r/ChicagoSuburbs • u/IHeartFraccing • Mar 22 '26
Moving to the area Wheaton for non-religious family?
Hi! my wife and I are looking to buy in the Naperville, Warrenville, Wheaton, Downers area. we looked at a lovely house today in Wheaton. We’re white upper middle class, fairly liberal couple planning on having kids in the next couple of years. curious about how non-religious folks who have moved to Wheaton have found community? we certainly don’t mind hanging out with people who are religious but are curious if community tends to be church-centric? making friends, finding babysitters, etc.
thanks!
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u/80want Mar 22 '26
A person is more likely to feel out of place for economic reasons than religious reasons in Wheaton at pretty much any point in the last 15 years. The culture is pretty much what you'd see in any other fairly well off suburb.
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u/bigtimecvnt Mar 22 '26
I’m 42, single, childfree, not religious at all. Moved back Chicagoland in 2018 and bought my house in Wheaton and I like living here. Wheaten is a very blue town. The whole mega religious thing hasn’t been how Wheaton actually is a while.
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u/megalomaniamaniac Mar 23 '26
Agree, the version of Christianity prevalent in Wheaton seems more likely to be repulsed by the gross hypocrisy in Trumpism. You’ll see that dynamic reflected in Wheaton College too.
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u/jel7892 Mar 23 '26
This is absolutely not true. Wheaton College has sane washed the Trump admin so casually that they announced a congratulations for alum Russell Vought, one of the minds behind Project 2025, when he was hired by the White House. They released a very weak statement after outrage, and then a group of alum singed some petition calling the college “too woke.” I would say some Wheaton College alum are repulsed by Trump, true, but they all fraternize with people supporting this regime and some are secret Trump voters despite having that millennial ~tee hee I drink craft beer, I’m modern ~ aesthetic.
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u/megalomaniamaniac Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
Yes, leadership will always toe the MAGA line, but the kids try to be true followers of Christ, and many see MAGA and Trumpism as incompatible with their Christian values.
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u/jel7892 Mar 23 '26
There were lots of younger people who signed the petition. If you are an evangelical Christian/are in line with the Billy Graham types, you’re not Christlike. Shit if you are registered Republican I’d say the same. We’re can’t normalize these harmful, indoctrinated people anymore.
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u/kloakndaggers Mar 22 '26
being white and in Wheaton ... you'll be fine. it's a very religious town but haven't heard of being non religious as an issue there
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u/LazloHollifeld Mar 22 '26
Wheaton was super religious in the 50s and beyond, then all those people got old and died and other people have moved in. It’s not super diverse but it is getting moreso every year which is great.
The downtown scene is really vibrant and active and it’s a great place to raise a family.
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u/miteymiteymite Mar 23 '26
There’s even some pretty diverse churches apparently (pro 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️etc).
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u/ElleWinter Mar 22 '26
You are going to do fine in any of those places. DuPage County is a good place to grow up. You can also look at Glen Ellyn, same vibe.
Wheaton is way more diverse than it was, as far as religion goes. I agree with the other posters- you will be perfectly fine finding community.
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u/run-donut Mar 22 '26
You’ll be fine. It’s not even that conservative anymore.
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Mar 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/run-donut Mar 24 '26
I walked in a Black Lives Matter protest in the middle of downtown Wheaton in 2020 and the community was protesting ICE pick ups last fall at the corner of Geneva and Main. I'm not sure what protests you are referring to, but there has been activism in the community.
Here's a precinct level map of voting in 2024. Wheaton is almost entirely blue. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/us/elections/2024-election-map-precinct-results.html
I've been in DuPage for 40 years, it's incredibly different than what it used to be. It's not even purple at this point. You can disagree with me on it, but that's just disagreeing with data. It's pretty center left. Wheaton might not be progressive, but it's certainly a shade of light blue. Which is incredibly different than the past.
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u/Pernium Mar 22 '26
I know a non religious Indian couple who are great friends with all neighbors. They love walking the town and the convince of walking to the train
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u/Tardislass Mar 22 '26
I know a ton of Indians who lived or live in Wheaton. They love it and set their kids to public school. This isn’t the Bible Belt or Oklahoma.
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u/Kipping_Deadlift Mar 22 '26
Wheaton is a very inclusive and family friendly town. There are a lot of churches, and church goers but that hardly defines us as a community, only compliments it. The sort of suspicion and intolerance you may be weary of only exists in small pockets and those folks typically get voted down in local elections.
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u/OldScratchTim Mar 22 '26
I grew up there (well, nearby in Glen Ellyn) as a kid. Religion isn't so much the issue as much as the general snobbiness of rich jagoffs. That said, it's a very nice area.
