Spouse works in Maywood, I work in Hyde Park or Orland Park...where to live? (Chicago: crime, custom home)

[eclobb2]

Wife is considering a job in Maywood and if she accepts I may end up working either in Orland Park or Hyde Park.

If I end up in Hyde Park can anyone suggest areas to live that would be a good compromise on our respective commutes while being safe and good for raising kids? We are both completely unfamiliar with the neighborhoods of Chicago. We would hope to be able to purchase a single-family home in the 400-500K price range.

Same for me working in Orland Park.

Thank you!

[chet everett]

Maywood is kind of awful town that, despite having a very nice major medical campus for Loyola University and a massive VA hospital is rundown and crime ridden. Schools are awful and even local businesses are of the type more associated with impoverished areas than any suburb. The distance to / from Orland Park is about 20 - 25 miles though the route would be linked via both surface street options and the TriState Tollway and there are some rather nice towns in-between that might be in your budget including LaGrange, LaGrange Park, Orland Park itself and Elmhurst. Towns like Western Springs or Hinsdale are probably too costly.

If work instead was in Hyde Park you'd have less physical distance between the two work locations but arguably fewer good options for commuting as the road linkings them are more congested -- the most obvious town would be Oak Park and you might also consider adjacent River Forest though the price point might be tough. Might also consider Riverside or Brookfield.

[deeman7]

There isn't really an easy way to get to Hyde Park from the west/southwest suburbs and vice versa. So to find somewhere 'in the middle' will land you like in the Clearing neighborhood of Chicago but while it is a safe area, you are dealing with CPS schools.


If you're like me, you don't want your wife to have a long commute, so live closer to where she works. The LaGrange, LaGrange Park, Western Springs area would mean a 15-20 minute commute to Maywood and probably a 30-40 trip to Orland Park. I don't know how long it would take to get to Hyde Park...I would imagine it would be at least an hour, probably more.

[jwaiter]

Riverside, North Riverside.

[chet everett]

A drive from LaGrange to Orland Park should be fairly quick -- straight down LaGrange Rd. Similarly, so long as one times things not to hit the peak of rush hour, a drive from LaGrange to Hyde Park via the Stevenson and Lake Shore Drive can be quite easy, often under 45 minutes.

There is no good reason for someone with a budget that goes to $500k to consider Clearing, which is a neighborhood south of Midway Airport or other parts of Chicago that are undesirable; even if one's goal is to find a "central" location the way that major roadways are laid out in the region would not make it any more convenient to live away from a well connected town.

BTW Folks that make suggestions as though towns that share or portion of their name must be tempered with the reality that although Riverside is mostly a desirable area that was laid out by the noted landscape architect Fredick Law Olmstead and has many lovely custom homes, the town to its north is notable only for its run down and crime ridden dying mall and its signficantly less desirable schools.

[eclobb2]

Thanks for the info.

[beaniemac]

hyde park is expensive for single family homes. I don't know if you'll find what you want in that price range. If that were my budget, I'd move to oak park. You can easily find a home for 300K-400K and you'd have enough wiggle room to pay the massive property taxes out there. and the commute to maywood would be simple.

[deeman7]

Originally Posted by chet everett

There is no good reason for someone with a budget that goes to $500k to consider Clearing, which is a neighborhood south of Midway Airport or other parts of Chicago that are undesirable; even if one's goal is to find a "central" location the way that major roadways are laid out in the region would not make it any more convenient to live away from a well connected town.

I agree, my apologies to the OP for any confusion, I was just throwing that in there as the approximate 'mid-point' and not as a legit suggestion based on the needs in question.

[chicagobear]

I agree with Oak Park.

[HomeIsWhere...]

Originally Posted by chet everett

A drive from LaGrange to Orland Park should be fairly quick -- straight down LaGrange Rd. Similarly, so long as one times things not to hit the peak of rush hour, a drive from LaGrange to Hyde Park via the Stevenson and Lake Shore Drive can be quite easy, often under 45 minutes.

There is no good reason for someone with a budget that goes to $500k to consider Clearing, which is a neighborhood south of Midway Airport or other parts of Chicago that are undesirable; even if one's goal is to find a "central" location the way that major roadways are laid out in the region would not make it any more convenient to live away from a well connected town.

BTW Folks that make suggestions as though towns that share or portion of their name must be tempered with the reality that although Riverside is mostly a desirable area that was laid out by the noted landscape architect Fredick Law Olmstead and has many lovely custom homes, the town to its north is notable only for its run down and crime ridden dying mall and its signficantly less desirable schools.

Overall I agree with your views concerning where to purchase and live, however, concerning your reference to North Riverside and its "dying mall"; it should be noted that malls throughout the area and the U.S. in general have fallen out of favor with the shopping public, but it is certainly not run down. As far as crime...it's everywhere and literally all over the map. Besides there are many, many other shopping venues/options in the general area of Riverside/North Riverside.

Less Desirable schools? Most of the students in the North Riverside school system attend Riverside schools with the exception of students living west of 1st Avenue who attend the District 94 school which is Komarek, an elementary school with a 6 out of 10 great schools score. There is also a Catholic elementary school in Riverside open to the children of North Riverside as well. They are an excellent school as well as indicated by their success in placement to prominent and desirable Catholic High Schools.

St. Mary School
97 Herrick Road
Riverside, Illinois 60546

Congratulations to our eighth graders and their families on their high school entrance exam scores! We are so proud of them.

Here is how our students did...

Trinity
• 100% acceptance

Nazareth Academy
• 100% acceptance

Fenwick
• 100% acceptance

St. Ignatius
• 88% acceptance.
• 866 students took the test for 360 spots.

Riverside Brookfield
• 4 students will be attending.

St. Mary Riverside Parish School

The public High School which serves the students of Riverside, North Riverside, and Brookfield... RB is not a "less desirable school".

Riverside District 96 School District - Flexible Boundary Map
Ames School
Blythe Park School
Central School
Hollywood School
Hauser Junior High

All of the above schools are in Riverside proper
63 Woodside Rd. Riverside, IL 60546

Riverside Public Schools – Flexible Boundary Map