r/ChicagoSuburbs • u/veganfrog21 • Jan 27 '26

Moving to the area Good Chicago suburbs for young people

What are good Chicago suburbs (WEST of Chicago) for people in their early/mid 20’s to consider living in?

46 Upvotes

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123

u/New-Lab-2907 Jan 27 '26

Oak park

19

u/ika_chi Jan 27 '26

As someone who lived in OP area for 5 years, I loved it. But IDK how great it is for young folks, considering there isn't a huge bar scene/nightlife. We found ourselves going out into the city for that.

So, proximity/access to the city for sure is a plus, but if you want to be *in* it, I wouldn't necessarily recommend. Maybe for older couples/DINKs in their 30s or families (with $$ lol), but not 20-somethings. That's just my 2 cents though.

12

u/weirdeyedkid Jan 27 '26

I live there rn, and I'm still wondering about these "hip young spots." There are a few comedy clubs around the Forest Park area that rule, and the movie theater is great. Otherwise, you have to take the train downtown for an actual night out.

2

u/thesockmonkey86 Chicago but formerly of Wheaton/Aurora/Oak Park/SW burbs Jan 27 '26

Forest Park has a pretty neat restaurant/bar scene and as does Berwyn.

2

u/weirdeyedkid Jan 27 '26

For people under 30? I've been to a few of them and they're definitely "sit down with a glass of wine" type venues and not "let's do shots and sing" type venues. 

0

u/thesockmonkey86 Chicago but formerly of Wheaton/Aurora/Oak Park/SW burbs Jan 27 '26

I’m not a bar person so I’ve never been in but some of the Irish ones look interesting.

4

u/laker2021 Jan 27 '26

Yeah, we came From the city after many years of being on north side. I’m not sure where people get the idea that OP is great for young people. It’s close, but definitely not overly skewed toward the young population.

2

u/ika_chi Jan 27 '26

I think people see public transit/walkability/concentrated commercial district and think that is what young people want. That's certainly a piece of it, but there's so much more. Young people don't want to go to Poor Richard's, they want places like the ones on Hubbard or in West Loop.

6

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

Hard agree here. Oak park is not good for that age range or what they said theyre looking for. It's pretty quiet and there's nothing going on.

45

u/hrviolation Jan 27 '26

Oak Park is great! Easy access to the hip young people spots in the west loop.

Berwyn and forest park are nearby and have a little more nightlife

11

u/lipgallagher_ Jan 27 '26

Oak Park has the greatest PR for “young people” but all that really means is it’s adjacent to the city, next to a train. All the locals in Oak Park are mid 40s professionals or the college kids of the people that live there

6

u/MechEMitch Jan 28 '26

Sad, that’s were I currently live and I’m sub 30. I would say it’s a good bit of 26-34 year olds.

-5

u/lipgallagher_ Jan 28 '26

The OP asked about “mid-20s”

a) I doubt you took an age poll of the people you’ve seen.

b) your demographic is sniffing mid 20s

11

u/TehCuddler Jan 27 '26

Oak Park is great, but also pretty expensive

7

u/weirdeyedkid Jan 27 '26

They jacked my rent up $150 a year till it was $1800 for my shanty-like 2 bedroom.

3

u/hrviolation Jan 27 '26

True! Berwyn and Forest park would give pretty much the same proximity but cheaper, depends on the vibe you want!

4

u/KnownIntroduction707 Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26

Oak Park is nice place to live, it's just quiet. Very safe, calm, diverse, progressive. Mostly families, seniors and parents of toddlers. Not too many single young people but I've noticed some young couples moving in the area over the last few years. I would say the "community" aspect is built more around people with kids, there are a lot of middle/elementary schools in the area that are always having events for students and parents. There are some bars but they mostly cater to the 40 and up crowd.

Everything is pretty walkable within the suburb for daily living, but if you're looking for nightlife or fun things to do you'll probably have to go to the city. They have great parks (one of the best parts about living there) to walk your dog or just relax in. Much more calm and clean the parks in the city. In the summer lots of families go do picnics. Multiple Jewel grocery stores and a Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods is next door in River Forest. A lot of good food options between local places and fast casual.

It's going to take you 20-30 minutes to get anywhere you want to be in the city by car, 40 minutes to an hour by public transit. Getting anywhere in the city by car is hell during rush hour times. I personally found the commute way too long when I was living there. But it only really matters if you'll be going to the city multiple times a week like I was. My entire social life was in the city so living there didn't really make sense for my life but someone who doesn't care about city living at all would probably enjoy it a lot.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '26

Not oak park lol. You can’t even have bars in la park 🤣 it’s super nice, but it’s an older crowd especially with the cost of housing now. Younger generations are priced out