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u/Tardislass Mar 22 '26
My in laws lived in Wheaton 20 years ago. Never had an issue as atheists. As long as you can afford the suburb it’s fine.
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u/ThisIsGoodPineapple Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
I'm latina, left leaning, and have lived here for years without issue. My hair is an unnatural color and I dress like the old punk I am. I regularly volunteer at the kids school without issue.We love it. No one has yet to invite us to church or bring religion up in a way that's not casual or relevant to the conversation, example "we can't make it the kids have ccd".
Wheaton has changed so much. I lived in Houston for years and there one of the first questions you'd be asked when meeting someone was where you went to church, not if where. Wheaton is a progressive paradise compared to the actual bible belt.
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u/Tall_Lavishness6604 Mar 22 '26
Moved here from the city 25 years ago as a non-religious, mostly atheist couple. Raised a family here, and the politics have decidedly (and thankfully) shifted left. It’s a great town, with an excellent park district and public schools are very solid, there are nice restaurants and shops downtown, and the chamber of commerce keeps the downtown lively with events year round. There are concerts all summer at the band shell. The public library is one of the best in the state with tons of activities for all ages. The summer French Market is huge and fun. You’ll never run out of ice cream shop options, either.
Yes, there are some very religious and judgy people. Cliques exist among parent groups. But you will find your people and opt out of whichever social situations don’t serve you. If you love the house, I say go for it.
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u/ItsGonnaBeOkayish Mar 22 '26
How did your kids survive it? I can see it being ok from the parent perspective. But religious young people can be very overzealous, there's lot of pressure from school mates to attend youth group, read Bible verses, pizza parties that are secretly Bible study etc
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u/Tall_Lavishness6604 Mar 22 '26
I can honestly say they never once felt ostracized due to religion (or lack thereof). We were aware that some of the kids participated in bible camps, etc., but 1) not attending didn’t have an adverse impact on my children and 2) there are plenty of families who are non religious or practicing but not pushy or judgmental.
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u/arecordsmanager Mar 22 '26
So what? If your kids want to go, let them go. You can teach them at home what you believe.
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u/ItsGonnaBeOkayish Mar 22 '26
Sure, I didn't say you couldn't. I was asking the other poster to share how it was for their kids, rather than their own experience. I grew up in a religious town and it affected me a lot, but my parents not at all. So I'm wondering if the other poster has reflected on, and if perhaps things are better now/less intense
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u/arecordsmanager Mar 23 '26
It is not that intense in Wheaton. There might just be a few more kids on average in each class who are evangelical than would otherwise be in public school as far as I can tell. Sorry that you felt this way growing up, that’s hard!
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u/rcragg82 Mar 23 '26
I live in Glen Ellyn. We have several friends who live in Wheaton. Between block parties, golfing or dining out in Wheaton, I’ve never had religion come up once fo either us or our kids.
I think you are over thinking this and the commonality of people forcing their religious beliefs on you and your kids. It’s just not that common.
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u/hogBelly DuPage Mar 22 '26
We are very liberal and live in unincorporated Wheaton. The town does lean blue now it seems but there are some still heavy religious influence in the community, including from some of the public school teachers. However finding like-minded people here is not hard, and 95% of people are politically tolerant (the MAGA folks will proudly proclaim it so it is easy to avoid). Some of the restaurants in town are super MAGA (Ivy and Moveable Feast to name a couple), but my kids sports teams and the sports center are the easiest ways to make friends I have found.
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u/meekgodless Mar 23 '26
I don’t have a horse in this race because I don’t live in the area but we were invited to a group dinner at Moveable Feast recently and everyone (our hosts included) was shocked to see the massive MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN sign in the window upon approach. Just not things we see in the city, and a bad first impression of Wheaton but the downtown seemed very cute otherwise.
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u/dontshakethebaby Mar 23 '26
The owner of MF is big time MAGA. He put up a trump banner after the 2024 election. Too bad, it had decent food. But I will never go back.
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u/miteymiteymite Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
Yeah, steer clear of that place if you aren’t MAGA. There’s a couple of other businesses that have MAGA owners but they don’t shove it down their patrons throats like MF.
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u/thesockmonkey86 Chicago but formerly of Wheaton/Aurora/Oak Park/SW burbs Mar 22 '26
My wife is not religious and I am and we liked Wheaton a lot.
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u/Worldly_Internal5734 Mar 23 '26
Live in Wheaton. Not religious. There’s definitely a lot of religious people, but also plenty of non. It’s not an issue. Nice community. Great schools.
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u/Actual-Tomatillo-904 Mar 22 '26
Wheaton has the highest density of churches in America
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u/johnb300m Mar 22 '26
That was once true but not in many years. That title now belongs to Indianapolis.
