Which Chicago suburbs are the best? (Naperville, Elgin: to buy, good schools, place to live)

[Eugene Coetzee]

What is the best area to live in? Need help.

[nanannie]

Originally Posted by Eugene Coetzee

What is the best area to live in? Need help.

Depends on your price range, but there are no "bad'' areas of Barrington. I prefer not to live on a major busy road, but others dont seem to mind. All the schools, all the neighborhoods are nice. Do you have a specific location in Barrington that you are wondering about ? I know it very well if I can answer specific questions,You can PM me.

[Inspector General]

My wife and I moved to Chicago from Laguna Beach and Garden Grove 18 years ago. We lived in the City for 4 years and then moved to Elmhurst and have been quite happy for the past 14.

Will you love it here? That is up to you. If you have an attitude like Batman, you are likely to bum out. If you take a positive attitude, you will find this to be a great city by almost any standards (Except, of course, batman's standards).

Where you should live is also up to you. Your age, family status, finances, and a whole bunch of other things should be considered before you pick a city, village, or neighborhood. The way we did it worked great for us. We had a ball living in Chicago when we were younger. It gave us the chance to understand the city from the inside out. Chicago is the third largest city in the US, and I would argue the most livable of the top class. Living in Chicago will help you become more comfortable with its size. We now travel back into all parts of the city without fear.

I would start my search right in the middle!!

As far as smog goes, its not L.A. Not even close. Air quality can depend on where you live in the city. The prevailing winds are pretty predictable and we have no mountains to create an inversion layer.

The reason 18 million people live in Souther California has a great deal to do with the weather. I will warn you, the weather can suck here for weeks at a time. Like right now!!!! This is the worst part of the year. But there is a saying, if you don't like the weather in Chicago, wait a minute, it will change. Spring is close and the beauty of the change of seasons is something to behold. How you deal with the weather is all about attitude. Let it get to you and you will lose. Embrace it! Get out in it Get it all over you, and you will get along. And if, at the end of March, you get a little antsy, that is what O'hare is for (I hear So Cal is nice this time of year)!

Well I think you get the point. If you get embrace this place, the people and the weather, and you have a good attitude, you will love the Chicago area.

[Inspector General]

I am sorry, this got posted to the wrong spot. Good luck anyway and just replace Chicago with Barrington and Southern California with South Africa! lol

[Careless]

Originally Posted by batman

many of the suburbs of chicago are quite beautiful, but sadly, the hospitality in illinois is not good. basically, only the top notch popular/rich seem to be accepted into the community in illinois. chicago has a lot of smog, ozone, and pollution. very sadly, from my point of view it is very unlikely that you will fall in love with illinois, unless you are the type of person who likes to be disconnected from the community. schools in illinois, by the way, are very bad.

Hilarious that this was written to someone from Southern California.

[rd45IL]

I grew up in dupage county and loved it i am close to chicago have great schools and lower taxes than cook county. I belive the people of dupage county can get a little snoby it depends on where u live the people of naperville are just rude same goes to wheaton. I grew up in west chicago and dont recamend it but cities by me are good like Winfield, Carol Stream, Geneva, Warenville and Bartlett, are all great cities that are close to Chicago to have fun but far away to stay safe and another good part is the Western Sperings area i love the people there they are all pretty down to earth

[toolman0318]

If you are serious, I would suggest you look at Elgin. Elgin has many positives going for it.
We have a new $22M library in the downtown area. We also have a state of the art
Recreation 'Centre', that has free weights, machines, 3 pools plus classes for just about
everything you would want. We have the Hemmens Auditorium, also state of the art. There
are 3 Metra (train stations in town that take you rigt to downtown Chicago, not to mention 3
accesses to the I90 Tollway which also take you east to downtown Chicago or west and north
into Wisconsin. We have the Grand Victoria River Boat for fine dining and recreational
gambling. We have wonderful ethnic and American restaurants. Did you know Elgin has not
one, but two full service state of the art hospitals? We have little league ball fields on the
north end of town, the south end of town and the large sports complex on the west side of
town? We have the Trout Park Botanical gardens. Out of town guests can stay at any of the 5
plus motels? We have lots of neighborhood parks. And don't forget about the golf courses we
have in Elgin, and we also have to mention the Lord's park and the Wing Park facilities, both
with outdoor pools. The Randall Road corridor has shopping from discount retailers to
upscale retailers. There is more to offer here than a lot of the other suburbs. Our population
is about 100k with a small town feel. If you want more information or links to the local
newspaper (yes, we have our own newspaper!) city hall, or anything else, feel free to
message me here or at my alternate mail address: cocoasdad2@ameritech.net (cocoa is my
dog) House prices are less than the Geneva, Bartlett, Carol Stream Arlington Heights, Crystal Lake, Evanston, Wilmette areas. You can get a great home for 300k or less. Of course that means taxes are less also. Thanks, Toolman

[kaysev]

Sounds like you only have northern suburbanites posting. hmmm, some of them may never have been west of the Tri State. Ms. California, the northern suburbs are too expensive. Come out to Naperville and you will find everything from great housing to choose from, a thriving downtown with active nightlife, a beautiful riverwalk, almost no crime, good schools, on and on. I don't work for that town, I just live there, and I talk it up to everybody.

[thePR]

Originally Posted by wutoldme

Edison Park and Norwood Park should be avoided. Must send kids to a Catholic school if in the city though. Unless you go to a fresh magnet school, I'm just keepin it real.

Edison Park and Norwood Park are two of the best areas in Chicago! You even said Park Ridge was a good place and they all touch each other!

[Nysee53]

Glencoe and the other New Trier communities are the best. No competition, we are the best.