relocating from East Coast- to Argonne area (Chicago, Naperville: real estate, apartments)

[kathrina]

I've been reading a lot of posts and have learned a lot. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge. My husband and I are potentially relocation to the Argonne area. We've heard that Naperville is the place to live, but the more research I've done it seems to be very wealthy and has an intense school system. No kids yet, but we'd like to have a family soon so school districts would be important. Here's what we would be looking for: safe, pleasant place to live (not a "rich" area), good schools that kids will get a good education but not an ulcer attending, a variety of community activities, close to a Catholic church and some level of hispanic community. I know that I listed a lot of requests, but it was worth a shot!

[Steve-o]

How much can you spend on a house/rent? That'd be the first question Ill ask ya.

[kathrina]

tentatively $1,000-$1,600 a month

[chet everett]

Plenty of Argonne employees live directly north of the lab in the towns served by the Hinsdale District 86 schools, both Central, which covers Hinsdale itself, Clarendon Hills, and parts of Burr Ridge, Westmont, and Willow Brook. South covers Darien and parts of other towns nearby. Prices in the Central district are dominated by homes well over $500K, though with shopping you can find quite a variety.

To the south of the lab the major school district is Lemont, again many lab employees live there. Among the admin staff longer commutes from places like Shorewood, Lockport, Bolingbrook and Plainfield are not uncommon.

My wife worked at Argonne and I cannot recall a single employee, admin, tech, or researcher that lived in Naperville. In comparison to the in-town portion of Hinsdale, Naperville is far less affulent. The unincorporated portion of DuPage with Hinsdale mailing addresses near the Lab are probably more affordable than Naperville.

As to Hispanic community -- you really have to clarify what it is you might be looking for. If you are coming from Miami you won't find anything like the Cuban community there up here. If you are coming from parts of California with a large upper middle class Hispanic community that is not as uncommon in Illinois, but it is far less visible and not much like that will be found in south eastern DuPage near the Lab. There are some well educated successful Hispanics well integrated into all the towns, but there is no real clustering near s.e. DuPage. While pretty much all of the region is "safe" I think that you have to clarify what your definition of "rich" might be. Near my home there are many homes that have sold for over $1M, but I know the local churches (both Catholic and others) have extensive food pantries and other assistance for which there is no lack of need. In towns like Westmont there have been successful Habit for Humanity efforts AND homes on the market for over $1M. There is a surprising amount of income diversity if you care to look for it. The same is true to some extent for all towns, including Hinsdale. People with modest incomes can find bargain homes to fix u or that can afford the rents do find apartments and rental homes. Their children have access to some of the best schools in the region. It is a major driver of real estate.

The whole area has MANY thriving Catholic parishes and I am sure that if you were to settle in nearly any one you would not be the lone Hispanic family, but again in s.e. DuPage there is not a parish that you would be "majority" if that is important to you...

[aragx6]

Argonne employees live all over the suburbs from some of the closer places that Chet mentioned (to which I'd add the names Downers Grove and Lisle) to the city itself or suburbs like Oak Lawn. And yes, many employees live in Naperville. It's such a big lab that people live everywhere.

For your money I'd look in Downers Grove or Westmont as your money will go the farthest there. Like this place from Craigslist: Walk to Main St. Metra express to Chicago

[chet everett]

My wife no longer works at the lab but she still has contacts. The employment base is down a bit, around 2500 or so. There have been come cutbacks at Fermi too. There may be some boosts in spending from the DOE but is is hard to predict. A lot depends on what happens with the November elections and beyond. Ideally someone with ties to UofC could be very helpful, but so many people from that side of the political aisle seem to be uninterested in getting behind the clean safe energy that other advanced countries like France depends on that there are no guarantees that DOE will invest in more of that core technology... It is also is not looking good for the basic research in
US particle physics: PHYSICS: Fermilab Sends Energy Department Final Plan to Lay Off 7% of Staff -- Cho 320 (5878): 858a -- Science

[aragx6]

As far as the budget cuts go, Argonne's sister lab Fermilab is a single-purpose lab. they do one thing, so when the gov't cut funding for that one thing (high-energy physics) they got royally f-ed (as in 10% of the workforce laid off at Christmas). Argonne, however has many different programs and areas of expertise and they get their funding from more than just DOE, so they are a little more insulated from the swings of the government's whims.

[kathrina]

My husband is a post-doc so we are familiar with science funding (or should I say, lack there of).

[chet everett]

I might recommend renting someplace close enough to the lab to commute via bicycle. Quite a few people do that. The lab is inside a Forest Preserve and access is via Cass Ave to east or Lemont Rd to west. The closest apartment to the east are not the nicest, older and kind of basic, but there are condos & townhomes that get rented out that are nicer.
On the west there are fewer close by apartment and the configuration of the canals and such make biking from lemont a bit of a challenge.
Gas prices are going to take a big chunk out of a post doc salary. Then again the lab does do some work with hybrid vehicle battery research and if that is an area he'd be working in...