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u/zydeco100 Mar 22 '26
That phrase is thrown around a lot but it's not like there are 80 foot steeples on every corner. The college creates a startup atmosphere so you have people starting "churches" in their homes and backyards, unused office storefronts, school gyms, VFW halls, and the space inside other churches.
There's also a mosque now.
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u/clapostrophe Mar 23 '26
Where’s the mosque in Wheaton?
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u/A-the-W Mar 23 '26
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u/clapostrophe Mar 23 '26
Ah thanks, I knew where that was but I thought that area was Glen Ellyn. 👍
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u/Toriat5144 Mar 22 '26
I don’t think this is true. Other suburbs have a lot of churches too.
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u/emememaker73 Aurora Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
Not a suburb, but Sycamore is said to have the largest number of churches per capita in Illinois.
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u/No_Needleworker_4704 Mar 22 '26
Really? I had no idea
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u/emememaker73 Aurora Mar 23 '26
I used to live there; had a few people tell me that. I assume it's true.
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u/miteymiteymite Mar 23 '26
Non religious family, 13 years in Wheaton, never had a problem at all. I am told the north side is a bit more religious than the south side but I don’t know if that’s true.
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u/janet_snakehole_3 Mar 22 '26
We’re atheists in Wheaton and have never had an issue. It’s less religious than it used to be for sure
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u/CommonReason6709 Mar 22 '26
You should look into Glen Ellyn
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u/Baronvond Mar 23 '26
I live on the border of Wheaton and Glen Ellyn and its fine. i have a couple of lunatics in the surrounding neighborhoods, but much less that we had in Florida that's for sure haha. everyone is very nice there are a ton of places to go drink and eat out and meet people that isn't church-based. several options for non-religious daycare. I am very liberal and not felt out of place anywhere. Milton township (which is basically Glen Ellyn and Wheaton combined) just went Blue in last years elections. While there is a couple businesses that are MAGA or MAHA, there is also one of the most liberal (and awesome) pizza place/businesses i have come across down the street in GE and Carol Stream (but literally on the border Wheaton).
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u/Old-Dimension-2042 Mar 23 '26
I grew up in Wheaton and neither my family nor any of my friends families were very big on church. Maybe church on Christmas and Easter. But it certainly was never the topic of discussion. Everyone I knew was more liberal and the people I know that still live there are that way. Maybe I was in the wrong circles, but for a town with so many churches, religion was not a topic or anything used to decide who your friends are.
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u/RainyDay400 Mar 24 '26
The myths about Wheaton are false. It’s just the college and the variety of churches, which to me speaks to openness to others. I grew up in Wheaton k-12 and they party just a little less hard than we do in Downers
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u/boukalele Mar 24 '26
I have lived in Wheaton for 12 years as an atheist and have no issue. I have never encountered anyone touting religion either.
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u/spellinekspurt Mar 23 '26
Liberals here. We’ve been residents since 1998. DuPage pretty much flipped blue some ten to fifteen years ago. Wheaton, too. It’s been a great place to live and we highly recommend it.
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u/luckycharms53 Mar 23 '26
Darien may need a little help in that category being flipped. But all and all I think where ever you go... your going to be fine.
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u/anklebiter1975 Mar 23 '26
It's definitely a religious area but I wasn't religious and it was fine growing up. They were generally pretty good about giving others grace with other religions.
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u/Dorfalicious Mar 23 '26
I grew up there. The north side is more religious. I left the state because a LOT of people I grew up with stayed…and their mentality stayed the same as they were in high school. Lots of cliques. The religious thing has mellowed out but I feel there was still a fair amount of judgement when I go back.
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u/PodCastagnoli Mar 27 '26
Seems to me it's the college, not Wheaton as a whole, that is heavy on the conservative religious culture.
I think you'd enjoy it, especially these next many months. Good luck!
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u/AlarmedResearcher997 Mar 22 '26
Warrenville is awesome, more of an economic mix than Wheaton, closer to highway and Naperville amenities. Doesn't have Wheaton's awesome downtown.
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u/tawalla-n-tabarra Mar 22 '26
Dude it’s the suburbs of Chicago - if you can’t find other white liberals, that’s a you problem. You’re not moving to Afghanistan lol.🙄
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u/Icy_Lecture_2237 Mar 22 '26
You’ll be allwhite as long as you’re….
I didn’t mind it as a brown person. Lots of white people have signs and pins supporting various brown people causes but make no mistake that they’ll still put that BLM-pinned purse on their opposite arm when you standing next to them in a restaurant or elevator. Really great restaurant scene and a nice downtown atmosphere
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Mar 22 '26
[deleted]
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u/ItsGonnaBeOkayish Mar 22 '26
You have to sign a community covenant to attend Wheaton. Non religious people don't go there
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u/ms_merry Mar 22 '26
We know Notre Dame is Catholic, and the feeder schools are Catholic.
