Advice for Valparaiso (Gary, Portage, Munster: homes, high school, university)

[jimijames58]

Please help. I am being relocated to Chicago for work and do not want to live in Chicago. We are looking at Valpo. Can someone give us some good advice on Valpo. How are the schools, community, etc.? Also how far is the drive from Valpo to Chicago? (In traffic)
Thank you

[Purdue1906]

Originally Posted by jimijames58

Please help. I am being relocated to Chicago for work and do not want to live in Chicago. We are looking at Valpo. Can someone give us some good advice on Valpo. How are the schools, community, etc.? Also how far is the drive from Valpo to Chicago? (In traffic)
Thank you

I'm not sure where you're going to be working in Chicago, but the drive from Valpo to downtown in traffic, you're looking at 1 hour 15 minutes to an 1 hour 30 minutes at a minimum.

Now, if you're working in downtown Chicago, you could then take the South Shore (rail) which has stops in Ogden Dunes and Chesterton that are about about a 15-20 minutes drive from Valpo, then another hour or so to Chicago on the train.

Actually, Chesterton is a nice town as well, might be worth a look, they just built a new high school not too long ago and have a mixture of older, established homes and newer homes. Valpo HS is usually ranked pretty high in terms of academics and athletics (FB team is good and BB team is #1 in the state right now). I can't speak much about Porter County in general but I know Valpo and Chesterton seem to be the most desirable places to live.

Hope I was of some help, and good luck.

[jimijames58]

Thank you! That was very helpful information. I will be working North of downtown Chicago, a few miles from O'Hare on Bryn Mawr. I'm moving from Tulsa, Ok so I want to stay with a smaller community and make sure the schools are good for my children. While I'll enjoy visiting Chicago, it's not a place I want to raise my kids. Thanks for the advice.

[domergurl]

You don't want to live in Valpo and have to commute out to O'Hare ... believe me, it will be a killer. The south shore train is out, unless you want to take the hour long train ride in and then the blue line out to O'Hare.

I lived in Valpo and loved it. I have nothing against the place. The schools are absolutely top notch. If you want to live in Indiana and commute out to O'Hare, you may want to look at Munster. Their schools are every bit as good as Valpo's.

Good luck! Valpo is really nice and totally commutable if you were working downtown, but where you will be working, you'll be spending upwards of 4+ hours a day driving.

[artemis]

JimiJames, you might want to look around the Rockford-Belvidere Illinois area as well. That will get you out of Chicago, plus you would spend a lot less time commuting.

[j33]

I agree with all of the above. Personally, I can't imagine commuting from Valparaiso to Chicago, that seems really far to me, but from Valparaiso to Ohare, no way.

And no, I have nothing against Valparaiso either, it is a cute town and I have family that live there, but I wouldn't want to commute from there.

[MSJAH]

Originally Posted by jimijames58

Please help. I am being relocated to Chicago for work and do not want to live in Chicago. We are looking at Valpo. Can someone give us some good advice on Valpo. How are the schools, community, etc.? Also how far is the drive from Valpo to Chicago? (In traffic)
Thank you

My spouse worked in Oak Park, and lived in Valpo. You do what u have to do. You get up in plenty of time to really avoid the heaviest of traffick. I lived in Valpo for 6years. It was OK. Little racist in some areas. The schools are ok. But what u don't hear about is that heroin is a serious problem in Valpo for young people.
This is something they are finally looking at and not blaming surrounding areas and people as the cause any more.. Great for them! A lot of people don't drive to the loop area from Valpo, Miller, Gary Etc. to work,they commute on the South Shore. Its easier and less stressfull. Cost less than trying to find all day parking in the loop too.
Just stating facts and truth.

[mhouse2001]

If you want to live in NWI (near Valpo) and want a better commute, then I would suggest Chesterton. It's much easier to catch the South Shore there and get into town. Part of my family does this. I have other family members who would commute from Valpo to the Loop by car. I never heard them complain, but I also hardly ever saw them! They were probably always commuting. I think Valpo is a good community, far enough away from Chicago to feel distinct from the mass of suburbs that surround it. Chesterton has a new high school that I hear is pretty good. Chesterton is overrun by train tracks--if trains passing by at night keeps you up, then Chesterton will be the place you'll get no sleep in. Valparaiso is better, but the train noise can be bothersome there too. Just my 2 cents.

[UrbanQuest]

You might also look at Burlington, WI. An easier commute and you are outside the Chicago Metro, unlike Valparaiso. You are also somewhat closer to family fun areas (Six Flags, Wisconsin Dells), day trips to Madison, and you are also close to Milwaukee. Good luck...

[CHEROKEEROSEY1]

Valparaiso has good schools,as far a heroin) chesterton had the worst, my best friend's (aka: track star) went to school there, and was in rehab for months.Portage has good schools , chesterton good schools, Drugs are everywhere so....... depends on the kids they hang with, valpo has a variety of nationalities of people, as far as peoples hangups on nationality thats their problem. church is prevalent here. we have alot of churches, and merrillville has a big mall its 20 min away, south shore rail is 20 min and toll road entrance easy to get to if you go early.
valparaiso university great, we also hav alternative school & ivey tech, a new campus off the new bypass49.
good luck hope this helped you! cherokeerosey1