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I grew up in Evanston, Went to Chute middle school then Evanston HS where I gradated. This was back in the 90's. At the time ETHS was one of the top ranks schools in the country. Today it has fallen so far i'd be surprised if it's still on the top 500 list. Evanston has also suffered from the problems of the inner city moving north and west. Evanston boarders Chicago at Howard St. Howard St was for years a very rough part of town.
If you are seriously looking to settle down and buy a home where you are going to be for many years I would find a place in Wilmette and make it work.
I grew up in Evanston, Went to Chute middle school then Evanston HS where I gradated. This was back in the 90's. At the time ETHS was one of the top ranks schools in the country. Today it has fallen so far i'd be surprised if it's still on the top 500 list. Evanston has also suffered from the problems of the inner city moving north and west. Evanston boarders Chicago at Howard St. Howard St was for years a very rough part of town.
If you are seriously looking to settle down and buy a home where you are going to be for many years I would find a place in Wilmette and make it work.
New Trier *is* ranked higher, but New Trier does not have the same amount of poor kids and it ranked 12th in Illinois, with ETHS ranked 15th in Illinois. I think ETHS does pretty well. New Trier ranked 345th in the nation and ETHS ranked 469th. Both had the highest award, the gold medal.
Evanston Township High School was ranked among the best 2,000 public high schools in the nation. Click on the red dots for more information.
The Washington Post released its annual national public school ranking called “America's Most Challenging High Schools,” placing Evanston Township High School (ETHS) as 14th in the state and in the top 2 percent in the nation. ETHS moved up one spot from last year’s 15th place ranking, while also raising its index score. Four of the top schools are magnet schools.
I have lived in Wilmette for years, and sent two children through our local schools and New Trier. I hear over and over again that little diversity exists here, but that has not been our experience. There is greater economic diversity than many know of, and greater ethnic diversity as well. I do weary of the tiresome "Evanston vs Wilmette/North Shore" non-issue.
It's important to remember that Evanston is a city more than three times the size of Wilmette (and even larger, relatively, than the other towns the make up the North Shore), possessing a much greater array of business, service, governmental, and higher educational offerings. Comparing Wilmette to Evanston is really a bit strange, given how different the two communities are in size, history, and offerings, but is done all the time, I believe, for the simple reason that we share a boundary. I have lived in Evanston, in the city of Chicago, and in Wilmette, and each city offers plenty of good, and plenty of not so good.
Regarding ethnic diversity, Wilmette does not not have a large population of African-Americans, regardless of income. But it does have many families and people from around the globe, and they, like everyone here, do span different economic rungs. My neighbors within one block represent, to my knowledge, these countries, or ethnicities: African-American, China, Philippines, Netherlands, Jewish American, Greece, Japan, and Hungary (a neighbor who has since moved). As well, many neighbors moved here from distant parts of the United States. A number of persons residing in this block have strong ties to the city of Chicago, coming from families with deep Chicago immigrant roots. One family is intimately, and interestingly, connected to major events in Chicago's working class struggles of the 19th century.
I don't know if my block is representative of Wilmette as a whole or not, but I do know that for the twenty-one years I have lived here, it has been this mixed.
My children grew up friends with kids from a range of families, economically-speaking. They counted among their closest friends some living in conditions of economic struggle to kids coming from major wealth, and everything in between. I do not know if this is the case for all kids growing up here, or if mine were simply more relaxed knowing those who were not like them because of the mix of backgrounds in our own family.
It's important to keep in mind, when trying to evaluate Wilmette as a potential place to live, that Wilmette is the largest (population of about 28,000) community among the North Shore communities of Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, and Glencoe. In the endless debates about the North Shore, the significance of this often gets lost. Wilmette has a greater range of housing, people, and occupations than the other North Shore communities. It has its own flavor and feel--which in many parts of town can be surprisingly small town, relaxed and unpretentious. There are significant numbers of people here who've lived here for many decades, live in very modest housing, and do not make a lot of money. Some areas and blocks look almost unchanged from how they appeared decades ago.
Some (like me) love this quality to Wilmette; others, if looking for a more uniform country-club atmosphere, might not.
As for the supposed, and oft repeated, higher rate of problems experienced by New Trier students vs ETHS students, this is nonsense. As someone who has lived in this area most of my entire life, who has lived in Evanston, who has family in Evanston, and whose children were close to many Evanston students, it is utterly silly (and perhaps wishful thinking on the part of ETHS parents?) to characterize NT students as being more likely to use drugs or drink than ETHS students. This is not to say that there is not plenty of drinking and drug use at NT. There is. But that there also is at ETHS. This is, people, the real world we are talking about. Evanston residents often refer to their city's higher percentage of poor, while neglecting to mention that Evanston is home to many in the upper middle class, and significant numbers of the seriously wealthy. Their kids, too, can afford plenty of drugs, and do indeed partake of them!
Hope this might be of help to anyone looking to move to the 'burbs north of Chicago.
Last edited by Cam1st; 06-03-2014 at 04:15 PM..
Reason: clarity
I have lived in Wilmette for years, and sent two children through our local schools and New Trier. I hear over and over again that little diversity exists here, but that has not been our experience. There is greater economic diversity than many know of, and greater ethnic diversity as well. I do weary of the tiresome "Evanston vs Wilmette/North Shore" non-issue.
It's important to remember that Evanston is a city more than three times the size of Wilmette (and even larger, relatively, than the other towns the make up the North Shore), possessing a much greater array of business, service, governmental, and higher educational offerings. Comparing Wilmette to Evanston is really a bit strange, given how different the two communities are in size, history, and offerings, but is done all the time, I believe, for the simple reason that we share a boundary. I have lived in Evanston, in the city of Chicago, and in Wilmette, and each city offers plenty of good, and plenty of not so good.
