Anyone live in Northern Illinois & commute to Waukesha Wisconsin? (Chicago: school districts, incomes)

[schools]

If you do, what town do you live in? Any good school systems there? Any advantage to living in Illinois & working in Wisconsin?

[Rola62]

We live in Gurnee IL. Great school system close to WI border, actually 10 to 15 minutes from the state line. However I think Waukesha is about 1 1/2 or more from here. I do know people that work in Kenosha, which is only 20 to 30 minutes from here
good luck!

[kbaits]

I have lived my whole life along the state line-grew up in Lake County,Illinois and now live in Kenosha County, Wisconsin. Most people do it the other way around-work in Illinois and live in Wis.Average incomes are higher in Illinois ,depending of course what you do, but so are housing costs. My husband is a carpenter and I can't believe what people are paying for housing the closer you get to Chicago.Waukesha is quite a commute from anywhere in Illinois.so what you're suggesting sounds like not only a hassle,but maybe a bad financial decision.I think you've got a lot of research to do like income taxes-I think still higher in Wi- schools- some great ones in Northern Illinois and what kind of city do you want to live in? The state line south to Chicago is very congested.Lake and Mchenry counties are like a parking lot after 4pm .The state line north to Waukesha has more options ,like small towns.Good luck.I hope I didn't confuse you too much.

[Sideblinded]

I agree, that would be at the very least a heathy commute.

With constuction that never seems to stop and Hwy congestion, most commuters have figured out the back roads. Problem is they get backed up also.

If you can afford about 3-4 hours a day 5 days a week sitting in traffic, then add in gas milage, it should be a fantastic job. If not, you can always move after you sell your home.

[fanaraj]

My husband just got a job in Wauskesha. We currently live in Rockford, which is about 1.5 hours to Waukesha. We have decided to move vs. the long daily drive of 3 hours on the road. We were ready for a change anyway! A long daily commute just takes away from the time we would spend as a family and with gas prices the way they are~yikes! Good Luck!

[43north87west]

Well it is about 40 miles state line to Milwaukee. If you take I-894 you're looking at another 20 minutes, so figure one hour from the state line. Speed it up a bit and cut it down by ten minutes or so.

Also, not a whole lot of traffic going north from Gurnee or Grayslake areas to Milwaukee during the day, not a lot going south in early evening. Easy commute... I worked with someone who commuted from Niles, IL to Milwaukee every single day and loved the easy commute, which was the same in minutes as his commute to the Loop, but much longer in miles.

Financially, property values and incomes are larger in IL because of cost of living factors and larger metro area. So, you could end up having a slightly lower standard of living if you lived in IL vs. WI. Plus gas and so on. I guess those things are all a factor.

But if you came from Washington DC (like I did recently), you realize that a 1 hour commute in low traffic, at high speed, is one of the greatest pleasures ever. Because in DC, you can spend 2 hours each way, in stop and go traffic. More even, in the worse times. A northern Virginia resident who has to fight I-95, would LOVE the Lake County to Waukesha County commute. Seventy Five MPH, one hour? Can life get better?

Really, it is a long drive for Wisconsinites and potentially for suburban Chicagoans. But it isn't a long drive in other areas. Could be worse.

[trailerguy]

Waukesha is an absolutely gorgeous gem of a town. If I had a good job there, I'd live there.

[kmwheel]

We live in Antioch and visit friends in Waukesha often. It takes us about 45 minutes to get there, but that's definitely not in rush hour traffic. It wouldn't be a horrible commute if you took the back roads, but I'd have to estimate that it would take an hour from where we are. Antioch has a good school system, but if you were to head up a bit north from us, you've got Burlington and Salem/Trevor areas that have nice, affordable housing and good school districts. Those are definitely within a nice spitting distance of Waukesha. I don't think that there are truly any advantages to living in IL and working in Wisconsin. The only great thing about where we live is that it's about equal distance between Milwaukee and Chicago which is nice for job hopping.

[M TYPE X]

You guys like driving that far everyday in nasty winter weather??