Wheaton Vs. Naperville for relocation (Chicago, Elmhurst: transplants, apartments, rentals)

[MittenDweller82]

Hello All,

I am interesting in getting a opinion of what would be the best move for a young family (We are both 27 and have a 3 year old). Initially we will be looking to rent, and most likely I will be working downtown. We would like to keep our budget between 1000-1200 monthly for rent. Of these two communities which one is more family oriented with family geared venues? Or are they both similar? I'm not afraid of the 1.5 hour metra ride into town, and I expect to do so, but should be be looking elsewhere? We would both like to stay further away from downtown, and hence this is the reason we were both attracted to these areas. Any info would be much appreciated!

[Steve-o]

Both cities are VERY family oriented, Naperville more geared towards children, Wheaton more geared towards adults. Its hard to find places like Wheaton any more these days... its charming, safe, very family friendly, well-kept. I will say that Naperville is far more bustling, attracting lots of party-goers, etc, especially downtown. Whereas downtown Naperville is a party-hearty place, downtown Wheaton is a Jazz-club/cigar smokin/wine sippin type of downtown. What are you more interested in?

[nanannie]

They are both great family towns with good schools and alot of activities. I think it would depend on just where you can find a rental in your price range that suits your family. That may be a deciding factor alone. You may also want to check out Elmhurst or Glen Ellyn. A commute of about 1/2 hour to the city and both great towns. I would also suggest Geneva which I personally like over N'ville.

[MittenDweller82]

Thanks for all of the info, we live near Ann Arbor, MI now, and the downtown scene here is micro breweries, intellectuals, and jazz/wine bars...and lots of book stores, tea/coffee shops. I suppose a "party" scene isn't required, although it is nice to have a large selection of options to do. I enjoy having a intelligent conversation over a micro-brew, I guess if I had that I would be o.k. Ann Arbor is also constantly bustling, given that I would like to tone it down a bit, perhaps not being in the "center" of it all, just having the access to the venues. Schools is the other main issue, we wanted to become settled on a school district we liked before my daughter enters preschool soon...how do the school the school districts compare?

I have not looked into Glen Ellyn or Elmhurst, are the rental prices similar to Wheaton/Naperville, and is there just as much to do for a family? Thanks again for all of your help!

[nanannie]

Originally Posted by MittenDweller82

I have not looked into Glen Ellyn or Elmhurst, are the rental prices similar to Wheaton/Naperville, and is there just as much to do for a family? Thanks again for all of your help!

yes and yes

[fairmarketvalue]

All that was said is true and both are great towns. There are a few things a disagree wiht, however. Naperville is more geared towards kids? I don't get that as Wheaton has a beautiful park district with unbelievable youth programs, the schools, including public and private, are wonderful, lots of pre-schools, both through the park district as well as through many churches, all of which are top notch. How is Wheaton more geared towards adults? Downtown naperville is beautiful, but certainly not a very "kid friendly" place, especially in the evening. It's a bustling college town, with lots of bars and lots of young 20somethings drinking in them, from all over the Chicago land. Naperville also has wonderful restaurants and many are pricey, also not that "geared towards children".

Again, both are great towns. But Wheaton is actually a town. Naperville is a city and 3 times the size of Wheaton so I think it's very difficult to see them as similar in but maybe a few ways. It is much harder to get to know people and your community in a city so big. Wheaton will give you a better shot at that and is a very, very family friendly place.

With that said, apartments are expensive in this area and 1,000-1,200 will barely get you a 2 bdm 2 bath. You might want to check our the single family rentals. There are lots of them, given this RE market, and there are some nice ones available. However, it will be hard to rent them for much longer than a year as the goal of most of the SF rentals is to sell them, sooner, than later. Good luck and let us all know what you decide. We've lived in Wheaton for 18 years now, and love it. We have 4 kids and they are involved in EVERYTHING. Just ask my wife- she runs the "shuttle" daily to and from! It's very, very kid oriented, I promise!