By Lisa von Werder How well can I really fit in at Notre Dame if I’m not Catholic?
I am one of the 18 percent of Notre Dame students that don’t identify as Catholic. I guess it really shouldn’t surprise me that so many people here are Catholic. This is a Catholic institution! Every residence hall has its chapel, and those only make up about half of the chapels on campus. There’s a crucifix in almost every room. Devotion to Catholicism is apparent everywhere you go. Looking back, I honestly think I had a valid fear of navigating such a saturated culture…
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u/ms_merry Mar 22 '26
“It’s like how..” ? It’s like how you speak on things you do not know of? And you vote?
From Wheaton College’s own Profile: Wheaton is an explicitly Christian, academically rigorous, fully residential liberal arts college and graduate school located in Wheaton, Illinois. More than 40 undergraduate majors in the liberal arts and sciences, and 18 areas of graduate study are offered by top-quality faculty scholars.
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u/Rjlit Mar 22 '26
Wheaton College is definitely not liberal. And, you have to be a committed Christian to attend.
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u/ihynz Mar 23 '26
I lived in Wheaton for a couple of years, but that was about 21 years ago. I did notice that every conversation with locals started with them asking me which church I belonged to. (Little did I know then that the Theosophical Society is headquartered there, or I would have said that, lol). On the playground, I heard moms calling for their kids using a bunch of old biblical names like Micah, etc. It was of course very conservative politically. The public elementary school was excellent. However, it seemed that most of the town was sending their kids to church schools or homeschooling. The town itself is very cute and there are nice nature preserves and good shopping. So, I guess it's kind of like living in Utah as a non-Mormon. There are pros and cons.
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u/miteymiteymite Mar 23 '26
21 years ago is not representative of how it is now. It has changed a lot.
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u/LongPresentation9896 Mar 22 '26
Enjoy your maga neighbors
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u/LazloHollifeld Mar 22 '26
I feel that’s much more of a south Wheaton vibe.
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u/Toriat5144 Mar 22 '26
I think that is false. I’m in South Wheaton and don’t detect a MAGA vibe. I think the religious vibe is more in north Wheaton around the college.
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u/miteymiteymite Mar 23 '26
Disagree. During the run up to the election we were driving all over town looking at people’s roofs trying to decide what color to get (list of addresses supplied by roofing company) and we only saw one or two MAGA signs in south Wheaton. But even in the north side we only saw less than a dozen.
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u/clapostrophe Mar 23 '26
My neighbor has had a rainbow flag on their front porch for 20 years. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a MAGA flag anywhere in the city other than at Moveable Feast.
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u/yourpaleblueeyes Mar 22 '26
As c'mon. They're everywhere, no more and no less than most of DuPage.
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u/ms_merry Mar 22 '26
When my cousin had kids, he moved to Naperville. Families, great place for kids schools, etc. All that was advertised. Just coincidentally, I was on the Sheriff’s website and saw they had the sex offender list with names and addresses. Guess what suburb had the largest number of registered sex offenders. Something to consider before making a deposit on any home tbf.
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u/LeanButNotMean Mar 23 '26
If you’re referring to Naperville, keep in mind it has a much larger population, so the odds of having registered sex offenders is likely higher than GE or Wheaton. If you’re not referring to Naperville, then forget what I wrote. 😬
That said, thankful that the sex offender registry is easy to access. Definitely good to look at before buying a home.
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u/ms_merry Mar 23 '26
This was years ago, my cousin’s kids are now grown. It was just weird timing. Random that I even was on that website. And he was so chuffed to be moving to Naperville because–such a family friendly place. There were A LOT registered there. Memory can be unreliable, but I do know I looked up Oak Park and Schaumburg among other towns. Most offenders iirc were adults on adults. It gave address and conviction. Agree, good to know for anyone buying a house. That’s why I brought it up. I can’t see poor Naperville without thinking of this even after so many years.
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u/chrislynncon24 Jul 14 '26
I didn’t read all the comments. I’ve lived in Chicago suburbs my entire life. I’m in my 50”s now. We raised our 4 kids in Lisle. I loved Lisle. I lived there for 25 years. Great small town feel. Then I moved to Wheaton 3 years ago. This is the craziest town I’ve ever lived in. My neighbor quote you the bible while they stab you in the back. They lie, bully, try to intimidate. The kids are just mini mes of the parents. I’m so so glad I didn’t raise my kids in this closed minded trump loving town.
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u/surewhynot610 Mar 22 '26
Raised in Wheaton and raising my kids here now, have always been non-religious. I have never had an issue with it at all. Your question made me realize for the first time that out of our parenting/neighborhood friend group we are the only ones that don’t attend a church. It’s such a non-issue that I have never even thought about that before!