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And even shocking to me- Round Lake Beach had a higher median income than Palatine and Schaumburg!- $67,465. That is a shocker and a mythbuster! 10 years ago RLB was a pit. But people making...ummm... $67,465 are now moving there. Why?
With the disparity between the median income levels between Central/Northern Lake County and the Northwest Suburbs I referenced, wouldn't the notion that being further from Chicago in Northern or Central Lake county has potential disadvantages economically be false? Wouldn't it say that more, better paying jobs are moving north? I'm not a rocket scientist....but the income data doesn't lie: "Who is paying this type of money to those crazies in northern lake county"? LOL.
How would one explain the income gap between the northern/central Lake county suburbs and the Cook NW Burbs? You can't be making $88,000 per year at Gurnee Mills or Six Flags, right? And if there are more plentiful better jobs in the NW burbs, why don't those suburbs income levels reflect that?
A $20,000 per year median gap between Northern Lake County residents and NW Cook burbs dispels many myths about Northern Lake County being "too far away" from Chicago.
Now, granted----schools up here can improve and they will. People making $88,000 in Gurnee are starting to demand action to improve schools. But the quesion of the days is, why aren't the 30,000 + residents of Gurnee and surrounding suburbs who work in our area be (median income $88,025) willing to commute to Arlington Heights to live there for the "better life" and "better schools"? Because good paying jobs are here, schools are improving, the knock on Central/Northern Lake County is a myth, and the lifestyle is good up here..... Income levels don't lie.
I too am surprised by these numbers, though I can possibly understand the reasoning. Let's see if the logic works. In my experience, those villages in Lake County tend to be occupied by the traditional family model. Those villages in Cook County do have a significant single population as well as being more established, therefore there will be more individuals residing in apartments. Many of these people are young adults who live at home and are working or go to school and work.
In the Lake County villages you mentioned, the majority of the families have younger children who are ineligible to work, so the median wages will be higher.
I too am surprised by these numbers, though I can possibly understand the reasoning. Let's see if the logic works. In my experience, those villages in Lake County tend to be occupied by the traditional family model. Those villages in Cook County do have a significant single population as well as being more established, therefore there will be more individuals residing in apartments. Many of these people are young adults who live at home and are working or go to school and work.
In the Lake County villages you mentioned, the majority of the families have younger children who are ineligible to work, so the median wages will be higher.
Wouldn't recent grades living at home INCREASE the median income?
Ok- so lets look at the data:
Northern Lake:
Gurnee-
Population- 30,586
% of family households- 72.6%
Avg. Household size- 2.7 people
Bachelors Degree 47.8%
Graduate Professional Degree-17%
mean travel time to work- 28.9 minutes
Grayslake-
Population- 21,645
% of family households- 76.1%
Avg. Household size- 2.8 people
Bachelors Degree- 50.8%
Graduate Professional Degree-17.5%
mean travel time to work- 35.7 minutes
NW Cook:
Rolling Meadows
Population- 23,626
% of family households- 69.2%
Avg. Household size- 2.7 people
Bachelors Degree- 31%
Graduate Professional Degree-9.5%
mean travel time to work- 24.7 minutes
Palatine-
Population- 67,317
% of family households- 65%
Avg. Household size- 2.6 people
Bachelors Degree 41.4%
Graduate Professional Degree-14%
mean travel time to work- 27.1 minutes
Arlington Heights-
Population- 73,693
% of family households- 72.6%
Avg. Household size- 2.4 people
Bachelors Degree- 46.5%
Graduate Professional Degree-16.3%
mean travel time to work- 28.9 minutes
At first review, it looks like mean work travel times are close- within 2-10 minutes difference between Lake and NW Cook.
The striking difference is education----which we have been debating at the HS level. Significant higher level of college and graduate level degrees in Northern Lake vs. NW Cook (closer parity in Arlington Heights was the exception).
Surprising? I think the educational attaiment directly correlates to the income level.
Recent grands would pull the median lower because most individuals leaving a 4 year college make between $40-$60K depending on the degree. Obviously for professional degrees it is much higher. You also must take into account that many college age students go to school part time and work part time, which brings the median lower.
It seems counterintuitive. In Round Lake area now for example, the majority of new home construction has been occupied by families with young children. It is generally true that one spouse in these households is the primary breadwinner. If the average cost of a home in Round Lake is now $250-$300, it is safe to assume the breadwinner must be making $80-100K.
Once Round Lake "ages," the median income may go lower (adjusted to inflation of course), as many high school grads start to work part time or eventually migrate back there after securing college degrees. Generally, it takes some time before making some money after college graduation.
I would have been estatic coming out of college making 40-60k. Just for kicks, I looked up college of lake county enrollment---which was 16010 in 2007. Harper had enrollment of 15156 in 2007. So college enrollment at least at the community college level is similar.
I don't know if the older students living at home in NW Cook argument is the answer. Median resident age as of 2007 for Arlington Heights was 39.7. Median resident age for Gurnee in 2007 34.2. So if there were many graduated college students living in Arlington Heights, the median age would be lower than 39.7. Thats quite high.
Are there a lot of younger people in the Arlington Heights area? Herseys web site lists enrolment at 1919. Warren township HS is at 3828. Based on those numbers, it would seem that there are potentially twice as many recent college grads living in Gurnee vs. Arlington Heights (I'm assuming enrollment has been similar to 4 years ago).
