Recommend a north shore burb for our new home (Chicago: low income, real estate)

[venturion]

We are moving from the dc area. My office will be in Northbrook. My wife may not work right away. Our priorities are:

1. Good public schools; our 2 kids are preschoolers now.
2. SFH 3+ bedrooms with lawn and garage. Open to buying or renting. Budget under $1M.
3. Good commute (less than 35 minutes) to and from Northbrook.
4. More urban setting including infrastructure (parks, playgrounds, etc.), grocery stores (trader joes, whole foods), higher walk score, diversity.


So far glenview seems to be a top target. We like what we hear about Evanston, though it may be too far. Other suburbs that we should consider? Thanks for any advice and let me know if we can provide more information.

[41mag]

any of the northshore burbs will do and in your price range you can go most anywhere you want, glencoe,wilmette,winnetka highland park,deerfield all have great schools and neighborhoods and they are all within 30 minutes or less from northbrook,depending on your social life any burbs along greenbay rd are nice with quaint shopping areas,nothbrook and glenview offer a little more variety but a greater population,also check out the real estate tax basis between lake county and cook county you'll be surprised at how much difference there may be

[linicx]

Chicago has 1000 neighborhoods and 6,000 restaurants. The 'suburbs' is about half as large. Chicago is in Cook County. It is nearly 1000 square miles. The US Bored of Labor and Speculation neatly lumps portions of Indiana and Wisconsin, plus counties that border Cook, and a county or two that are miles from its borders into a neat 10M person package called a "statistical area." The only 'burbs' that pay homage to Cook County are inside its borders. None other pays Cook County taxes. None is Camelot, and none is without its particular issues.

The following are samples of suburban communities.

One of the suburbs that comes to mind that meets your needs is

Oak Park is an urban 'burb that shares a common border with Chicago and regularly receives community awards from sources such as the Chicago Reader, American Planning Association, and CNN Money. It's green. it is walkable, and Trader Joe's is an anchor store in the new Oak Park Place apartments. Oak Park has 19 parks, a well regarded library with age appropriate children's programs, a large collection of 19th century homes, all forms of transit from bus to zipcar, hospital, upscale hotels, public and private schools. It is home to doctors, lawyers, fund managers, and other professionals. It is a home of many colors and many differences. Oak Parks tends to be liberal, and smaller with a population of between 55-60K

Naperville is 2.5 times larger than Oak Park with a large Indian and Asian population. You will find similar amenities here. It is a very upscale community with many amenities and well regarded schools.

Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles are smaller, very nice communities in the Fox River Valley I believe it is in Lake County. One of the Lake County communities has homes with 3 acre lots and allows a horse. Arlington Heights is a burb that has a very well regarded horse track and high dollar races. It too is a well regarded community.

Many of the North Shore burbs are primarily white, uber-conservative, very upscale with median family incomes of approaching or exceeding $500,000 annually. Generally, but not all, of these enclaves are considered the most exclusive communities in America.

I believe Trader Joe's is in 10-12 communities. Whole Foods may or may not be located in the same town. For instance TJ's is in Oak Park, but Whole Foods is next door in River Forest. Each has the elementary schools, but Oak Park and River Forest kids share one high school.

Evanston and Oak Park are often compared. Oak Park is not a university town. It has been said that Evanston is more expensive and more conservative than Oak Park. I have not lived in Chicago or its burbs since the Ice Age. If you search the forums here, use a search engine to find a general feel good overview of any suburb on a wiki, and thence use the 2010 Census QuckFacts to look at demographics and characteristics, you will find what you seek. Most Illinois high schools and communities also have websites. And most Illinois high schools are on the state's watch list for performance issues that do not meet state or federal standards.

[pvande55]

Originally Posted by venturion

We are moving from the dc area. My office will be in Northbrook. My wife may not work right away. Our priorities are:

1. Good public schools; our 2 kids are preschoolers now. Many options.
2. SFH 3+ bedrooms with lawn and garage. Open to buying or renting. Budget under $1M. Also many options
3. Good commute (less than 35 minutes) to and from Northbrook. Northbrook itself OK, Highland Park, Buffalo Grove, etc, etc.
4. More urban setting including infrastructure (parks, playgrounds, etc.), grocery stores (trader joes, whole foods), higher walk score, diversity. This pretty much narrows it down to Highland Park, Evanston, or Arlington Heights.


So far glenview seems to be a top target. We like what we hear about Evanston, though it may be too far. Other suburbs that we should consider? Thanks for any advice and let me know if we can provide more information.

Highland Park looks like the choice.

[chet everett]

Do you want to buy an existing home with 3 or more bedrooms and a lawn / garage for under $1M? That should be easy in any town. The minimal differences in having a Trader's Joes vs any of our increasingly common independant grocers is not going to be a factor. The "walk score" is something that I suspect if HIGHLY dependent on how silly you would feel trying to go to a grocery or dry cleaner with two pre-schoolers and either our current 90º+ heat or our equally miserable -10º winters. Even in the most walkable parts of Lincoln Park it make lots more sense to toss the kids into their car seats and just load frozen mango chunks or $3.99 wine bottles into the car...

I would not recommend trying to commute from any further south than Park Ridge to an office in Northbrook, Naperville makes no sense.

I don't know what sort of "diversity" you have a desire for but the north suburbs are mostly quite costly and the few areas with a large population of low income folks tend to have pretty miserable schools / poor housing options.

[cubssoxfan]

Lot's of choices. Northbrook, Northfield, Glenview, Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Deerfield, Riverwoods, Lincolnshire, Prospect Heights and parts of Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove.

[tj__r]

We're in the process of moving to northern suburbs. Considered Northbrook, Winnetka, Highland Park and ultimately rejected because of crowdedness of sub-$700K homes plus incessant traffic. Plus in that price range we'd be the po folks in the neighborhood.

We did have lots of flexibility in job location. In the end chose Wadsworth - Gurnee/Woodland/Antioch schools are plenty fine for most kids. For just a bit more money, could get into Old Mill Creek (Milburn schools) with multi acres, horse option, lots of nature, relatively light traffic around home. Maybe a bit longer than 30 minutes to Northbrook but it wouldn't be all dead in the water on city streets.

[cubssoxfan]

Nice area, perhaps over looked a bit. Depending on taxes, I would choose Hawthorn Woods or somewhere nearby as I doubt the commute would be much longer.