Moving to the Suburbs and Illinois School Districts

North Riverside is a nice town to live in. The District is small, but decent. The best school district around is Riverside, but it is a very pricey community (mostly Lawyers and Doctors) with very little as far as shops. I work for a local school district, so if you message me with towns you are thinking of moving to, I can give you the "down-low" on the school districts attached. Good luck!! :)

Hi. I'm also an Evanstonian. I agree with a previous pollster that Evanston does have a lot to offer (beaches, downtown district, sports and other cultural things tied to Northwestern, diverse and overall nice population). We lived in Chicago for 10 plus years and like that we are still close enough to go into the city for museums, restaurants, etc. My husband also works in the Loop and drives to work every day. It usually takes him about 30-40 minutes for his commute.

My older child is just starting kindergarten in the public school system this year so I can't personally speak about the schools. However, she did go to preschool at a private school this year (Roycemore) and we loved everything about it (except for the cost!).

Just now I googled "rating school districts in IL" and found a bunch of different websites that looked useful. That might be a good place to start. Good luck!!

We love Evanston - been here 18 years and have one kid in elementary, middle and high school. Husband takes Metra to CIty - 30 minutes door to door during rush hour. There is a real downtown area with lots of restaurants and stores. There is a vibrant cultural scene especially with N.U. and all it offers. The schools are good (the high school recently named top in mathematics in country). People are great. It is a diversified community and most people here want that. But if you are looking for something more homogeneous with less crime Evanston is probably not for you. Oh - did I mention the 5 beaches and the Lake?

We live in Countryside, which is District 105 and also serves La Grange. It is just southwest of the city - about a 20 minute drive in on the Eisenhower or a 30 minute Metra ride. A lot of commuters bike or walk to the Metra station in downtown LaGrange.

The whole area is very pleasant- Countryside's taxes are less, but LaGrange has a lovely downtown within walking distance as well as a very safe neighborhood. Home prices and taxes are higher in LaGrange- but there are a lot of foreclosures going at reasonable prices these days.

My son and his friends all walk to school every day. He attends Spring Ave. which is a TERRIFIC public elementary school with about 300 students. It's attached to Gurrie Middle School, then kids go on to Lincoln Township High school- all good solid schools. We've really loved living here- it's a good combination of suburban but close to the city. But the quality of the schools is really the main reason we moved here.

I've also lived in Oak Park, if you want insider info on that neighborhood as well. The schools there are fairly good- but they have a lot of financial challenges. I love Oak Park's eclectic attitude, but there are also things about living there and home owning that can be VERY frustrating- the Village management is not very good IMO. Not so important if you rent, but a bigger issue if you plan to buy.

Please feel free to message me with any more specific questions about either area, and I'll be glad to tell you our experiences!

There are a lot of good, nearby suburban areas with good schools (many mentioned here already). For some data, check out greatschools.org. You can search schools to see how they rank and what parents and others have to say about them. Keep in mind too that in many communities, there are good and not as good schools in each school district so make sure you are moving somewhere where you live in the boundaries for a "good" school. Also, the Chicago Sun-Times prints school report cards and rankings each year (October I think). It gives some raw data. I believe you can find the info online at the Sun-Times and through the State of Illinois website too.

And if you are planning to stay in the area long-term, consider what HS your child will eventually go to as well. In some areas, the elementary school is great but the HS is lacking.

Finally, as a city mom, I want to also suggest that you don't rule out staying in the city. It is more work to navigate through the Chicago Public School system but there are a lot of really good schools in the city. My daughter is at the best public middle school in the state, Whitney Young (which is also a high school that ranks very high). Good luck! It will all work out.

Oak Park and River Forest are wonderful communities with great schools. We are 20 min from the loop w/o traffic, and the last stop on the Green Line, or first stop on Metra- easy commute by train- less than 40 min door to door. This is a very diverse community with mellow people, older homes mostly, with history and great architecture. Check it out and I am sure you will love it.

Hi Carolina,

We live in Morton Grove which is about a 25-30 minute commute to downtown by train. We also wanted to be close to downtown which is why we chose Morton Grove. We are about 16 miles north of Chicago and have great schools. You can check out any school's ratings at GreatSchools .com. We are surrounded by Skokie, Evanston and Glenview. It is so very affordable and ethnically diverse but does not have a downtown which is a downside. We usually go downtown or to Evanston or Skokie to enjoy the great restaurants or theatres. The park district also has a lot of fabulous free family programs that we take advantage of and the public library is great also. If you have any other questions please feel free to email me. Good luck in your search!

Hi,

I live in Oak Park and have two daughters in elementary school. I work downtown and wanted a commute that was no more than 30 minutes, this totally worked for me. We have two different L lines as well as Metra stop so commuting is not an issue. I'm not walking distance to the L but I can take a CTA bus a block from my house that drops me off at the L station. If you don't want to take public transportation, the Eisenhower (290) leads directly into the city.

On my street, we've got families who are third generation in their homes along with people new to Chicago. The schools are very good! It's extremely diverse. It's an older community so the housing stock tends to be on the older side. Our taxes are considered to be high though from what I've seen, they aren't that much higher than other communities.

There is a great park district with many actitivites. (Goggle village of oak park and you'll get links to all the village related sites). If you want daycare, there are many different options available.

If you are looking for a combo of suburban and urban living, check us out.

Sue

You may wish to look into elementary feeder districts that send their students to the New Trier Township High School District 203. Outside of Walter Payton and Northside Prep (Chicago Public Magnets), it is the highest ranked public school system in the suburbs, if not the state. The North Shore communities include: Winnetka, Glencoe, Kenilworth, Wilmette, Northfield, and portions of Glenview and Northbrook. The communities definitely have a suburban feel with very few apartments/condos. The quality of education and the parental involvement are outstanding. The downside is that the housing is exceptionally pricey, many people don't care for the 'homogeny' of the neighborhoods, and there aren't a lot of cafes/bars/shops to walk to like you have in River North. There are several convenient Metra stations and the ride is only about 30 minutes to downtown. Depending on what time he would leave and what route he would take, the commute can be 30+ minutes (Edens or Lake Shore Drive).

Evanston is also a good district with a more urban feel and significant diversity (race/ethnicity and socioeconomic). It, too, is a North Shore suburb.

Others have mentioned Oak Park/River Forest - another outstanding school district still with that urban feel. One can easily access the Eisenhower, Metra, and CTA.

I'm a high school teacher, so feel free to ask questions and I'll give you my biased opinion *chuckle*!

I'm not sure how to best research that either, but I can tell you that, if you can afford it, Oak Park is a really cool urban suburb with excellent schools, excellent library, tons of parks, tons of stores, and the blue and green lines.

Brookfield also has great schools, the zoo and the metra; a lot less stores though.

LaGrange has much of what Oak Park has, but no "L". They do have some Metra stops though. It's also pricey though.

I live in Berwyn which I like, but we are hoping to get out soon because of the schools - some are good; some are not, but the high school is terrible. If we could afford it, we'd totally move to Oak Park.

We are also going through the same process and we currently live in the River North too. :-)

This is a great site: http://www.city-data.com/city/Illinois.html

It has tons of data on all the cities in Illinois and the boards are great and searchable.

This is the Illinois report card website which is searchable by state and school. (Be aware that greatschools allows people to submit their opinions on the school which is factored into the score.) This is fact based solely on test scores.

I hope this helps. Good luck.