NW vs. W suburbs for job in Elk Grove (Chicago: house, employment)

[Bill Laver]

Have you considered Elmhurst? It's not as affluent overall as Hinsdale, Barrington, or Oak Brook, but there should be plenty of homes in your price range and beyond. It's also a bit closer to EGV.

[kingofhearts]

Originally Posted by Bill Laver

Have you considered Elmhurst? It's not as affluent overall as Hinsdale, Barrington, or Oak Brook, but there should be plenty of homes in your price range and beyond. It's also a bit closer to EGV.

To be honest, I haven't. What else does Elmhurst have that makes it a good place to live (beyond homes and a convenient location)?

[nanannie]

I grew up there.They have a vibrant downtown,nice parks,easy chicago commute(metra)to Chicago and not far from Ohare, huge new library,good schools, nice neighborhoods with LOTS of tear downs. I know it sounds like every other burb in Chicago land,but its nice.Houses in your range there as well.I think Hinsdale is "nicer",but smaller,,more $$ then Elmhurst,,but overall nothing wrong with Elmhurst.I just prefer Barrington and the "country",privacy,wildlife,lakes space and yada yada yada

[kingofhearts]

Originally Posted by nanannie

I grew up there.They have a vibrant downtown,nice parks,easy chicago commute(metra)to Chicago and not far from Ohare, huge new library,good schools, nice neighborhoods with LOTS of tear downs. I know it sounds like every other burb in Chicago land,but its nice.Houses in your range there as well.I think Hinsdale is "nicer",but smaller,,more $$ then Elmhurst,,but overall nothing wrong with Elmhurst.I just prefer Barrington and the "country",privacy,wildlife,lakes space and yada yada yada

Nanannie, I noticed in a different post you mentioned Park Ridge. Google maps shows Park Ridge as being both close to Elk Grove as well as downtown. How does it compare to the other places we've talked about? I saw that there a quite a few new properties that are in the range we want. How safe is the neighborhood? How good is the school district?

[nanannie]

Park Ridge is nice too ( I sound like a broken record and no,I am not a Realtor) Its got a large old dowtown,nicely kept hoods,smaller lots,,If there are bad areas or problams with the schools,I have not heard of them.Prefer your other choices but just an opinion..Not crazy about the surrounding areas,no offense,just prefer more "charm" and "pretty" neighbordhoods.You really will have your answers when You visit and see what kind of home and area your dollar buys.I would say Park Ridge is more "urban" then the other towns you have in mind

[ahava]

Originally Posted by nanannie

You really will have your answers when You visit and see what kind of home and area your dollar buys.I would say Park Ridge is more "urban" then the other towns you have in mind

I agree and also, the schools in Park Ridge are not as good as in the other areas you're looking at. If you can afford better, go for it.

[kingofhearts]

Originally Posted by kirstenleigh

I agree and also, the schools in Park Ridge are not as good as in the other areas you're looking at. If you can afford better, go for it.

School is a huge consideration for us. Wherever we stay, we plan to stick around for a long time. Hinsdale Central and Barrington are supposed to be top notch public high schools.

If we were to stay in Park Ridge, based on your advice, private school would be the way to go. Do you know of any good private schools that are located close to Park Ridge? By schools, I would mean elementary + middle + high school. Thanks for your help.

[nanannie]

I am clueless,sorry,but Kirstenleigh is a teacher,she may chime in to help..Luck in your move,enjoy your new home wherever it is

[ahava]

Originally Posted by kingofhearts

School is a huge consideration for us. Wherever we stay, we plan to stick around for a long time. Hinsdale Central and Barrington are supposed to be top notch public high schools.

If we were to stay in Park Ridge, based on your advice, private school would be the way to go. Do you know of any good private schools that are located close to Park Ridge? By schools, I would mean elementary + middle + high school. Thanks for your help.

Hinsdale Central is certainly top notch - it's ranked in the top 5 high schools in Illinois. The high school in Park Ridge, Maine South, is actually ranked slightly higher than Barrington (25th vs 29th), but Barrington has much better K-8 schools.
As for private schools, there aren't many near Park Ridge that are K-12. Most are K-8 or 9-12. I'm only familiar with good private high schools...ones near Park Ridge are Fenwick High School in Oak Park and St Viator High School in Arlington Heights (that's a Catholic school though).

I'm going to throw in my two cents about choosing between Barrington and Hinsdale, because we made a similar decision when we moved two years ago. We almost moved to Barrington because I love how green it is there, and it's quiet, there's less traffic...but it's far from major highways, and we have a lot of friends and family that we visit, so that wasn't going to work for us. Also, I'm used to living in a place where I can walk to stores and restaurants, and where we were looking in Barrington (North Barrington/Lake Barrington) isn't like that. We would have had to drive more if we lived in Barrington. If you lived near the downtown area you probably wouldn't, but Hinsdale is less spread out - I feel like it's more walkable. Personally I think Hinsdale is snobby and elitist. We moved to Western Springs, which is next to Hinsdale and basically the same but with a totally different attitude. It's a great place to raise a family because people are really friendly. The town is small so you can live almost anywhere and be within walking distance to the schools and the downtown area which has locally-owned stores and restaurants (the only chains are Starbucks and Oberweis), and a Metra station. In Hinsdale if you want a new house you'll have to get a teardown, but there's a new subdivision (Timber Trails) being built in Western Springs. I've looked at the floor plans online, the houses are really nice. And there's plenty of teardowns too. Anyway, each town is different and you have to find the one that best fits you.

Because I like statistics, here are the rankings of all the schools in these towns, so you can compare and don't have to trust my judgment of "better".

Elementary Schools (out of 2,227 schools in Illinois)
7) Field Park Elem - Western Springs
9) Madison Elem - Hinsdale
21) North Barrington Elem - Barrington
23) Grove Ave Elem - Barrington
25) Oak Elem - Hinsdale
34) Roslyn Road Elem - Barrington
35) Lines Elem - Barrington
43) Laidlaw Elem - Western Springs
50) The Lane Elem - Hinsdale
64) Hough Street Elem - Barrington
72) Rose Elem - South Barrington
81) Monroe Elem - Hinsdale
92) Forest Hills Elem - Western Springs
107) Countryside Elem - Barrington
178) Roosevelt Elem - Park Ridge
(I'm not going to list the rest of the Park Ridge schools; they're all lower than 200.)

Middle Schools (out of 1,363 schools)
17) McClure JH - Western Springs
41) Hinsdale Middle - Hinsdale
53) Lincoln Middle - Park Ridge
61) Barrington Station - Barrington
74) Barrington Prairie - Barrington
114) Emerson Middle - Park Ridge

High Schools (out of 635 schools)
5) Hinsdale Central - Hinsdale
25) Maine South - Park Ridge
27) Lyons Township - Western Springs/La Grange
29) Barrington

[nanannie]

We are less then 5 minutes to 90,rts 68,62,14,and a little further to 12 ,,1 am right off of 59.I sure would say We are very close to major highways and you can get your map out to see.So,I am baffled at your statement.We used to live in Lake Barrington and could walk to the shopping area on Kelsey and 59.So even there,it IS possible.There are many homes built around town for easy walking to stores if one wants that.It takes me 4 1/2 minutes to drive to town..I was a nurse at Hinsdale Hospital years ago,the majority of people I met were very nice.There are "snobs' in ALL affluent areas.I choose not to hang with them,many other nice people to choose from