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**](https://lookyloomove.com/locations/naperville?page=buzz)

The Pinnacle Of Suburban Experience

The Best Thing About Naperville?

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.*

Lack of Diversity

The Worst Thing About Naperville

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/

It’s a Nice Suburb, That’s How You’re Living

Lifestyle of Naperville

With more and more Americans trying to escape claustrophobic city life as more jobs move remote, places like Naperville are target destinations for a reason. Chicagoans who now have more in-office flexibility have been relocating to Naperville, with all of the room, education, and family friendly niceties a major draw. 


The American Dream

Why You Should Move Here Now?

**The Best Thing About Naperville?** - The Pinnacle Of Suburban Experience

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.

**The Worst Thing About Naperville** - Lack of Diversity

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. 
	
**How You Living?** - It’s a Nice Suburb, That’s How You’re Living

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. 

**Why You Should Move Here Now?** - The American Dream

With more and more Americans trying to escape claustrophobic city life as more jobs move remote, places like Naperville are target destinations for a reason. Chicagoans who now have more in-office flexibility have been relocating to Naperville, with all of the room, education, and family friendly niceties a major draw. 


Naperville is primarily families but there is a bit of a downtown scene with apartments, condos and enough bars and restaurants to keep you occupied when you don’t have the energy to get to downtown Chicago. Four Lakes in nextdoor Lisle tends to pull in more young professionals than Naperville so if downtown Naperville doesn’t appeal then consider Lisle. 
- Downtown
- Four Lakes/Lisle


Young Professionals

Hobson West is an incredibly popular neighborhood for families in a city filled with popular family-friendly neighborhoods. It has some of the best schools not only in the city but in the entire state. It also is field with great amenities including tennis and pickleball courts and the the Hobson West pool. Cress Creek is another popular neighborhood, just a few minutes Northwest of Downtown Naperville, it is home to Cress Creek Country Club, where homeowners enjoy golf, swimming and tennis courts. 
- Hobson West
- Cress Creek
- Ashbury


Families

Naperville

**Best/worst parts of living in Naperville?**

I've lived in Naperville my whole life.

Schools are great.

Downtown is a great place to walk around, especially the riverwalk. It's always crowded in the summer with people packing into restaurants. A lot of teenagers frequent downtown. A lot of places seem to be closing or have closed in the recent past.

Like someone else commented, avoid the condos on E Bailey. I believe they're called "The Olive Tree Condominiums " or something similar. Also avoid any housing in far north Naperville by 59. There has been some shady stuff there too.

No matter where you live, you will be in close proximity to a Jewel, as there's four of them: W Ogden and Aurora, E Ogden and Washington, 95th and 59, and Naper and 75th. Casey's Foods (Gartner and Washington) is a popular place too with excellent meats and other selections. Trader Joes in the same strip is also popular. It's probably a drive for most to go to Walmart on 75th, it's way out of the way. Then of course you have other stores and plenty of restaurants to choose from, especially along Ogden and in Downtown.

As for parks and forest preserves, there is: McDowell Grove (north part of town), Springbrook Prairie (south of 75th between 59 and Modaff), Knoch Knolls Park (closer to Bolingbrook), and then Frontier Park (south part of town), Knoch Park (central part of town), and Nike Park (north part of town). All of these you should check out.

I can't say much about housing, except that lots of older houses (usually split levels) are getting torn down and huge monstrosities are taking their place.

The big culprits for traffic are 75th between 59 and Book Road, any part of 59, parts of Naper south of 75th as well as closer to Ogden, and lots of areas along Ogden. At least along the E portion of Ogden, trying to turn left out of a business might be an issue.

Overall, I'd rate Naperville 7.5 out of 10.

**Best/worst parts of living in Naperville?**

It's been a few years since we moved out of Naperville. I wasn't a big fan of all of the red light cameras (there was at least one right turn lane that seemed like you should be able to turn right on red, but NOPE). We lived in the apartments in walking distance of the Rt. 59 Metra station and they were pretty nice. We never thought it was unsafe or sketchy at the time. As with anywhere, places can go downhill, so don't take this as gospel.

The parks are great and can be less busy than you'd expect. DuPage County Forest Preserves are very nice. There are a lot of local bike trails. Centennial Beach is unique. We were unimpressed by RibFest or Last Fling (the two festivals/carnivals held in normal years). Downtown is cute and very walkable. There are two Metra stations if you need to go to Chicago (or if you are a daily commuter), but it can be a bit of a long ride compared with closer suburbs.

**Honest assessment of Naperville**

It's a great suburb with a walkable downtown and many things to do. That said, I am not sure of your financial situation but it is very very expensive to buy a house near downtown Naperville. If you don't have that kind of money, you will end up in a cookie cutter suburban sprawl neighborhood. Nothing wrong with that, but if you are looking for a suburban/city hybrid environment, you might be better off looking elsewhere. I live a 5 minute walk from downtown Wheaton and while its nowhere near as large as Naperville, its got a good downtown with restaurants etc and a lot cheaper (though still pretty expensive relatively speaking)

**Why should I live in Naperville, Illinois?**

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 .

Naperville, Illinois

American Beauty

Looklyloo Score: 86

We're on it!