Help me narrow my suburb search, please! (Chicago, Naperville: low income, best suburbs)

[angmcd]

Help me pick the right suburb!! We are a family of 4- our 2 boys are 9 and 11 years old. So, good public schools are a priority. We've been living in big Asian cities for 16 years, so the boys have never been to an American school. (Ironically, my husband and I both grew up in small towns in Ohio, so we are Midwesterners at heart.) We would love an IB school or one with a good mandarin program, but they seem to be scarce.

We love city life, but are ready for a house of our own. That said, we don't have a desire for a huge sprawling house with a big yard. We want to be in one of the closer suburbs with a train station and ideally find a house located within a reasonable walking distance to the town center. My husband will be working out of 2 offices- Elk Grove Village and Itasca. He'll be driving to work- and would like to keep that commute under 40 minutes. (I hope to get back to work in about a year- so a central location is good.)

We would like a 3-4 bedroom house that is around 3,000sf +/- in the $600k-$700k range.

We looked at loads of suburbs far west and realized it was too suburban feeling for us. Now, we are considering La Grange, but feel like we should open our search a bit before committing. Is there a northern suburb that would be a fit for us? Or another one in the West?

I look forward to feedback on La Grange and any other areas you would recommend.

[holl1ngsworth]

La Grange is outstanding. I would give additional consideration to Wheaton, Downers Grove, Arlington Heights, Elmhurst, Hinsdale, Naperville, Glen Ellyn and Western Springs. All have bustling downtown districts and top-rated schools.

Here's a recent article on the new urbanism trend in Chicago's suburbs:
Chicago’s Suburbs Are Getting a Lot More Urbanized | Chicago Mag
And here's another Chicago Mag article that ranks "The Best Suburbs":
Chicago's Best Places to Live | Chicago Mag

There are posters living in La Grange who will surely chime in with some great feedback on their town. I live in Wheaton and can attest to the downtown district checking your boxes. The elementary school serving our town's core, Longfellow, is one of the highest-performing in Illinois.

[Bellamouse]

Park Ridge would give you the feel you desire and a much closer proximity to Elk Grove.

[JJski]

We live in La Grange – definitely a good balance of Urban/Suburban feel. Does not feel suburban - i know exactly what you mean by urban suburban as krazy as that sounds...

We also moved here a few years ago from MI (had our choice of cities) and picked Chicago because we like the Midwest genuine vibe plus relatively close to MI family… West coast is too laid back, east coast is too hard edged – The midwest just feels right and greatest as central location, still easy to fly east or west… We have 2 kids infant and a 2 year old, initially thought about downtown Chicago but wanted a little less concrete Urban. Looked at North shores and fell in luv with highland park until we visited a few times and it was SO QUIET after 8PM on a Friday Saturday summer day… then starting looking at Evanston and loved it but found the problem with North shore is generally your stuck up there – location was not state central enough for us. we switched gears to west burbs. River Forest was incredible but also way high priced and Oak park was too gritty not enough pretty…

We wanted to keep ultra close access (inner ring big city access) as majority of our work is downtown so Naperville and those cities fell off the list for us – but they are amazing towns with great cores if you are ok with distance. Ultimately it boiled down to Elmhurst(more suburban) La Grange (Urban but not like oak park) Western Springs (small downtown but still ok, easy bike/walk to LGs) or Hinsdale in our case.

So now to Specifically about LG, what I know
- - Easy big city access: 25$ Uber, 25minute car drive, Train (19minuet express, 30minute regular)
- - BNSF line: this one is FAST, most profitable train line I hear. lots of trains, like every 30min
- - 2 stations: stone and la grange, 1 is Amtrak so you have an Amtrak station a nice to have
- - Vibrant Core: it’s a small city but full of life (not a Naperville or Evanston)
- - Events: Lots and lots
- - Family Friendly: you can go out on a Friday and Saturday with kids/babies/stroller and not feel like you are interrupting
- - Many Younger families: 30-45 mostly professionals working downtown
- - Great public/private schools: great public should be given at your price range
-- Great business mix: lots of restaurants, retail, service, etc... and places to grab drinks

*** Now taxes are high in LG (its Cook county, same as Chicago) so pay close attention to prices with taxes
A lot of this is my/our own personal opinion so others may feel different – if you can visit the towns walk core/hangout a weekend, you will truly know if it’s the right fit for you. I think you should visit/feel out Park Ridge – we also looked there but we wanted more energy in core.

