Any feedback/input for young family moving to a suburb north of Chicago?

[cupcakes4all]

We're considering a big life change of moving our young family (2 adults, 2 kids <5) from San Francisco to the Chicago suburbs, most likely on the north side (around lake forest, deerfield). I realize the north suburbs are less mustachian than other areas but we picked that location due to friends, potential jobs, family, schools, etc. But the area should be much cheaper compared to the Bay Area!! Does anyone have any experience or advice for moving two young kids across the country to a much colder climate? We'll probably be able to stay at a family members extra house in NW burbs while we look for a new house and sell our SF house.

I'm also wondering about the culture and lifestyles in the north burbs? We lived in Chicago near downtown for ~4-5 years after college before moving to the Bay Area for almost 10 years so I'm familiar with weather and living in the city but I've never considered moving to the burbs. Ideally we'd be able to reduce work to PT and build a community in the area with other young families. We have some friends/community here but a lot of my friends leave once they have kids to be closer to family or lower cost of living.

No super specific questions or numbers, just looking to hear what people think of living north of Chicago with a family. We're having a hard time deciding what is the right thing to do for our family long term (stay here or move somewhere else) so I'm hoping that hearing others people experience or feedback will give me some additional thoughts.

[Capsu78]

We made the jump from the East Bay to Northern suburbs with 2 grade school kids in 1990!  I will just make a couple of general thoughts.  While Lake Forest and Deerfield are nice areas, you pay a premium to be on the east side of 294.  There are many good school districts on either side of the highway.
The closer you live to a Metra train station, you will also pay a premium for- Barrington, Palatine, Lake Forest, you will pay a premium.  If your work will put you downtown, you definately want to be closer to a train station, but no reason to pay the premium if that is not in the cards.
Last, be VERY aware of property taxes- We pay $13,000 in 60060 and it tends to trend up every year.  Lake County, many feel, is a better zip code than Cook County.
Best of luck!  We would move out of IL in a heartbeat if all our kids and grandkids where not settled very close by.

[Abe]

There are two type of Chicagoans - those who embrace the suck (winter) and those who yearn to leave. Your children will let you know real quick which ones they are.

The northern suburbs are reasonably nice, when I was considering staying we were planning on somewhere between Evanston and Waukegan. Message me for additional specific details if you wish. The snow gets less grossly gray than downtown where I lived, and there is less traffic outside of Chicago and immediate suburbs. It's quite nice up to late October, is a brutal winter (but not as bad as Wisconsin!) and gets nice again in April.

Your choices are reasonable. All of them are standard suburbs with the usual car-centered life, so if you're up for that then you'll be fine. Some have made pseudo-downtowns with the usual array of fancy chain stores - those areas command a premium for the simulation of a downtown without the crime. Regardless there's a reasonable amount of things to do in the area (especially along the lake and in the parks).

If city stuff is your interest, getting downtown is easy with the kids (highly recommend the Metra! Highly don't recommend the El until you're near the Loop!). If you expect to walk somewhere, there will be someone to gawk as they drive by. You will get splashed with sludge for half the year as that happens.

The summer gets hot and gross for about a month. Everyone is at the lake at that time. You will not find parking downtown on the lake, but just go up north and it's nicer anyway if you can squeeze in between the various estates (they must maintain public access!).

If you are not European descent, research the history of wherever you are planning to live. If you are, don't worry about it - they don't care that you're from California.

[SimpleCycle]

I live in the city proper and have found a community here that I don’t think would be easy to replicate in the burbs.  The north suburbs are very affluent and have the culture that comes with that.  It’s not for me but it might be what you are looking for.  FYI costs can vary dramatically depending on the actual suburb you are in, and the taxes are WILD.  Estimate them at 3% of purchase price and be pleased if you end up with 2%.

Re: winter, embrace it.  Get outside when you can and enjoy having four distinct seasons.

[strongmag]

I grew up in the area of the Chicago suburbs you've mentioned but I've lived a few other places since then and haven't moved back as an adult with children. One stint was in San Diego and then moved to Boston so I understand the change in weather patterns! If you're familiar with the climate from living there as an adult, then seems like you'll be just fine transitioning back with kids in tow. Bundle up and embrace it as much as you want to, or enjoy the extra indoor space that a house in the suburbs you're looking at includes. I have a relative who lived by Stanford Medical Center and just moved back to the Chicago area with two small kids to be near extended family and they are happy with the move and the larger space to have gross motor play inside during those cold rainy days when it's just too gross to go out.

