Moving to Schaumburg Hoffman Estates area (Chicago, Naperville: condo, low crime, townhomes)

[caitlin08]

Hello,
Within the next year my fiance and I will be moving in with each other. He works in Lincolnshire IL and I'm working in Wheaton. We need to find a half way point but I have no idea what are good areas. I've lived in Naperville all of my life but unfortunately can't expect my fiance to make the drive every day to work. Schaumburg is the exact half way point but I'm not sure about the traffic or what it is like living there. Can anyone give some good information about Schaumburg, hoffman estates, Bloomingdale, Elk grove Village? I've only seen these places on a map/driving through on 355 to get to Linconlshire. Our budget is about $250,000 for a townhome/condo/house. We obviously want low crime and want to be close to shops/going out with friends at night.Traffic is a big deal which seems to be the biggest issue. Any other locations would be nice, Any advice at all will help! Thank you

[ChicagoBay]

Schaumburg beats the other suburbs mentioned hands down. Best place for shopping (Woodfield mall area) and plenty of restaurant/sports bar night life. Right off of 90, only takes about 20 minutes to hit the northside of Chicago without traffic. Traffic is like anywhere, rush hour is heavy of course, the only "clogged" area I come across is everyone trying to go west on 90 during rush hour (away from the city).

[cubssoxfan]

I would also consider Arlington Heights. You are doing a bit of a reverse commute down IL-53/I-290/I-355 to I-88. Probably a 30 to 40 minute commute. About 30 minutes to Lincolnshire. What you get is a decent downtown area where you are walking distance to everything you typically need. If one of you end working downtown in the future you are right by Metra. It is similar to downtown Naperville but on a somewhat smaller scale. Schaumburg has tons of shopping, dining and also more traffic. It really has no downtown and has a bit more of an antiseptic suburban vibe to me.

[chet everett]

...it may not such a great idea to be too concerned with "halfway on a map". Instead if you want commmutes of SIMILAR travel times you should focus on the various routes one would need to take to get to work.

In my experince the majority of Lincolnshire jobs are close to 294 than other routes. I would strongly recommend a town with good / exccellent access to 294. Getting to Wheaton's employement areas generally is not too bad using surface streets like Butterfield or Roosevelt.

Top towns based on EQUAL travel time might include Westchester (really good access to 294 & surface streets, nice townhomes, no train / walkable core...) Elmhurst (VERY walkable core as well as great access to suburbs along 294 and western burbs), Oakbrook Terrace (very similar commute issues as Westchester), Itsca / Bensenville / Roselle -- each of these are very similar trade offs for travel to Lincolnshire & Wheaton, the most walkable core is probably in Roselle or Itasca, Bensenville might be a little more affordable...

Honestly although Schaumburg is not a bad spot at all to live the shear volume of traffic through the region is really a negative and it ain't all that short a drive to either Wheaton orr Lincolnshire...