Regarding ethnic diversity, Wilmette does not not have a large population of African-Americans, regardless of income. But it does have many families and people from around the globe, and they, like everyone here, do span different economic rungs. My neighbors within one block represent, to my knowledge, these countries, or ethnicities: African-American, China, Philippines, Netherlands, Jewish American, Greece, Japan, and Hungary (a neighbor who has since moved). As well, many neighbors moved here from distant parts of the United States. A number of persons residing in this block have strong ties to the city of Chicago, coming from families with deep Chicago immigrant roots. One family is intimately, and interestingly, connected to major events in Chicago's working class struggles of the 19th century.
I don't know if my block is representative of Wilmette as a whole or not, but I do know that for the twenty-one years I have lived here, it has been this mixed.
My children grew up friends with kids from a range of families, economically-speaking. They counted among their closest friends some living in conditions of economic struggle to kids coming from major wealth, and everything in between. I do not know if this is the case for all kids growing up here, or if mine were simply more relaxed knowing those who were not like them because of the mix of backgrounds in our own family.
It's important to keep in mind, when trying to evaluate Wilmette as a potential place to live, that Wilmette is the largest (population of about 28,000) community among the North Shore communities of Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, and Glencoe. In the endless debates about the North Shore, the significance of this often gets lost. Wilmette has a greater range of housing, people, and occupations than the other North Shore communities. It has its own flavor and feel--which in many parts of town can be surprisingly small town, relaxed and unpretentious. There are significant numbers of people here who've lived here for many decades, live in very modest housing, and do not make a lot of money. Some areas and blocks look almost unchanged from how they appeared decades ago.
Some (like me) love this quality to Wilmette; others, if looking for a more uniform country-club atmosphere, might not.
As for the supposed, and oft repeated, higher rate of problems experienced by New Trier students vs ETHS students, this is nonsense. As someone who has lived in this area most of my entire life, who has lived in Evanston, who has family in Evanston, and whose children were close to many Evanston students, it is utterly silly (and perhaps wishful thinking on the part of ETHS parents?) to characterize NT students as being more likely to use drugs or drink than ETHS students. This is not to say that there is not plenty of drinking and drug use at NT. There is. But that there also is at ETHS. This is, people, the real world we are talking about. Evanston residents often refer to their city's higher percentage of poor, while neglecting to mention that Evanston is home to many in the upper middle class, and significant numbers of the seriously wealthy. Their kids, too, can afford plenty of drugs, and do indeed partake of them!
Hope this might be of help to anyone looking to move to the 'burbs north of Chicago.
I have friends that are teachers in both ETHS and NT and they would all say the same thing.
The same sorts of misguided generalizations often come up in comparing suburbs that border Chicago's west side against those the are further west in Cook Co or eastern DuPage Co. The same things hold true -- larger towns very often do have a bigger underclass, but they also often have signficant numbers of folks that are not just "upper middle class" but flat out wealthy and often these larger numbers contribute to the sort of stratifcation that leads to unhealthy activities. When towns pride themselves on quite literally steering folks to different area to live based on pigmentation the unintended consequence is to place a higher priority on appearances than the content of one's character...
thanks people! i have a motivated and bright child, so she can excel in both schools?'but what if Evanston is so segregated? we're Asian, and it seems as if the white people get into the high level courses. i dont want my child being denied AP classes just because she's not white and rich!
Your fears are unfounded. I'm in Lake County - my kids went to Stevenson and the AP classes and students graduating with honors were filled with one Asian name after the next. Money and ethnic background won't matter. She's a bright child, she'll get into the AP classes!
Cam1st, thank you for such a fair and informative post on Wilmette! My husband and I are thinking of moving there from the city in the next couple years, so we've been trying to learn more about it. We've driven around a few times, gone to some playgrounds (we have a toddler), and I've definitely see what you wrote about, that there is much more diversity than people might automatically think, if they're just lumping it in with the rest of the North Shore.
Do you mind if I ask, what general area you live in (I really appreciate the diversity you mentioned), and if there are any particular neighborhoods you recommend for a family with young children in West/Central Wilmette? (our budget won't get us much east of Green Bay).
When towns pride themselves on quite literally steering folks to different area to live based on pigmentation the unintended consequence is to place a higher priority on appearances than the content of one's character...
My God, you just can't get past this tiny, insignificant rental office in Oak Park! I hate to tell you this, but your obsession with it is bordering on looney. Most Oak Parkers don't even know it exists.
It is completely fair to point out the fact that some high schools slip in the rankings because of diversity. If you look at the standardized test performance of "white children" at ETHS, you will see that they often outperform the "white children" sub-group at New Trier. I know parents that have other issues with ETHS, particularly the fact that it's in a rougher part of Evanston and has a bit of a gang problem. But academic performance is NOT a reason to avoid ETHS.
As far as I'm concerned, the biggest risk in moving to Wilmette is paying too much money for a house with access to amenities that are available in other suburbs with lower price tags. It is a nice town, though.
As far as I'm concerned, the biggest risk in moving to Wilmette is paying too much money for a house with access to amenities that are available in other suburbs with lower price tags. It is a nice town, though.
Well an amenity for many people tha move to Wilmette is:
1.) Location close to downtown Chicago
2.) Purple Line Access
3.) Lake acess
What other towns offer these amentieis at a lower price? I'm just pointing that out.
I know very few people that move to Wilmette becuase of the great pool and library system.
It's usually the schools and the options to commute to the loop and the lake.
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Very concise and much appreciated!
