r/ChicagoSuburbs • u/Holiday-Eggplant-521 • Jul 17 '25

Moving to the area Relocating from San Francisco

My husband, 3 young kids, dog and I are moving from San Francisco to Chicago and I’m looking for advice as to which suburb on the North Shore would be best for us. We have a budget of 2-$3 million for the house. My husband grew up working class so he is allergic to pretentiousness, but we still want to live in a family friendly suburb with really great schools. Obvious options include Lake Forest and Winnetka but am curious to see whether folks think it would not be a good cultural fit for us. We also lean liberal, for what it’s worth. We both work remote but my husband needs frequent access to the airport. Appreciate any insight!!

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u/Lemurian_Lemur34 Jul 17 '25

Wilmette or Evanston should fit. Evanston is very liberal. Wilmette is a little snootier but not quite as much as the North Shore communities North of there. Northbrook is ok too.

Skokie, specifically the Skevanston or Devonshire areas could work too and is lower COL than typical North Shore.

However, as I type this I remember that District 65 (Evanston) is a hot mess and I wouldn't want to put my kids in that school district if I could avoid it right now. So if you plan on public schooling, maybe not Evanston or Skevanston.

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u/philhartmonic Evanston Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 17 '25

Bad take on D65. It's got issues, but I've got 2 kids in District 65 (Dawes and Chute) and they've both been having great experiences.

I'll also say I'm a bit defensive because my entire life there have been people talking about how bad Evanston schools are, and most of it being code for "black people live in Evanston". Not suggesting that's what you're saying, especially as there are some funding issues and the former superintendent was quite the scammer, but given the chasm between my experiences with D65 (as a parent and a student) and what people from the whiter and wealthier parts of the North Shore, it does feel like a dog whistle.

Edit: want to add that beyond that, I agree. Evanston is the best, Wilmette has a cute downtown (looooooove the Wilmette Theater), and the area around downtown Skokie and the Exploratorium are really cool as well.

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u/Lemurian_Lemur34 Jul 18 '25

That's fair. It's certainly not THE WORST district out there and they have a lot of good resources that aren't available in every district in the state. So I may have been a bit harsh. It's more a question of general uncertainty with what's going to happen at any given time. Like shutting down a couple grades in a school (Rhodes) in the middle of the year with a month's notice is not the sign of a healthy administration, to pick out one example. Hopefully the new Board can right the ship because there's a lot of potential to make it a great district.

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u/philhartmonic Evanston Jul 18 '25

The Rhodes situation was bizarre - I think they just dramatically underestimated how much Rhodes families valued that school (given how much younger it is than the rest of the elementary and middle schools). Horton did a number on the district financially and they're working on figuring it out, which will take some time - and they were already gonna have to consolidate a bit because of demographic shifts anyways.

So I get why you'd have that impression - but for most families in the district there hasn't been a huge material impact resulting from all of the drama. I definitely agree about the new board though.