Need Suggestions for moving to Chicago 'burbs based on criteria listed (Naperville: appointed, real estate)

[salmari7]

So I'm looking to move to Chicagoland, after living in Seattle for 2 years, and west Michigan for 20+ years before that.

I work remotely, so I do not have to worry about a commute at this time. Here is my general criteria:

- Outside of Chicago, but not family suburbs. I'm 26, so looking for area with some other young professionals, 20s and 30s.

- I'd prefer some compromise with safety but also some diversity. Is that possible in the Chicago area? From what I keep hearing its like either safe, boring family suburbs...or dangerous areas in or near the city. So far I'm disappointed from what I've heard on this forum.

- Lots of coffee shops, different ethnic restaurants, etc.

- Growing up on Lake Michigan in MI, of course I'd prefer somewhere maybe near North Shore and the lake, but does that area have limited options outside of Evanston, based on my criteria? I'm totally open to suggestions in NW or West, I've heard good things about Oak Park too, for instance.

Please help -- any suggestions will be appreciated

[ToriaT]

I suggest both Evanston and Oak Park. They sound like they would fit the bill. Most suburbs are somewhat family oriented. I would think both of these would have a fair number of younger singles as well. Easy access to city. And its not true that the city neighborhoods are all dangerous. There are a good number of them that are relatively safe and good places to live. With all large cities you have to have your wits about you. If you want to try the city look into Bucktown, Wicker Park, Andersonville, Lincoln Square and Edgewater for starters.

[salmari7]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Are there others bordering either Oak Park or Evanston that I should check out?

I have a friend that lives in Bucktown Wicker Park area and he loves it, but he commutes into the Loop for work, so for me I don't really need to be within Chicago city limits at this point, but I will definitely be visiting him there!

Any other suggestions of suburbs that have their own downtown area?

Are the North Shore suburbs north of Evanston too residential/family?

How about any recommendations sort of between Oak Park and Evanston, meaning NW or the city? Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, etc etc? Obviously I need to drive around all of these areas myself, but if I can at least narrow it down to maybe 2 to 5 suburbs that would be great.

Thanks!

[salmari7]

Hmmm...just did some more research and it appears that the areas just due east of Oak Park are some of the highest crime areas in the city. (Austin, Garfield Park) I guess I'm not sure I'd like to live right next to really bad areas, especially if I have to go through them just to get downtown Chicago.

How is Evanston as far as crime? I'm familiar with Ann Arbor as far as college towns go, but since Evanston is just outside Chicago maybe the crime, theft, etc is significantly higher than in another college town like A2.

[ToriaT]

Evanston and Oak Park are mostly safe. Forget Garfield park or anything like that. You could look into Park Ridge. Arlington Heights is farther out but has a nice town core. Other nice areas are Glen Ellyn and Wheaton, again they are farther out and more family oriented. Also Naperville. There is an area in Chicago north of Oak Park called Galewood that is mostly safe and near to the city. I suggest you visit some of these places and take a look at them. See which ones you would feel the most comfortable in. All I have mentioned are pretty safe.

[chet everett]

The OP seems misguided at best -- Evanston is not much like Ann Arbor or any other traditional college town. Northwestern is one of the smallest undergrad Big10 campuses and the fact that NU's medical school and law school are in Chicago forces a very different profile than other college towns.

Frankly anyone that does not understand how proximity to Lake Michigan effects real estate pricing is probably not going to be able to afford living near the lake unless they are Ok with the extreme segregation of areas like South Shore or the toxic heritage of the south east side...

It just does not make sense to look for a suburb that has a high percentage of 20-somethings because the extreme draw of Chicago pulls such folks like iron fillings to a magnet...

It is COMPLETELY FALSE that suburb automatically means EITHER "complete safe" or "boring" however the EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS OF THE REGION definitely drive people's decisions about where they want to live.
There are some suburbs that are run down and crime ridden, they typically have very poor employment base. They don't get mentioned much on City-Data because they really have no appeal for anyone with the ability to choose a decent place to live & work.

There are certainly MANY suburbs that have a large number of interesting ethnic restaurants. Whether one is looking for foods from Asia, India, the mid-east, traditional European fare or hispanic specialties it is almost certainly easier to find these in the suburbs of Chicago than any other metro-region in the country.

The work patterns of MOST suburb dwellers, whether they work nearby OR commute to the Loop or other spots, is different than those of young city dwellers -- home life generally includes early rising, school age children, active participation in community events and positive uses of one's free time. These things tend to make hanging out at establishments that serve large quantities of cheap beer pretty uncommon occurrence compared to city dwellers. There certainly are sports bars, live music venues, cocktail lounges and all sorts of little spots to grab a friendly beer in the suburbs but it is rather uncommon to find "meat markets" packed with folks looking to hook-up. No sane person would characterize such things as "boring"...

If the OP truly does all their work "from home" it would seem easy enough to live in Chicago IF they want easy access to others their own age. If their work involves visits to clients in the suburbs it may make more sense to seek out an apartment that has good access to the expressways as well a parking situation that will work for them.

[salmari7]

Thanks ToriaT, I will look into the other areas you mentioned as well. I appreciate your help!

[ToriaT]

Anyone who goes from the western suburbs to Chicago has to go through the bad areas east of Oak Park to get to Chicago including myself. we do this usually either by train (Metra) which goes through these areas without incident or we drive on the Eisenhower expressway. If you do decide to live in Oak Park you might want to keep away from the Austin avenue corridor which is the borderline but there are plenty of people that live there in Oak Park and they will say its not a problem. I have family that has lived on washington and austin for years.

[hindukid]

It might be helpful if you stated why you don't want to live in the city since that is really the obvious answer based on the criteria you mentioned. Since you don't want the city what is the reason. That reason will probably apply to picking the right burb.

Only reasons I could guess you are not considering the city is cost or crime. If its cost, than that is going to eliminate a lot of burbs.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by hindukid

It might be helpful if you stated why you don't want to live in the city since that is really the obvious answer based on the criteria you mentioned. Since you don't want the city what is the reason. That reason will probably apply to picking the right burb.

Only reasons I could guess you are not considering the city is cost or crime. If its cost, than that is going to eliminate a lot of burbs.

The bolded above is especially true for singles / childless couples -- the fact that many suburbs offer a nice combination of family-seized housing and easier access to top notch schools than is generally available in Chicago at a given price point is a huge driver of why those with school age children find a move to the suburbs makes economic sense.

The appeal of some city neighborhoods that do have the mix of manageable levels of crime, nightlife. coffee shops and singles that the OP seems to desire but remain affordable because of the mix of housing and relatively non-desirable schools is far greater than any suburb.