Best place to live in Chicago for Young family?

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gailforce_wind

Chicago police officers are required to live in the city limits. Hyde Park and Lincoln Park are two of the nicest areas to live in, but housing is not cheap. If you are looking to live in the suburbs you have a lot of choices, too many to list here, but Naperville, Des Plaines, Palos Heights and Aurora are a few places to start.

re15

i would definitely reccommend living in the suburbs for a family. the northern suburbs (northbrook, glenview, evanston, etc.) are pretty pricey so you would both need good paying jobs. the western suburbs (naperville, elmhurst, schaumberg) are nice and less than the northern suburbs but depending on location within the western burbs it could get up there in price. the south/southwest suburbs are great. they are reasonably priced too. i would look into frankfurt, tinley park, oak forest. orland park is great but has a few pricey areas. any suburb is really close enough to go to ball games. northern burbs can get to wrigley field easily. southern suburbs get to u.s. cellular and soldier field really easily as well. the metra is also great for getting into the city. (i take it everyday!!) hope this helps!

Ella727

In the city, try Portage Park, edison Park, Norwood Park, Old Irving, Roscoe Village. These are all pretty safe , lots of families and middle income housing is available as well as upper middle class prices. I live in portage park with my husband two kids and two dogs. our home was under $300,000. we are under 4 miles from Wrigley. the expressways are less than 2 miles away. There are 4 police officers living on my block alone and one chief for the fire department. we live on a cul-du-sac street so there are lots of kids playing outside and I know all the neighbors. i definitely feel safe here.

Diana

I believe the best place for a young family would be Gurnee. It is about and hour north of Chicago and an hour south of Milwakee. Which makes it easy for traveling. The area schools are fantastic and the high school is considered an Illinois school of excellence. Gurnee is home to Gurnee Mills (mall) and Six Flags Great America (amusement park). There is also alot of real estate available in the area currently. Gurnee is also home to about five Bears players that moved up here to start families as well because it is a great and opportune area to raise children in.

thedude

Where is your wife's office? The further you get from downtown, the less expensive. My house is about $145k near Rockford, and would sell for around $330K in Schaumburg, and would be around $500 in Chicago. Monster.com has a great cost of living calculator comparing different cities.

ferris2001mt

I wouldn't live IN Chicago with a young family. I would recommend Naperville. It's crazy safe, thus making your family safe AND your job really easy! Diversity? Not so much, but Naperville does have great schools, they made me a friggin genius.
Any suburb is close enough to get to Cubs, Bears, Bulls, Sox, Blackhawks, Arena football, college basketball, pro softball, lacrosse, womens basketball, or a number of minor league baseball games. Word.

bcn_mimosa

Hello.. I would recommend, Lincoln park, Wrigleyville, or Roscoe village...

Good Luck..

Bcn_mimosa

Mesocyclone

Try suburbs such as Naperville or Downers Grove. If you can afford a more expensive area, go with Clarendon Hills or Hinsdale because they have very very good public schools, are very safe, and are closer to ballgames. But, these areas are not entirely diverse, especially Hinsdale. I want to emphasis that Hinsdale has the best public schools in the state of Illinois and that kind of an education is priceless.
Northshore communities such as Glenview are nice too.

Overall, it seems like Naperville would be best for you.

======================================...

Northwest would be a bit cheaper but, you would be sacrificing better education and proximity to the city. Naperville still seems best.
better education

Miss Brown

I think that a reasonably priced option for you could be Roscoe Village, which is a neighborhood on Chicago's northwest side. I know there are pretty good schools there, lots of parks for the kids, pretty safe, lots of new development, but still pretty reasonably priced and it's got good public transportation options. Plus, there's some night life in that area, in case you can get a night away from the kids! Good luck!

gigglezchuckles

Naperville is great, but it will be more expensive than the NW area in general. There's not much need to go to such expense. The NW area is quite nice, about an hour from the city and pretty safe (w/in the NW, areas like Schaumburg and Hoffman will probably be on the high end).

If you don't mind living a little farther from the ball park (about an hour and a half), the farther northern suburbs like Gurnee, Crystal Lake, etc. are good areas but not as expensive since they're relatively more recent and apart from the city. The southern suburbs closer to the city, like Bridgeview/Worth/Palos, are also reasonably priced and diverse and improving all the time. All these areas are family areas.

Best of luck!

Greg K

Housing in Chicago is much more expensive than Georgia. Expect income to increase vs Georgia, so don't skimp on the neighborhood.

If you want the best place for raising a family, you need to live in the suburbs. Coming from a small town in Georgia, you will not enjoy living in the city. Chicago is a big city, with the crime, pollution, congestion, etc a big city comes with. The burbs are a great place to live. Far enough from the mess of the city, but close enough to enjoy the amenities of the city. Also, the homes in the city are older and need more attention-repairs.

In the suburbs, it is expected that your child will go to college - dropping out of school is not accepted. As you go up into the nicer suburbs, you can expect your child to be prepared for the top colleges in the country (Northwestern, U of Chicago, Yale, Harvard, Brown, Princeton, MIT, etc). A fully rounded education is the norm, not the exception.

Take a look at the northern suburbs (not too far from the city). Morton Grove, Skokie, Park Ridge, Niles and Lincolnwood are nice places to live. Prices are fairly reasonable (Chicago prices). A little further out you get a little nicer areas, though the price goes up. Wilmette, Glenview, Northbrook, Northfield or Golf (tiny town) are great places to raise a family (think of The Breakfast Club). Further northeast, you're heading into big ticket homes, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Lake Forest, etc - this is CEO land and prices reflect the neighborhood. There are some very secluded areas with incredible safety and the best school districts in the area. This is the land of Ferris Buehler's Day Off, Pretty in Pink, etc.

Find a nice home in the Glenview/Northbrook area, with the goal of moving to the upscale northern suburbs as your net worth increases. It will be a lot better than buying in the western or southern suburbs, then moving up to the northern suburbs (your kid will miss his friends - too far to visit).

Good luck and enjoy - you'll love the city for everything it has to offer, but it sure it nice to come home to the burbs!

Greg

yousogetme

You should aspire to live in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago (Kenilworth, Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, etc...). Beautiful, safe, and private yet not even 30 minutes from the city. They are the perfect location to raise a family but are incredibly expensive. More realistic suburban locations might Naperville, Vernon Hills, Lincolnwood, etc which are all still reasonably close to the city and are more welcoming to younger couples.

alex g

just north is good

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