Now its my turn to guess----I bet there are many older childless couples in Arlington Heights compared to Gurnee. But the problem is, stats show that people in there 50's are typically in prime earning years....
Also, wouldn't recent grads earning 40-60K living at home actually increase NW Cooks median income? Back of the napkin math would say if Dad Makes 60k, mom works PT and makes 15K and junior living at home makes 50k---thats $125,000 for that household.
Yea I think you are right on this one. In terms of community college enrollment, it's about even. I'm wondering how many students in the area attend Elgin Community College, Oaktown Community College, Roosevelt in Schaumburg, Olivet (which is small).
For some reason when I'm in the NW burbs, there seems to be more people between the ages of 21-30 than up in northern Lake. However, that could be inaccurate and maybe Lake is getting more young adults.
I don't see that in Lake County. Give me some examples of road capacity issues. It gets backed up on 120 in Grayslake sometimes---but thats about all I see. Are you talking Six Flags traffic? Come on.
Personally, I can tell you that Milwaukee Av gets backed up a lot in Libertyville and Vernon Hills, especially during rush hour where it is not a very good idea to take that road. Also I have to agree with cubssox that the Tri-State in Lake County is usually a complete mess in rush hour as well. That being said, most of this traffic is happening in South Lake County.
In my opinion, Libertyville is considered to belong in South Lake County rather than North Lake County. First off, if you look at a map, Libertyville is closer to Lake Cook Rd than the Wisconsin border. Also, the town has more similarities with the North Shore towns than towns such as Gurnee or Lindenhurst. Examples of this are the downtown, the wider selection of older houses, and the income level. The biggest difference I see with Libertyville compared to suburbs such as Highland Park, Deerfield, Buffalo Grove, and Lake Forest (“north shore”) is a small Jewish Population.
Next, I would not compare Warren High School and Libertyville High School together when it comes to academics. Libertyville has performed better than Warren for years on AP Tests and the ACT. That being said, Warren is by no means a bad school and a good school to send your kid to. However, there is good proof from cubssox that schools in Northern Cook County and Southern Lake are better than schools in Northern Lake.
The Lake County schools in Grayslake, Libertyville, Mundelein have not yet reached this status. There is nothing wrong with that, it is just an opinion that is echoed by many.
Chitown85, if you click that link, you will see that GBN students passed 89.5% of their AP tests whereas Libertyville passed 88.5%. Throw in a debatably better athletics and music program, Libertyville is on par with GBN. Finally, the only reason Northbrook is more renowned would be because of its identification with the “North Shore”, its presence in big hit movies, “old money”, and its proximity to the city.
Personally, I can tell you that Milwaukee Av gets backed up a lot in Libertyville and Vernon Hills, especially during rush hour where it is not a very good idea to take that road. Also I have to agree with cubssox that the Tri-State in Lake County is usually a complete mess in rush hour as well. That being said, most of this traffic is happening in South Lake County.
In my opinion, Libertyville is considered to belong in South Lake County rather than North Lake County. First off, if you look at a map, Libertyville is closer to Lake Cook Rd than the Wisconsin border. Also, the town has more similarities with the North Shore towns than towns such as Gurnee or Lindenhurst. Examples of this are the downtown, the wider selection of older houses, and the income level. The biggest difference I see with Libertyville compared to suburbs such as Highland Park, Deerfield, Buffalo Grove, and Lake Forest (“north shore”) is a small Jewish Population.
Next, I would not compare Warren High School and Libertyville High School together when it comes to academics. Libertyville has performed better than Warren for years on AP Tests and the ACT. That being said, Warren is by no means a bad school and a good school to send your kid to. However, there is good proof from cubssox that schools in Northern Cook County and Southern Lake are better than schools in Northern Lake.
Chitown85, if you click that link, you will see that GBN students passed 89.5% of their AP tests whereas Libertyville passed 88.5%. Throw in a debatably better athletics and music program, Libertyville is on par with GBN. Finally, the only reason Northbrook is more renowned would be because of its identification with the “North Shore”, its presence in big hit movies, “old money”, and its proximity to the city.
District 211 had 3 schools: Barrington, Fremd and Palatine earn "silvers" and District 214 had Prospect, Hersey, Buffalo Grove, Rolling Meadows and Wheeling earn "Silver"(ALL except Elk Grove). Now this is US News ranking which has been debated on this forum as having flaws. But I contend that the sometimes debated/perceived "big gap" between the North Shore High Schools and NW suburban High Schools is often not as great as people think. I think you can also add Vernon Hills and Libertyville into the category of closer to the NS High SChools.
Glenbrook North High School is located in Northbrook, which is located in Cook County. Deerfield is located in southern Lake County due to its southern boundary bordering on Lake Cook Road. South of Lake Cook Road across from Deerfield is Northbrook.
Both communities are considered the North Shore.
Glenview, Deerfield, Northfield, Northbrook and Skokie often consider themselves North Shore communities because they are adjacent to actual north shore communities. When most people refer to the shore communities, they mean the towns that are actually along the shore.
Last edited by lakecountylifer; 07-07-2009 at 09:09 PM..
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