Commute to Vernon Hills: Evanston vs Highland Park? (Arlington Heights, Libertyville: home, neighborhoods)

[itsdave]

I'm a 23 year old young professional and I've recently received a job offer in Vernon Hills. I'm finally moving out of my parents house, and looking for a cheap studio, and have settled on either Evanston or Highland Park.

My conflict with Evanston is that I'm thinking the commute to Vernon Hills would kinda suck. According to google maps it says 40 mins, but with snow/accidents I'm estimating probably around an hour.

The commute from Highland Park to Vernon Hills would be cut in half but it seems as if there is almost no nightlife there, and as a young person I'd like to go out to some bars once in a while or have friends come bar hopping.

Any input? Thanks everyone

[chet everett]

Libertyville would be both closer and have a heckuva lot more nightlife than Highland Park.

[reppin_the_847]

Libertyville's nightlife is better, but keep in mind Highwood has some nice little spots as well (just north of Highland Park). The nightlife in all of these burbs is nothing to really write home about. Heck, even Evanston's nightlife isn't ALL THAT. The biggest pro with Evanston is that you can easily take the El or Metra into the city at a whim. Cab drivers will not mind driving you home to Evanston late at night and the ride won't cost you $100 lol (maybe more like $25-$35). Since a lot of the cabbies live in far north city neighborhoods such as Edgewater & Rogers Park, Evanston's just slightly further for them to drop you off. Highland Park does have the Metra (as does Libertyville), but no El train unfortunately. This is a tough call. Obviously your lifestyle would be better in Evanston (more recreation nearby, younger scene, easier to date, much closer to the city), but that commute can get tiresome. I would weigh it out carefully and see what you value.

Originally Posted by chet everett

Libertyville would be both closer and have a heckuva lot more nightlife than Highland Park.

[itsdave]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

Libertyville's nightlife is better, but keep in mind Highwood has some nice little spots as well (just north of Highland Park). The nightlife in all of these burbs is nothing to really write home about. Heck, even Evanston's nightlife isn't ALL THAT. The biggest pro with Evanston is that you can easily take the El or Metra into the city at a whim. Cab drivers will not mind driving you home to Evanston late at night and the ride won't cost you $100 lol (maybe more like $25-$35). Since a lot of the cabbies live in far north city neighborhoods such as Edgewater & Rogers Park, Evanston's just slightly further for them to drop you off. Highland Park does have the Metra (as does Libertyville), but no El train unfortunately. This is a tough call. Obviously your lifestyle would be better in Evanston (more recreation nearby, younger scene, easier to date, much closer to the city), but that commute can get tiresome. I would weigh it out carefully and see what you value.

Yes, the biggest pro with Evanston is that I can take the El/Metra into the city. At my current job I'm already used to a 30 minute commute, so I don't think an extra 10 minutes would be that big of a deal. Has anyone commuted from Evanston to a north suburb? How is the I-94 commute?

On a side note, Highland Park seemed predominately caucasian. I couldn't count the minorities on one hand as I walked around Central ave for an hour. Think I'd like a bit more diversity as well.

[chet everett]

Highland Park is just so much older, even for folks that do have young kids the tendency for established families to stay put tends to make the street scene seem like lots more folks are close to retirement than in other towns nearby...

The commute to Vernon Hills from Evanston will be far longer than 30 minutes. Even if you are close to the Edens the shear distance and traffic volumes is unlikely to see you get to work in less the 45 minutes and getting home could take about an hour on average / good days. Days with traffic snarled by weather or collisions will see travel times soar.

It is all a trade-off. Personally I tend to advocate for being closer to work and trying to be someplace with a nice mix of options. Evanston does score well enough on the mix of younger people compared to other North Shore towns, but given the large number of younger people working in Lake Co I think you might be surprised at just how many folks do choose to either call Libertyville home or at least frequent its fairly nice nightspots...

[reppin_the_847]

I would also look into Arlington Heights if I were you. This town would also have better nightlife than Highland Park, and it's not a super long ride into the city. Libertyville, as Chet pointed out, has decent nightlife (for a suburb) and an amazingly simple commute to Vernon Hills. Evanston is ideal for your situation if you can stomach the commute, however.