Best NW Indiana Town (Gary, Hammond: low crime, mortgage, new home)
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I am new to this forum (found it by luck). We will be relocating to NW Indiana; however, have decided on which town. We currently live in the SW suburbs of Chicago (where most of our family lives). I am considering the towns of St. John, Dyer, Schererville and Munster, IN. I am only concerns (and deciding factors) are:
School District – My girls will be the lower grades (1st, 4th, and 6th grade). I am also considering putting them in private school (catholic school) Crime Rate – I think all of these areas have low crime rates. Is this correct – which town feels safer Ethnic Diversity - % of Hispanic population Park Districts – which town has a better park district program/classes? Downtown area – would love a town that actually has a downtown area/feel Water – do all of these towns have well water?
We are looking to either buy a home ($300 to $350 price range) or buy a lot and build ourselves. Thank you in advance for your two cents.
Water--Munster, Dyer, and Schererville have Lake Michigan water. Some places in St. John may have well water.
None of them feel unsafe and I would rate them equally.
I've never thought of any of them as having what I would call a downtown or a downtown feel. I suppose technically Munster, Dyer, and Schererville have a "downtown" but not what I think of as a quaint, downtown square or blocks and blocks of businesses.
Unless you're choosing to do so for personal reasons, all of those areas have very good schools, and private school isn't necessary.
I'm not sure which SW suburb you're in now, but really the "feel" of NW IN is much like the SW suburbs. It's also close enough that you should just spend a day driving through. It's really not the other side of the country and actually parts of NW IN are closer to downtown Chicago than the IL suburbs.
School District – My girls will be the lower grades (1st, 4th, and 6th grade). I am also considering putting them in private school (catholic school)
For the record, when I say "tri-town" it means Schererville+Dyer+St. John as they all share the same school district.
As far as school district, Munster is overall seen as the better school district than Lake Central but not by as much as it used to. Both districts are great. Munster has one middle school, Wilbur Wright Middle School. It is good, but Clark Middle School in Saint John is very good as well.
Crime Rate – I think all of these areas have low crime rates. Is this correct – which town feels safer
All of the areas are very safe. However, most people in NWI "feel" that the tri-town area (esp St. John) is safer than Munster for example because it is further south and away from Hammond, Gary, and the south suburbs. We know that this isn't always status quo as town such as Merrillville are much further south and east of these places (in fact, Merrillville's northern bordern is only as far north as Munster's southern border) and it is increasingly becoming very unsafe. Many people in the towns you listed are originally from suburbs such as Calumet City, Lansing, Dolton, Chicago Heights, as well as Steger, Crete, etc that have been seen as going downhill and would like to move as far away as possible. We have been getting a few more residents from places like Tinley Park, Orland Park, places that I do not see as going downhill at all. Given Munster's geographic location, it is extremely safe. Some people even feel most of Dyer is too close to the south suburbs (especially because new neighborhoods in Dyer along the state line are more diverse than the older neighborhoods on the state line in Munster - which was unexpected by some). Some people are worried about Schererville due to the amount of businesses on the Rt. 30 corridor and the easy "get-aways" that criminals may have. Some people are also concerned about the areas of Schererville that border Merrillville due to crime. That location has not seemed to negatively affect those areas of Schererville at all.
Ethnic Diversity - % of Hispanic population
As far as Hispanic population, Schererville's is higher than Munster's by a little but is more evenly distributed across the town. In Munster, the Hispanic population is more prevalent in the northern half of the town and especially the northwest corner of town. Dyer's Hispanic population is about 1% less and seems mostly concentrated north of Rt. 30. St. John's Hispanic population is the lowest of the towns listed but is still growing. Again, it appears to be more evenly distributed across the town.
As far as other races, Munster by far has the highest Asian population (mostly located on the south and central areas of town but also in other areas. Dyer and Schererville have Asian populations largely concentrated in the Briar Ridge Country Club area (many send their kids to school in Munster where there is a larger asian presence). St. John's Asian population is very small but will probably grow somewhat.
The Black population is small in all of the towns and is the smallest in St. John, IN. Dyer has the next lowest Black population that seems to be mostly concentrated along the neighborhoods on or close to the state line both north AND south of Rt. 30. Schererville has the highest Black population of all of the towns and it seems mostly concentrated on the east side of the town and in Briar Ridge. Munster's Black population is in between Schererville's and Dyer's. Many people are surprised that the Black population in Munster is so low given it's proximity to the south suburbs. You definitely see more Black people utilizing businesses in Munster and the tri-town area (mostly south suburban residents) but many do not live here. Blacks in Munster are mostly in the southern areas of town and many are African immigrants (Nigerian, Ghanaian, etc.). The owther areas of town do not have significant Black populations and many Black students in the schools are actually tuition students from other districts.
The White population is obviously the majority in all of these towns and while many newer White residents tend to move south of Rt. 30, there is little to no flight from areas such as Munster or the parts of Dyer and Schererville north of Rt. 30 (or even Highland, IN for that matter).
Park Districts – which town has a better park district program/classes?
I would say Munster has the best park district hands down compared to the other towns. St. John and Schererville are trying to improve theirs but it's not like theirs are bad or anything at all. Dyer's park district has "improved" with their new Central Park area and the popularity of their Northgate Park. However, the park district as a whole is not very well regarded.
Downtown area – would love a town that actually has a downtown area/feel
This is a little tricky. Schererville has the most "downtown-looking" downtown area of the towns listed. It is walkable, but it is so hidden from most of Schererville that it really doesn't attract much traffic or notoriety. Munster's downtown is mainly the area in between the state-line and Calumet Avenue along Ridge Rd. It is not very centralized and not very convenient as there is not much parking at all and a lot of traffic (well, that sounds like a downtown, right? LOL!). Dyer used to have a downtown but it was mostly razed with projects on Rt. 30 and Calumet Ave long ago. The area of Dyer along Rt. 30 and the Hart Road area is what people see as Dyer's downtown now. Saint John has a "center of town" Wicker Ave/Rt. 41 and 93rd Ave. marked by a Walgreens of the northwest corner, Church/School on the southwest corner, dental office on the southeast corner, and gas station on the northeast corner.
