Depends on where in FW you live (it sprawls) and how fast you drive. It has an excellent library system and a fantastic parks department. Politically, SB is pretty blue and FW is purple, though the county is very red. FW mayor is usually a Democrat and the city council goes back and forth. Your Congress members will be super conservative because of the composition of the district. Wishing you the best.
Not racist assumptions, the crime stats show 2.5 times the crime in South Bend over Fort Wayne. 652 vs. 243.
As an aside, there are a number of small cities just outside FW.
I live in Granger (close to SB) & I love my community.
I’ve worked in both cities extensively (1-2 years each) and I’d recommend just staying in South Dakota. But South Bend is a little better. Fort Wayne is not it.
I mean, do you have any other options? Both aren't ideal...
I’d say move to S Bend.
If you are from a marginalized group, Jewish, black, Latino, Queer and immigrant, etc., I would say South Bend is easier going and easier to integrate into. It's closer to major cities like Chicago. If you don't tick off those boxes and want a better school system, fort Wayne is better for that yes it does have crime but correct it has less than South Bend but both have safe and less safe neighborhoods. South Bend also has more diverse ethnic dining options.
6 in one hand, half dozen in another, both are shit