Naperville IL vs. Elmhurst and Downers Grove (Warrenville, Riverside: low income, sales)

[green4kermi]

If you are looking for a middle class family home to rent and maybe looking to buy one day, what town do you pick. Naperville is three times the size as Elmhurst and Downers Grove but is that better? I want to live in Dupage County at least. I am open to other nice towns too but haven't started researching them yet. So what do you think?

[mobyhead]

I always heard Thornton was nice but you would have quite the commute.

[nanannie]

Originally Posted by green4kermi

If you are looking for a middle class family home to rent and maybe looking to buy one day, what town do you pick. Naperville is three times the size as Elmhurst and Downers Grove but is that better? I want to live in Dupage County at least. I am open to other nice towns too but haven't started researching them yet. So what do you think?

Three nice choices. I agree with you about question is bigger better ? I would choose a smaller burb and visit N'ville on occasion. Just toooo large and busy for me so
I like Elmhurst, I grew up there and still go regularly.
Nice schools, Parks,active 'downtown', easy metra to the city,great new library, lots of family activities all year, and very pretty hoods all walking distance to the above.
Downers is nice, not as familiar with it.
You can start your research by doing a "Search" for those towns on this forum..lots of info already posted. I think Naperville has a novel now.

[mobyhead]

Thanks Nan. Green4kermi is my sister. She's new at this forum thing. She will appreciate any advice for sure. I can't help much as I am in Indy.

[chet everett]

If you want to get down to the block-by-block pluses and minuses of each town I think that an argument could be made for each. In some ways the nicest areas in each town are very similar -- while DG does not have campus area like either Elmhurat or Naperville to "anchor" is high end distict the unique setting of Denburn Woods / Avery Coonley serves a similar purpose -- a little slice of visual history that is unlikely to ever shift from "highly desirable".

The low end of each town is not real bad either, the schools do not have too many worrisome trends, mostly becuas none of the towns have massive low income rentals / transient famiies.

If you like the sort of mix of local and national merchants in Naperville that is hard to match anywhere in the region.

Elmhurst has the edge in museums / cultural opportunities.

DG has best train service and tights range of incomes.

Can't really go wrong with any of em!

[acdevane]

Maybe looking at the rental inventory in each town will help you decide. Buying should be easy in any town, but what's available for rent, may make the difference for you.

[Lookout Kid]

You can get slightly more for your money in Downers Grove, particularly if you are looking in the walkable areas near downtown and the Metra. That's one factor that has us considering DG over the other two.

[chet everett]

The shear volume of traffic in Naperville pushes the residential portion into a "tighter" pocket. Similarly, Elmhurst's underpass is a "scar" that divides it's downtown into several non- pedestrian friendly quadrants.

Downers done have some pluses on layout, but the downside, especially to the viability of businesses in the core, is equally apparent.


The same thing can be said for other towns along the BNSF, with the notable of exception of heavy traffic along LaGrange Rd all the downtowns from Riverside upto Naperville are pretty sleepy. Most residents like that, though the governmental types crave higher sales tax revenues. You cannot get both high sales tax revenue and low traffic volumes unless you sell uncut diamonds at retail and I don't think DuPage Co is going to become Antrwep anytime soon...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Downers done have some pluses on layout, but the downside, especially to the viability of businesses in the core, is equally apparent.

Downers and Elmhurst have some real similarities near their downtown Metra stops. There's a similar feel. Elmhurst's downtown does have the strange York Road underpass carving it up as you say, but it also seems to be larger with more offerings. The rennovated movie theater in downtown Elmhurst is certainly a plus! But in terms of older homes, Elmhursts nicest older homes are south of the tracks, and in Downers they are north of the tracks (with the area northwest of the Main Street Metra stop being quite idyllic with some brick paved streets and a small pond). And the nice older part of Elmhurst has some truly grand homes on large lots, including at least one Frank Lloyd Wright mansion. For the most part, it seems to me that the housing stock in Elmhurst is a bit more upscale on average compared to the housing stock in Downers Grove... Though both suburbs offer a range of options and price points.

[namomof3]

I'd include Warrenville (nice foresty/park feel), Boilingbrook (lots of goings on, with a variety of home styles) in that same mix!