What Chicago suburbs are nice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to live in Lake Forest. It is beautiful and lots of nice houses but it is very country club suburban (to use the words of another poster). I'd prefer Evanston or Oak Park as more urban suburban places. Oak Park would definitely be my pick. Much more historic and lovely but not snooty.

Prices are notably lower than in DC. Here's what you get for around $900,000 a few blocks from the center of Oak Park:

https://www.redfin.com/IL/Oak-Park/301-N-Elmwood-Ave-60302/home/13271453

[Anonymous]

I would second Arlington Heights- fantastic schools (D25 and Prospect or Hersey for high school in 214). OP could find a beautiful house walkable to downtown shops/restaurants and the Metra and also close to OLW or St. James if wanting Catholic elementary. St. Viator or Loyola are good options for high school. You get many of the north shore benefits without
the pressure of New Trier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Native Chicagoan here. I would never send my children to New Trier.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Native Chicagoan here. I would never send my children to New Trier.

+1000

Just curious why? Is it because it is so competitive? I grew up in a town that feeds into New Trier but went to Catholic School. At the time I had so desperately wanted to go to New Trier.

[Anonymous]

Go West my friend! Geneva or Glen Ellyn. Both have metra stops, both have very cute downtowns. You get a heck of a lot more for your money than in the Gleco/Winnetka/Oak Park areas. Great school too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Native Chicagoan here. I would never send my children to New Trier.

+1000

Just curious why? Is it because it is so competitive? I grew up in a town that feeds into New Trier but went to Catholic School. At the time I had so desperately wanted to go to New Trier.

New Trier is huge - something like 3000-4000 students - it's the side of a good size college. We looked at that area but felt our kids would get lost there so we went further north to Lake Forest which has about 1500-1700 students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go West my friend! Geneva or Glen Ellyn. Both have metra stops, both have very cute downtowns. You get a heck of a lot more for your money than in the Gleco/Winnetka/Oak Park areas. Great school too.

We loved Glen Ellyn! It's a bit further out but keep in mind how excellent the Metra is (suburban commuter train) - with their express service my commute to the Loop was just 35 minutes! Chicago is different from DC in that you don't necessarily need to live in an inner ring suburb to have a breezy commute.

[Anonymous]

I spent two years in Evanston and LOVED it. I wish I could find a similar place in the DC area - I think it's kind of a hybrid of Bethesda and Silver Spring, but on the lake and with a local University.

[Anonymous]

Clarendon Hills checks all of OPs boxes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I spent two years in Evanston and LOVED it. I wish I could find a similar place in the DC area - I think it's kind of a hybrid of Bethesda and Silver Spring, but on the lake and with a local University.

It’s notably better than the dump that is Silver Spring.

[Anonymous]

Lived in Oak Park for several years and loved it.

Pros:
- Semi-urban, higher density than most suburbs
- More racially and socio-economically diverse than most Chicago suburbs
- Good schools
- Amazing library, good parks, gymnastics center, pools, etc.
- Can take either L (Chicago Metro) or Metra (commuter line)

Cons:
- Not good if you like big backyards or low taxes

It's about a 25 minute drive to O'Hare without traffic depending on where you are in OP - I would always take surface streets.

[Anonymous]

Also - love the architecture in Oak Park. Lots of charm. Highest concentration of Frank Lloyd Wright homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised at a lot of the comments about New Trier here. I grew up in Wilmette and went to New Trier, and I get all the benefits and drawbacks of going to a school like that, but honestly the competitiveness, affluenza, preparation for the future, etc. are similar complaints and praises of other high performing suburban high schools in large metro areas. Bethesda, McLean, and North Arlington are honestly pretty similar. It's the sort of school that appeals to the sort of people who think that school districts with a great schools score of 10 are the only acceptable options. The academics are strong, especially the advanced offerings (APs/electives). There's a lot of pressure to succeed and get into great colleges (a nutty amount of pressure). Kids study a lot and load up on extracurriculars because the community has a really intense emphasis on education and success. It's easy to be a small fish in a big pond. Kids are affluent (with all the entitlement and lack of perspective that comes with that) and it isn't very diverse with regard to race or socioeconomic status. The towns that feed into NT are largely pretty nice places to live (Wilmette, Winnetka, Kennilworth, Northfield, Glencoe, and a bit of Glenview)--low crime, pretty housing stock, near the lake.

Some people will say "I was so prepared for life from going to new trier! In comparison Harvard was soooo easy!" Ok, maybe. I dunno, I went to a SLAC, and there are plenty of kids who come from schools with rigorous educations whether it is schools like New Trier (in Scarsdale NY, Palo Alto CA, Bethesda, MD, etc.), top tier magnet schools, or private schools. Actually selective colleges are overrepresented with kids who have educations from competitive places, so I don't know how much of a "leg up" you have. Others didn't have rigorous educations in high school, but make up for it with drive.

I would probably rather live in Evanston if I were to move back to Chicago because it has a little more of an urban feel and is more diverse. The schools are also good there, but the scores are lower because there is more socioeconomic and racial diversity. Some of the westerns suburbs are nice too, but I like having access to the lake.

Grew up in Glencoe and Wilmette. Though not for everyone, I echo these sentiments. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

If you work north of the city Lake Forest is ideal. It's on the lake and is very pretty with great schools. Housing prices never recovered from the recession and are basically flat with 20 years ago. It is a buyers market, except at the entry level, and sellers who bought at the high (2006) basically walk away without any of their original equity.

[Anonymous]

Inverness