Naperville, Illinois

The U.S. has plenty of suburbs to choose from. It does, however, have a shortage of suburban areas with everything Naperville has to offer. Cheaper than Chicago, but with the city still well within reach, Naperville has a lot going on in town. Beautiful walks and shops by the river and some of the best public schools in the nation are the most obvious attributes of the city, but it also has local museums and good beaches that provide culture and play to people of all ages. Naperville also has a number of big companies in town ranging from healthcare and manufacturing to research and tech for those who want a short drive to work.

Here's a review of the city from a local: Naperville has good schools, low crime, plenty of businesses, homes range from around mid 300k- 2million. Taxes can be kind of high, but it’s Illinois so if you want a nice home in a nice community your going to pay higher taxes. Naperville is maybe about 45 minutes to 1.5 hour commute to downtown Chicago depending on the time of day, there are plenty of restaurants and a decent array of forest for running/walking and hiking. It has a nice downtown area with trains to Chicago, and a nightlife considered a “mini Chicago” there are hospital’s for medical care and employment, and it’s in close proximity to most local highways it’s not perfect, but in general it’s a nice generally affluent suburban Chicago suburb.

For more reviews of Naperville from locals check out: The Buzz

With all of the good things that come with living in the epitome of a boujee suburb come all of the bad things as well. Naperville is a bit notorious for being the home of entitled upper-middle class white people with little exposure to the outside world, an understandable turnoff for many. If you’ve lived in cities your whole life, watch American Beauty before coming here if you want context for the potential downsides of suburban lifestyle.

Here's the pov of someone who grew up in the area: DuPage County is a weird place for minorities to grow up. As a Korean with a pretty diverse friend group in a very Caucasian town, we all experienced a lot of insensitivity and outright ignorance. Mostly due to the fact that there was little exposure to people of different skin color. Whatever it was I knew I had to get out ASAP. I count myself blessed however that none of us felt our safety was ever threatened on a daily basis due to our ethnicity- in that sense, it's maybe a "safer" place for black people and other minorities to grow up. Police stereotyping will always be a huge issue with no end in sight. But at least the west suburbs have been able to avoid any Ferguson-type tragedies.

While cheaper than living in the big city, the average cost of living is almost 50% higher than the national average. Living “downtown” in Naperville is considered pretty cool, with easy access to lots of restaurants, in addition to a surprisingly active nightlife . Being a nice and growing suburb, there are a lot of great housing options for families. Neighborhoods like Still Water and Cress Creek offer tons of homes with backyards, front yards, easy access to parks, and great public schools that are a walk or short bike ride away.

If you're curious what happens in Naperville check out the calendar of events: https://www.naperville.il.us/enjoy-naperville/city-of-naperville-city-events-listing/