[twodoor2]

Originally Posted by angmcd

Help me pick the right suburb!! We are a family of 4- our 2 boys are 9 and 11 years old. So, good public schools are a priority. We've been living in big Asian cities for 16 years, so the boys have never been to an American school. (Ironically, my husband and I both grew up in small towns in Ohio, so we are Midwesterners at heart.) We would love an IB school or one with a good mandarin program, but they seem to be scarce.

We love city life, but are ready for a house of our own. That said, we don't have a desire for a huge sprawling house with a big yard. We want to be in one of the closer suburbs with a train station and ideally find a house located within a reasonable walking distance to the town center. My husband will be working out of 2 offices- Elk Grove Village and Itasca. He'll be driving to work- and would like to keep that commute under 40 minutes. (I hope to get back to work in about a year- so a central location is good.)

We would like a 3-4 bedroom house that is around 3,000sf +/- in the $600k-$700k range.

We looked at loads of suburbs far west and realized it was too suburban feeling for us. Now, we are considering La Grange, but feel like we should open our search a bit before committing. Is there a northern suburb that would be a fit for us? Or another one in the West?

I look forward to feedback on La Grange and any other areas you would recommend.

Northbrook is in your price range, and the downtown area has a train station. Northbrook also has a large Eastern Asian community. The schools are great as well. I've been to a ton of open houses in NB, and almost everyone that visits them is Eastern Asian. I'm assuming you're Eastern Asian because of your desire for a Mandarin program at the school. Glenbrook North, the high school, offers Mandarin.

Elk Grove Village isn't terribly far from there. I think you'll be okay, as I used to commute to NB each day from further away and that was an hour drive. The taxes are also reasonable. They're high everywhere, but I think for such an affluent community, they're pretty good.

[4122]

How about Arlington Heights or Mt Prospect? You can find many great homes in your price range and they're only 15-20 minutes from Elk Grove Vilage and Itasca. Both towns have a large asian community and the schools are excellent. Also, Arlington Heights has a great downtown.

[twodoor2]

Originally Posted by 4122

How about Arlington Heights or Mt Prospect? You can find many great homes in your price range and they're only 15-20 minutes from Elk Grove Vilage and Itasca. Both towns have a large asian community and the schools are excellent. Also, Arlington Heights has a great downtown.

If this area, I would try to get into any area that feeds into Prospect High, although I'm not sure if they have a Mandarin program. Hersey High is also good, but Prospect is supposedly better.

Much of Mt. Prospect has low income housing, so try to avoid that part, and I would avoid the area of Arlington Heights near Kensington and Dryden. There's the nastiest apartment complex over there. With your budget, you may want to try the historical part of Arlington Heights which has really charming older homes in your price range.

A little further NorthEast is the Buffalo Grove area that feeds into Adlai Stevenson High, and there are a lot of Eastern Asians in that school. It is one of the best schools in the State. I didn't check, but I would be shocked if they didn't have a Mandarin program. I would avoid the area that feeds into Buffalo Grove High though, or Wheeling High. They're good schools, but nowhere near as good as Stevenson, and many Eastern Asians purposely send their children there.

[ChiAreaGuy]

With that much cash to spend, you shouldn't move to AH or MP, like others suggest. La Grange and surrounding areas I think are good. C:

[twodoor2]

Originally Posted by ChiAreaGuy

With that much cash to spend, you shouldn't move to AH or MP, like others suggest. La Grange and surrounding areas I think are good. C:

Are there lots of Eastern Asians in the Western suburbs? I'm not sure, as I don't know much about that area. The areas in the Northwest an North burbs not only have a great deal of Eastern Asians, but lots of Asian grocery stores and businesses that cater to them. I know, because I shop at all of them! LOL! Almost all my friends are either Korean or Chinese, so I know how important it is for them not just to have great schools, but places where they can shop and eat.

Korean food junkie here.

[angmcd]

Thanks to everyone who has posted so far. This is so helpful!! We are actually Caucasian Americans, but have lived and worked in Asia for 16 years. Our boys were born in China so we want to keep their "Asian connection" as much as we can. That said---they are so excited to live an American Life! They have not experienced a "real" winter - so we'll see how they cope when we arrive in January!!!