None of the downtown areas listed are very walkable to many areas of town and are not known for having notable downtown areas. The towns in NWI that have the best downtowns are Crown Point, IN and Highland, IN.
Water – do all of these towns have well water?
St. John and south/unincorporated Dyer have well water for the most part. Munster I know uses all Lake Michigan water. Schererville does too as well.
Home Price
All of the towns have nice homes in that price range. Overall, you will get more for your money in Schererville and Dyer than you would in Munster. Although St. John homes cost more overall than in Dyer and Schererville, the same home would still cost less than in Munster.
In your price range, you will have many new home options in the tri-town area. There may be some older homes in that range but you may not even have to go that route unless you wanted to. In that price range, you may also be able to buy a lot and build a home as well!
In Munster, if you are very lucky, you may be able to get a new home in the West Lakes of Munster neighborhood for that price. Otherwise, most home options in that price range would be in the 15+ year old range. There are many older homes in Munster than sell for well more than $500k. If you are looking to buy a lot and build in Munster, then this would most likely be out of your price range unless you built on an empty lot (if you can find one) in an older area of town that isn't a fancy area. Lot's in Munster typically range from about $90-100k in West Lakes all the way up to $350,000 in Park West...yes, for a lot!
The term "best" is a tough one to answer. All four of the towns included on your list are very safe, have excellent schools, and most have very good parks departments. You wouldn't see much of a difference in the standard of living when comparing any of these towns to one another. Munster's a bit more of a mature town that is fully developed, while the other three (especially St. John) still have significant room for new construction and are more likely to have larger lot sizes.
I mostly agree with the above post with the exception of the Munster Parks being hands down better than the rest. I think that Schererville's Parks Dept is at least on par with Munster's. Schererville may not have some place like Centennial Park with a fountain or a war memorial, however upkeep to the parks themselves, running paths, and programs for parents and kids are more than plentiful in Schererville Parks Dept. I can't comment a whole lot on Dyer's Parks Dept, but St. John was also just ranked #1 town in the state of Indiana to raise kids and the emphasis on parks was supposedly a large factor in Bloomberg's determination. So St. John's Parks Dept. can't be too shabby either although I have no first hand experience with it.
So the "best" town is subjective, but I think you'd be happy with any of the four towns you're considering. If you plan to continue working in or around Naperville (where your profile says you're from) or the far west suburbs, I would recommend Munster for commute reasons. If you are working in downtown Chicago or someplace in the SW burbs that are within an hour or hour 15 min commute or so, I'd recommend any one of Schererville, St. John, or Dyer. My personal opinion is that you get more bang for your buck in these 3 towns when compared to Munster and the schools, amenities, and stardard of living are just as good.
Try using the search function of these message boards by clicking Search This Forum near the top right of the page. Type in any of the names of these towns or Lake Central or Munster schools and you'd get plenty of threads and posts about each.
Thank you all for the great information. I appreciate the detail information. I will have it handy when we start our search this weekend. I work from home; however, my husband's job will be moving to NW Indiana. We currently live in Naperville, IL and would like to move to a town comparable to Naperville (with the exception of the large % of teenage drug usage). Good school district, great downtown area, ethnically diverse, good park district/YMCA. Thank you again for your information.
Thank you all for the great information. I appreciate the detail information. I will have it handy when we start our search this weekend. I work from home; however, my husband's job will be moving to NW Indiana. We currently live in Naperville, IL and would like to move to a town comparable to Naperville (with the exception of the large % of teenage drug usage). Good school district, great downtown area, ethnically diverse, good park district/YMCA. Thank you again for your information.
Best of luck with your search and let us know if you have any other questions. FYI, I don't think it's an apples to apples comparison to compare Naperville to any of these four towns. I think they're all good places to live as described above, but none of these four towns is as affluent as Naperville and none of the four have booming downtowns like Naperville. One thing I think you'll like is the low property taxes, which are capped at or about 1% of the home's assessed value, which also makes it easy for you to forecast your total mortgage payment once you buy a home. Low taxes I'm sure is something that you will be quite happy with compared to Naperville. Munster's taxes are generally a little bit higher than Schererville, Dyer, or St. John's property taxes.
Given that you're moving from Naperville, which sorry I don't really think of as SW suburbs thus my earlier comment on SW being similar to NWI (just me), that changes some things.
Although Valpo is nice, given your family in Naperville it's a bit farther, I might suggest you add Crown Point to the mix.
Sorry, I was thinking NWI = Region and wasn't really thinking about Valpo!
Valpo's downtown is very nice though!
To OP: There really isn't a "Naperville-type" town over here (btw I really like Naperville!).
If you are talking about the area around (and zoned to) Neuqua Valley High School that is much newer, that area may be more comparable to the southeast area of Saint John (except much larger).
If you are talking about the older suburban areas of Naperville (not the downtown area...the areas directly south and east of it) then it resembles more of the Munster area with older but very nice homes (with teardowns here and there) with newer subdivisions being very exclusive.
If you want to feel like you are in "old" Naperville, I would look at the northeastern area of Munster (Wicker Park Estates, Hill & Vale Estates). If you want to feel like you are in "new" Naperville, then I would look at Saint John in subdivisions in the southeast side of that town -- make sure you are zoned to Lake Central Schools and not Hanover Schools.
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Valpo's downtown is excellent.
