Looking for the right neighborhood in Chicago?

A lot of people your age are moving to Rogers Park. It's easy to have a dog there because the park is so accessible and apartments are getting to be dog friendly. It has the "artsie" feeling you want and it's close enough to DePaul (not UIC so much) but it is on the red line which might help. Andersonville would work, too.

Oak Park or Berwyn would work if you go to UIC.

Wicker Park, Pilsen, and Hyde Park are artsy, and have more coffee shops with style and flavor. Check them out. Rents will be a little lower than where you looked. Wicker Park is not far from De Paul and Pilsen is a bit South of UIC. Take your graduate studies at the University of Chicago and live in the neighborhood of the President and the development of the atom bomb....Hyde Park.

If you want diversity the city has got it but not in one area (the city is very segregated) But the closest place to your criteria is Bucktown and Logan Square on the near north side they're old Polish and Ukrainian neighborhoods with Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. But the area has been inundated with a mass of yuppies and artists in the past 10 years, and has a good number of coffee houses and bars (complete with drunk Irish patrons). the area is pretty safe but don't walk alone at night the north side is known for its rapists. On the near south side you have Bridgeport which is home base to the cities Irish population with a sizable Mexican minority and an admixture of Croatians, Lithuanians, Greeks and Poles. Bridgeport maintains its working class look but is relativity safe. parking is tight but manageable in these areas, i don't know of any dog parks in the city thought. Diversity in the city is a shaky issue in Chicago there are very few places where you'll find more than sizable populations of Blacks and Whites living together, the only ones i know is Hyde Park, south loop and Edgewater, although asians and whites coexist in many areas. As for rent rates i can't tell you because i don't know. Hope this helps.