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by fairmarketvalue

All that was said is true and both are great towns. There are a few things a disagree wiht, however. Naperville is more geared towards kids? I don't get that as Wheaton has a beautiful park district with unbelievable youth programs, the schools, including public and private, are wonderful, lots of pre-schools, both through the park district as well as through many churches, all of which are top notch. How is Wheaton more geared towards adults? Downtown naperville is beautiful, but certainly not a very "kid friendly" place, especially in the evening. It's a bustling college town, with lots of bars and lots of young 20somethings drinking in them, from all over the Chicago land. Naperville also has wonderful restaurants and many are pricey, also not that "geared towards children".

Well, seeing that Naperville was voted the #1 city for kids in AMERICA, not just IL, I think that would be enough right there to prove it. If youre bringing up Park District programs, Naperville has more. Naperville's schools are also great, often ranked higher than Wheaton's, and there are lots of kid places in downtown Naperville, unlike Wheaton. In fact, the only kid place that I can think of in downtown Wheaton is the Stride Rite shoe store and the Popcorn shop/ice cream store. The rest are adult-oriented restaurants and wine bars. Naperville has toy stores, book stores, video game stores, riverwalk, candy stores, ice cream parlor, DuPage Children's Museum, swimming quarry, etc. And Naperville's public library system makes Wheaton's look like a piece of dog crap. THen again, Naperville's libraries are ranked the best in the USA, so I guess that makes their libraries make everyone elses look like crap, too, so dont feel bad.

[blackst5]

Sure looks like someone has an affinity to Naperville.

[ihynes]

My family rented in Wheaton for 1-1/2 years. The schools were excellent - the art teacher, in particular, at our elementary school was the best I've ever seen - and they have a nice little zoo for younger kids. (I was surprised, however, to see how much older the parents were than where I had previously lived in Arizona. In Wheaton, the parents were already turning gray.) The town, however, is like a fundamentalist Protestant version of "The Stepford Wives." I would immediately get asked which church we attended or which church daycare we used by people we randomly met. On the playgrounds, I would hear the other moms calling their children by all the names in the Bible (and I believe that those kids were getting homeschooled). And I have never seen people buy SO MUCH WINE on Fridays - like, grocery carts full (that was true in Glen Ellyn, too). Naperville, on the other hand, seems to be just as Catholic as Wheaton is Protestant (except for their one Unitarian church), but it has a cutesy downtown and a great children's museum. For some reason, there are a lot of cute old houses advertising the offices of therapists, counselors and psychologists in Naperville, ha! I wonder what that's all about. Both towns are mostly well-to-do, quiet suburbs with great playgrounds and shopping nearby.

[MittenDweller82]

Originally Posted by ihynes

My family rented in Wheaton for 1-1/2 years. The schools were excellent - the art teacher, in particular, at our elementary school was the best I've ever seen - and they have a nice little zoo for younger kids. (I was surprised, however, to see how much older the parents were than where I had previously lived in Arizona. In Wheaton, the parents were already turning gray.) The town, however, is like a fundamentalist Protestant version of "The Stepford Wives." I would immediately get asked which church we attended or which church daycare we used by people we randomly met. On the playgrounds, I would hear the other moms calling their children by all the names in the Bible (and I believe that those kids were getting homeschooled). And I have never seen people buy SO MUCH WINE on Fridays - like, grocery carts full (that was true in Glen Ellyn, too). Naperville, on the other hand, seems to be just as Catholic as Wheaton is Protestant (except for their one Unitarian church), but it has a cutesy downtown and a great children's museum. For some reason, there are a lot of cute old houses advertising the offices of therapists, counselors and psychologists in Naperville, ha! I wonder what that's all about. Both towns are mostly well-to-do, quiet suburbs with great playgrounds and shopping nearby.

My brother lives in Naperville, I have only passed through Wheaton once, I got some similar impressions of the "Stepford Wives", although Naperville seemed more progressive and less conservative. Where we live now (Ann Arbor) it is extremely liberal, the average age is 30, and extremely diverse.(Most of the population is made up of Docs, Profs and International students). I wonder if Wheaton would be a bit of a shock for us, really my goal is to locate somewhere that is "more accepting" of a younger family. My experience is that if the average age of a community is higher, generally the attitude towards younger people is sour. How are both communities in terms of acceptance of transplants? We do plan on buying a home after a year or two of renting, but want to "try" out a area before committing. Again, thanks all for the info!