Work in Elgin - Live in St. Charles or Bartlett? (Chicago: buying a home, buying)

[moderngnome]

My DH is considering a job in Elgin.

We'd like great schools, and "affordable" housing - which for us, is in the $250,000-$350,000 range.

What are the main differences between St. Charles and Bartlett? Should we consider Elgin? What about Sleepy Hollow?

I'm not interested in Huntley.

Thanks for any thoughts/ideas!

[gardener34]

Schools in St. Charles are D-303 which is generally regarded as better... whatever that means. Elgin is U-46 which is the largest school district in the state and it does seem to have funding issues at times in the past.
St. Charles is in Kane county as opposed to Bartlett which I believe is in Cook. St. Charles to Elgin is highly driveable commute. St. Charles at your price range will get you a real nice home.
Although some of those new developments in the far west of Bartlett look pretty nice to me w/nice new schools they ahve built.
St. Charles area taxes arent' cheap but I hear people complaining Bartlett property taxes are high as well. Elgin may be cheaper property taxes?

[thndrcloud]

U-46 is the second largest district in the state after Chicago Public Schools. We are in the process of buying a home in Carol Stream but our kids will attend U-46 schools in Bartlett. U-46 as a district is not good. The schools in Elgin are rated very poorly and Streamwood is just slightly better. Bartlett High School, and the lower level schools that feed into it, are head and shoulders above the other schools in the district. If you're going to move into Bartlett make sure the kids will attend BHS because half the town ends up at South Elgin.

[sgresident]

I think you would want to stay out of the u46 district. try to look at a map of school districts and communities and see what you come up. st. charles is a nice place. you might also want to look in the burlington school district. it is west of elgin.

[noplacelike]

St Charles is a real town with a lot of character and right on the Fox River. Bartlett is a boring suburb with nothing of interest in it. Elgin has gangs. No contest between these three towns, as towns.

[Chicago0304]

My mom had to sell her house in U-46 because of major over-crowding with the schools, but that was a few years ago. I have no idea if they fixed the problem. Geneva is a GREAT school district... St. Charles overall is good, but I also have a friend there that wishes she had checked into the schools better. I think all of Geneva is great, St. Charles is hit or miss, but mostly good. Check out greatschools.net. You can see the test scores, teacher info, stats on students etc.

[moderngnome]

Thanks, Everyone! I appreciate all the responses!

[parmand]

I can agree with noplacelike. I grew up in Bartlett, family still lives there. If you're looking for a quiet place to live and dont mind going to other burbs to get to entertainment, go with Bartlett. BHS is a pretty decent school, I graduated from there several years ago. Does have overcrowding though.

St. Charles is a very classy area, honestly if you can swing it, I would probably suggest there. There is a lot more to do, they seem to have a better handle on the community (many more events and that sort). A close relative of mine is actually the president of the st. charles chamber of commerce, I'd like to say she does a very fine job, many businesses pop up there.

[gardener34]

Oh yeah it is also very popular to live in South Elgin (separate town from Elgin itself), many parts of that town are in D-303 district. Lots of subdivisions to choose from.

Also, watch St. Charles township, check the zoning with a call to the county zoning board before you buy to find out what you may be in for.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Chicago0304

My mom had to sell her house in U-46 because of major over-crowding with the schools, but that was a few years ago. I have no idea if they fixed the problem. Geneva is a GREAT school district... St. Charles overall is good, but I also have a friend there that wishes she had checked into the schools better. I think all of Geneva is great, St. Charles is hit or miss, but mostly good. Check out greatschools.net. You can see the test scores, teacher info, stats on students etc.

They just opened a new high school within the last few years (South Elgin). Bartlett is only about 10 years old as well.

Anyway, to the OP: Generally U-46 high schools are to be avoided, particularly Elgin, Larkin, and Streamwood. South Elgin and Bartlett high schools don't seem that bad. But St. Charles is generally considered a substantially better school district, so much so that the same house in the St. Charles school district will cost around $20K-$50K more than a comparable house in the U-46 district. But you should still be able to find something within your price range. I'd go STC all the way. I don't know what kind of facilities St. Charles North has, but St. Charles East has incredible facilities including a swimming pool, 2,000-seat theater, and an athletic field house as opposed to just a gym, though it has that too. Two of them, in fact. And aside from the school district issue, STC is simply the nicest town of the three by a pretty wide margin.