My childhood friends still live in the Chicagoland area and the ones with young children have now ended up moving back to the suburb where we grew up. As others stated its an affluent area, but you're probably already used to the pros and cons of that from living in SF. Like any suburb, there will be lots of families and you can make as much community as you want to based on your interests. My biased opinion is that it was as good as any place to grow up and my friends with young kids there now seem to agree.

[cupcakes4all]

Thank you all for the feedback! I seem to forget about the budget crisis and higher property taxes but a similar/better house would be less than half the cost of our current house so it doesn't bother me too much. But it should probably be a concern thinking about the area long term. As long as friends and family are still around we would probably be happy. I always envisioned living in the city with kids but I have some concerns about CPS and city public schools after living in SF plus the friends in the burbs thing.

The cold with kids is definitely a concern. They both like to sleep in undies (no pjs) and then are cranky when it's cold in the morning. We also really enjoy biking around pretty much all year... not sure if they would adjust to biking in the cold (or if I would too!).


This is one thing I despise about the area and potentially a reason to not move If you are not European descent, research the history of wherever you are planning to live. If you are, don't worry about it - they don't care that you're from California.

[YttriumNitrate]

Thank you all for the feedback! I seem to forget about the budget crisis and higher property taxes but a similar/better house would be less than half the cost of our current house so it doesn't bother me too much.

Indeed. On the upside, while much of the country has seen crazy housing appreciation, housing prices in parts of the northwest suburbs have been more or less flat for close to a decade.

[clarkfan1979]

Thank you all for the feedback! I seem to forget about the budget crisis and higher property taxes but a similar/better house would be less than half the cost of our current house so it doesn't bother me too much. But it should probably be a concern thinking about the area long term. As long as friends and family are still around we would probably be happy. I always envisioned living in the city with kids but I have some concerns about CPS and city public schools after living in SF plus the friends in the burbs thing.

The cold with kids is definitely a concern. They both like to sleep in undies (no pjs) and then are cranky when it's cold in the morning. We also really enjoy biking around pretty much all year... not sure if they would adjust to biking in the cold (or if I would too!).


This is one thing I despise about the area and potentially a reason to not move If you are not European descent, research the history of wherever you are planning to live. If you are, don't worry about it - they don't care that you're from California.

It's good to know that you know what to expect for weather. I grew up in Mundelein, IL and moved to San Diego when I was 18 years old. I currently live in Colorado. I have also lived in Florida and Hawaii. When it comes to Chicagoland, my biggest complaint about the weather was the lack of sunshine in the winter. For me, it was like living in Seattle, but much colder.

Please do your homework on the property taxes. It's a big deal. One of my friends bought a fixer-upper in Libertyville for 415K about 18 months ago. Their property taxes are 20K/year.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1761-Meadow-View-Cir-Libertyville-IL-60048/4803885_zpid/

Lake Forest typically has the lowest property taxes (as a percentage of house). For a 475K house, the property taxes are around 9K/year. When you have lower property taxes (as a percentage of house), you tend to get more home appreciation in the long run.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/175-King-Muir-Rd-Lake-Forest-IL-60045/4856947_zpid/

In my opinion, the work culture in Chicagoland is 50+ hours/week. It will be difficult to meet couples with kids that have work/life balance. The taxes are very high and people have to work 50+ hours/week to afford it. It's also a cultural norm to flex your money, while also being broke. However, you only need to find a few friends to make it work. It just might take a while to find them. 

[Capsu78]

RE: Mega, highly rated school districts-  We were surrounded by "hoity toidy" and Mega sized school districts- Stevenson, Barrington, Libertyville, all top notch with parking lots full of cars nicer than mine!
We had to relocate on a highly accelerated timeline...New construction was out of the question and we only had a couple hours to look at houses and only walked through 3!  Ended up buying the first one we saw, in the Lake Zurich SD, then a mid sized district.  When kids went through HS, they were able to participate in some extracurriculars like girls softball and Cheer leading.
Over the years we heard much dissatisfaction from parents in other Mega districts that their kids could never break into the sports or cheer teams.  Two families who lived and paid taxes in mega school districts ended up sending their kids to private school just so they could have better odds of being in a Theater group etc.  I'd say "You pay Barrington taxes and sent your kids to St Viator!?!.
I also felt that the continum of friends of my kids classmates where a more biit more mainstream - of few potential "Sheldons" of  BBT, a few preparing for "Juvie" and some fringey "freak de jours", but mostly polite kids who our kids could invite over for sleepovers...without worry.  I feel the number and depth of "Breakfast Club" kids at the Mega districts was greater.
YMMV