Chicago suburbs?

[Anonymous]

I'd eventually like to move to Chicago to be closer to my family and enjoy everything Chicago has to offer. Does anyone know of any suburbs with single family homes that offer a commute less than 35 miles from downtown Chicago (by train or car) with houses under 500k? We have kids that will attend public schools. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Glenview, Northbrook, Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, Northfield ALL have homes in the <500K range. The question is how big of a home do you want/need.

I'd recommend Glenview for the GBS school system because you could probably get more home for the money in this area. Especially, The Glen or west Glenview. I have lots of family who lives in Glenview and I love it, but they are all east of Waukegan just off Glenview Road (the best part to live in).

Wilmette, Winnetka and parts of Northfield feed into the unrivaled NTHS system. I think the NTHS system has better grade schools. I grew up in Wilmette and went to Central School/Highcrest/Wilmette Junior H.S., which I thought gave me an excellent education. I did not like New Trier and ended up going private. There are many great private high schools in the area- North Shore Country Day, Regina, Loyola, etc.

Evanston's high school, ETHS, can be a little dicey and it's three cafeterias are supposedly segregated--students of different races/ethnicities don't dine together. It is also a very large school and with a higher proportion of families at lower income levels. It is definitely the most diverse on the North Shore.

Personally, I think the North Shore area is the best to live in because there are two options for getting into the city, the Edens Expressway or Sheridan--->Lake Shore Drive. It is also the oldest neighborhood with great amenities and a strong family oriented atmosphere! Plus, the proximity to Lake Michigan is the best! Wonderful park district systems allow for excellent summer programs. I used to sail on Lake Michigan during the summer, what a blast!

[Anonymous]

Grew up in Skokie here.

[Anonymous]

I'm from Aurora, but wouldn't necessarily recommend the public schools there. Naperville however has fantastic publics schools and its easily accessible to metra. I've also lived in Streamwood / Schaumburg and while I don't know much about the schools its a nice area and also metra accessible. You could also consinder St. Charles (good schools!) and even live in Wayne, which has BEAUTIFUL homes altho they are probably out of the 500K range, and I believe your children can still attend St. Charles schools living in Wayne.

Good luck! FWIW I enjoyed growing up in the suburbs there.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Hyde Park (which has some good public schools, depending on what part of the neighborhood you are in, and the parochial schools in Chicago are pretty good, too) and would not consider living in any suburbs other than Evanston and Oak Park. I feel that if you are 35 minutes out your kids are not going to see much of the city. Since I have not lived in the area as an adult, I have no clue what the housing prices are like.

Where do you live in the DC area? That might help people give you comparable areas.

[Anonymous]

Oak Park/River Forest.

[Anonymous]

I was also going to mention Oak Park. It's not near the Lake though. But the homes there are so beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Mt. Prospect - you can live w/in blocks of the commuter train that goes into the city, and the schools are pretty good.

Naperville and St. Charles would make for a long commute. You could look at Elmhurst - home values have dropped there and it is much closer in w/ good schools.

[Anonymous]

Er, I would not agree that Wilmette/Winnetka are affordable (500K or under). You might have better luck in pockets of Highland Park or Highwood, both served by EXCELLENT public schools, almost on par with New Trier.

Naperville is fabulous but the commute is longer. Oak Park/River Forest is very nice, almost Mantua-ish in its highly educated citizens and strong sense of community.

I would also agree that Glenview is a good bet and a decent commute (I grew up in Northbrook).


I would certainly not rule out Evanston, just perform due diligence on school boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Oak Park is beautiful but it is so close to the very bad part of the west side I would be concerned about that. Even taking the metro (or whatever that train is called)into town has become dangerous with people being attacked on the trains.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks everyone. I was born in Chicago and haven't been there in years. My family lives a few hours outside of Chicago but will be much closer there than we are here (vs a 2 day drive now to see my family). I LOVE lake Michigan too. I love older homes and can't go anything above 500k when we do start looking (probably in a few years). Thanks for all the input, I'll continue to check out every place each person recommends!

[Anonymous]

OP here again. As far as home size, I'm realistic! Our home now is only 1200 sq ft. I would like our next house to be anywhere between 1200 and 1600 sq feet. Am I still be realistic here?!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Er, I would not agree that Wilmette/Winnetka are affordable (500K or under). You might have better luck in pockets of Highland Park or Highwood, both served by EXCELLENT public schools, almost on par with New Trier.

Naperville is fabulous but the commute is longer. Oak Park/River Forest is very nice, almost Mantua-ish in its highly educated citizens and strong sense of community.

I would also agree that Glenview is a good bet and a decent commute (I grew up in Northbrook).


I would certainly not rule out Evanston, just perform due diligence on school boundaries.

I know that you can find homes west of Greenbay or west of Skokie Blvd. (think the Glenview border) that are within that price range. Anything around Edens Plaza, too. I think that zip code is 60025. I know that it will be much harder to find stuff under 500K in 60091 but it is worth a shot! I know I am a bit biased but the BEST schools are in 60091, seriously. I wish I could move there!

I forgot, there is the area of Skokie (a smaller township) called "Skevanston" because the city boundaries are totally blurred with Evanston. The schools there are awesome, and they feed into ETHS but I believe the city services are both Evanston and Skokie, which is a bonus. The community is very tight knit and close to the Edens as well as Old Orchard Mall. It is basically along Golf Ave. between McCormick Blvd and Crawford Ave to the east and west, and Central St. to the north and Main or maybe Oakton to the south.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Hyde Park (which has some good public schools, depending on what part of the neighborhood you are in, and the parochial schools in Chicago are pretty good, too) and would not consider living in any suburbs other than Evanston and Oak Park. I feel that if you are 35 minutes out your kids are not going to see much of the city. Since I have not lived in the area as an adult, I have no clue what the housing prices are like.

Where do you live in the DC area? That might help people give you comparable areas.

I am also from Chicago and agree with this. I would never live in any other suburb other than Evanston or Oak Park. Both places are accessible by "L". Also, both have excellent public schools. I have a friend that teaches at Evanston high school.