Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago Suburbs
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 07-24-2013, 03:07 AM
 
2 posts, read 3,278 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

Does anyone do this commute daily? Today I travel 25 miles one way to Riverwoods from Chicago. We're looking to possibly move to St Charles but I'm unsure of the consistency with the commute.

We're looking for a 4 bed 3 bath newer home for under 530K. St Charles definitely fits that bill.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 07-24-2013, 07:50 AM
 
Location: Lake Arlington Heights, IL
5,479 posts, read 12,264,657 times
Reputation: 2848
Why would you set yourself up for such a lousy commute when there nearby communities with beautiful homes within your price range? I commuted from Arlington Heights to West Chicago for about a year and that is a shorter commute than what you would be doing. Even though I was going opposite the heavier traffic, which you won't be doing, it really suc$%^!! On a great day it took 55 minutes on a bad weather day 90 minutes EACH WAY! My advice is DON'T DO IT!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-24-2013, 07:55 AM
 
28,453 posts, read 85,379,084 times
Reputation: 18729
You would be looking at a really awful commute. The distance would increase significantly, the amount of time spent on crowded surface streets would be borderline insane, total travel times might exceed two hours each way....

There are lots of choices that are going to result in a more manageable commute, likely would have schools as good if not better, probably have lower taxes and not all that much difference in housing cost / size of home. The biggest things you might have to compromise on are age of home / neighborhoods and size of lot...

Frankly I would not look any further than Downers Grove and even there I would would want to stay north of the core of town for best access to tollways. You could also look in Elmhurst, Park Ridge, Glenview, Northbrook, Deerfield, Lincoonshire, Buffalo Grove, Palatine, Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, Riverwoods itself and some towns in southern Lake Co.

Although St. Charles is a nice town if you are commuting to Rivwrwods you would spend so little time enjoying your home / family / town that the move really would have little pay off...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-24-2013, 09:33 AM
 
Location: California
369 posts, read 760,035 times
Reputation: 327
Eek. I would not choose that commute if I had a choice. St Charles is lovely but as the others have described, the commute would make it not worth living there. I would look at Lincolnshire, Riverwoods, Deerfield, Buffalo Grove, Northbrook, Long Grove first. These are great towns for families, with excellent school systems as good as or better than St Charles's. I'm not sure how far $530K goes in Lincolnshire these days but if I could afford it that would be my first choice. It's beautiful and has great parks and forest preserves.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-24-2013, 01:50 PM
 
7 posts, read 17,613 times
Reputation: 17
Your dollar will probably go much farther in St. Charles in terms of size and quality, but that commute would be deadly. St. Charles is located in an inconvenient area as there aren't any major highways nearby except for 90 in Elgin, and even that's a 20-30 minute drive. It's a great city but that commute could run up to 2 hours one way. As people mentioned above, there's plenty of good areas nearby it'd be smart to look at first. I have met people who do make a commute similar to that, but most work at odd hours when traffic is at a minimum
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-24-2013, 07:35 PM
 
16 posts, read 31,435 times
Reputation: 27
There are places in Lake County or Northern Cook County where you can get a nice home for a comparable price, and have a very short commute in comparison to St Charles to Northbrook.

Bad idea to look at that type of commute. There are much better options!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-24-2013, 07:51 PM
 
13,005 posts, read 18,908,288 times
Reputation: 9252
I have to concur with everyone else. You might drive it on a Sunday afternoon in about an hour. But an accident or snow can stretch that to 3-4 hours. I would look at Spring Grove or Johnsburgh, a short drive to the terminal at Fox Lake where you can catch an express train to Lake Cook under 45 minutes.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-25-2013, 06:24 AM
 
2 posts, read 3,278 times
Reputation: 10
Thanks for the insight guys! Looks like our home search continues.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-25-2013, 10:11 AM
 
Location: Lake Arlington Heights, IL
5,479 posts, read 12,264,657 times
Reputation: 2848
Quote:
Originally Posted by pvande55 View Post
I have to concur with everyone else. You might drive it on a Sunday afternoon in about an hour. But an accident or snow can stretch that to 3-4 hours. I would look at Spring Grove or Johnsburgh, a short drive to the terminal at Fox Lake where you can catch an express train to Lake Cook under 45 minutes.
Spring Grove or Johnsburg?!?! Why? It's too far
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-27-2013, 05:54 AM
 
13,005 posts, read 18,908,288 times
Reputation: 9252
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubssoxfan View Post
Spring Grove or Johnsburg?!?! Why? It's too far
I have known many who commute from those places to downtown Chicago, another half hour further.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago Suburbs
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top