Are their a sizeable amount of wealthy people in Chicago south suburbs (Orland Park: foreclosures, condos)

[Chicagoland60426]

The North Shore and the western suburbs get all the limelight when it come to have a large amount of wealthy residents. I was wondering do Chicago south suburbs have a sizeable or large amount of wealthy residents ?

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by bluchidog

The North Shore and the western suburbs get all the limelight when it come to have a large amount of wealthy residents. I was wondering do Chicago south suburbs have a sizeable or large amount of wealthy residents ?

Take a drive down Bell Road from Rte 83 to 143rd St and tell me what you think. Or drive down Wolf Rd or Will Cook Road from 131st to ummmmmm ooooooohhhhh Manhattan Monee Road. Or drive down 143rd Street from Will Cook Road to La Grange Road, or the entire town of Palos Park, or Castle Ridge subdivision in Frankfort, or much of Frankfort west of La Grange Road for that matter, or Silo Ridge and Crystal Tree Estates in Orland Park. Drive into Palos Heights around 135th and Ridgeland, or down 108th Ave from 143rd to 159th St. and tell me what you think. Also forgot to mention that there is a large number of VERY wealthy African Americans living in Olympia Fields making well into the 6 figures a year being doctors and lawyers.

The homes in the areas I named in most cases DWARF just about anything on the north shore and to top it all off in many cases the homes are on an acre or more of land.

[chet everett]

While NYrules is completely correct about the size of those homes and the incomes of the folks that live in them being very substantial the densities cannot compare to other areas.

The funny thing is that this is nothing against the southern suburbs, it is really a quirk of what people in the Northshore are willing to "endure" and the effect of wealth concentrated in high rises that are pretty much only on the Gold Coast of Chicago.

You could literally take the worth of a whole subdivision in a low density area like Oak Brook and match it with a portion of high rise that does not cover a whole block in the Gold Coast. Similarly in some place like Winnetka or Glencoe you'll 5 or more houses per acre that are each $2MIL + . Sections of the south suburbs have minimum lot sizes that an acre or greater...

Very different levels of influence / corporate connections too. The train routes into the Loop from the Northshore have lots of people with high ranking jobs at places like Hyatt and Boeing, plus their lawyers, bankers and accountants. South suburbs have a much higher percentage of people that own their own businesses -- even many doctors fall into that category, as well the 'market maker' traders who have amassed a big enough pile of dough to exclusively trade for themselves...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by chet everett

While NYrules is completely correct about the size of those homes and the incomes of the folks that live in them being very substantial the densities cannot compare to other areas.

The funny thing is that this is nothing against the southern suburbs, it is really a quirk of what people in the Northshore are willing to "endure" and the effect of wealth concentrated in high rises that are pretty much only on the Gold Coast of Chicago.

You could literally take the worth of a whole subdivision in a low density area like Oak Brook and match it with a portion of high rise that does not cover a whole block in the Gold Coast. Similarly in some place like Winnetka or Glencoe you'll 5 or more houses per acre that are each $2MIL + . Sections of the south suburbs have minimum lot sizes that an acre or greater...

Very different levels of influence / corporate connections too. The train routes into the Loop from the Northshore have lots of people with high ranking jobs at places like Hyatt and Boeing, plus their lawyers, bankers and accountants. South suburbs have a much higher percentage of people that own their own businesses -- even many doctors fall into that category, as well the 'market maker' traders who have amassed a big enough pile of dough to exclusively trade for themselves...

Forget the exclusivity of the Gold Coast... The Lakefront from South Loop up to Buena Park now has many homes over $1M, and most of them are condos. The typical house in Lincoln Square or North Center is now over $900,000 (near the "L" stops, anyway). The North Side is the new center of wealth in Chicagoland, rivaliing the wealthiest parts of the North Shore. Because if you are truly wealthy, Fraincis Parker, the Latin School, and the British School (to name a few) will be happy to educate your little brats for $25,000 a year.

Sorry about that "brat" comment. I am truly jealous.

[vester72]

Not sure what you mean by "wealthy", but the average HHI for some of the South/SW burbs are:

Frankfort (incorporated, no Frankfort Square): $130k Demographics

Flossmoor: $119k
MONEY Magazine: Best places to live 2007: Flossmoor, IL snapshot

Orland Park: $90k (but it is huge with some VERY wealthy areas)
MONEY Magazine: Best places to live 2007: Orland Park, IL snapshot

Mokena: $93k
MONEY Magazine: Best places to live 2007: Mokena, IL snapshot

Not to mention Palos Park and some other very nice areas.

[Nysee53]

Olympia Fields is very very wealthy. It is really pretty there too. It is surrounded by communities that are not as posh though.

[carguy39]

The south/southwest suburbs has several affluent communities: Flossmoor, Olympia Fields, Frankfort, Mokena, Orland Park, Palos Heights, Palos Park, Lemont, and Homer Glen.

[JerichoHW]

It depends what you consider wealthy, Someone living in a 2 Bedroom 1 Bath house in the South Suburbs, could be richer then someone living in a 6 Bedroom 4 Bath house in the North Suburbs. Its them Foreclosures, that can make some people look rich when they are not. But truth be told, the North And West Suburbs are richer then the South Burbs. Although towns like Olympia Fields, Frankfort, New Lenox etc. have their wealthy populations. And Homewood/Flossmoor have some wealthy sections.

[cdc3217]

No, not like up north. Of course there are well-heeled areas as mentioned before, and of course there are lots of connected successful south suburban residents. But are there whole power neighborhoods of fotune 500 execs, old money families, and local celebrities? Not that I know of.

[hsw]

Chic is an old, industrial region, just like NYC and LA....so there's lots of old, industrial wealth all over the region....and most affluent business owners hate long commutes, so will choose to live nr their office.....

That said, doubt many of the better-educated, younger, wealthy financial guys in Chic (i.e., hedge fund guys, pvt equity guys and investment bankers) live anywhere but GoldCoast/LincPk and Winnetka/LF....

Usu the guys who choose to live in Hinsdale (esp given the rougher drive into Chic from W) tend to be guys who grew up in Western 'burbs....

Also, need to differentiate pre-tax annual income from net worth.....and size of houses means little....there's a reason land in LF on water or certain sts of GoldCoast costs much more than land in Barrington, Hinsdale, etc....location, location, location....