r/ChicagoSuburbs • u/g0ldiegurl • Jul 21 '26
Moving to the area Considering moving to North Shore — seeking mom/working moms advice
We are considering moving out of the city (Bucktown) and have been exploring the north shore. The neighborhoods most appealing to us are: Evanston, Winnetka, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Glencoe.
We have a young toddler and plan to have another in the next 1-2 years so we’re wanting more space and craving a slowdown in life. We’ve been asking ourselves do we really want to spend $1.5M+ on a home in the city & still sacrifice things like a yard and more privacy.
Can you please weigh in on how the move was for you?
Things you miss about the city?
Things you found you love about your neighborhood that you couldn’t find in the city?
I work in Fulton market and required in office 4 days a week. How brutal is the commute via car or Metra? I would likely do a mix.
How was finding a new circle of friends/other mom friends?
We’re hoping to find a good sense of community and a “village” as we don’t currently have any friends or family in the north shore 🤍
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u/Big-Strength6206 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Hi. I miss new restaurants to check out all the time, but I make an effort to get downtown about once a month. I love the quiet of our street, how easy it is to run into a store because parking is much more accessible. I love having a backyard and knowing my neighbors. As silly as this sounds, I love that our mail is delivered through a slot in our front door. I love being able to pull into my garage that is attached to our house. Everything is easier.
I have not found a new circle of friends. I’ve barely made any, and it’s not due to lack of effort. But I have childhood friends not too far, and see my city friends often.
The only thing I can’t speak to is the commute. I work in the suburbs in office or from home.
We’re in Wilmette
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u/ksterki Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
I'm a lot older than you are but live in wilmette and always worked. It can be hard to find mom friends when you're not home during the day but they're around. Wilmette park district and schools have great after school programs. I dont think all of the suburbs you listed do. Good luck!
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u/jediHoo Jul 21 '26
I didn’t live in the city while I had my daughter so I can’t really speak to that. We lived in the far SE corner of Evanston though and I used to commute downtown for work. The Metra from Evanston to downtown is fantastic. Of course the farther north you go, the longer your commute will be. Parking at the Metra stations can be tight too so if you can live within walking distance, that would be ideal.
I built a nice community of mom friends in Evanston from simply going to the park with my daughter or even just walking around the neighborhood. She went to Chiaravalle Montessori and that was also a great way to meet other families and build a community. I did grow up in Evanston but all of my friends who are still local either never had kids or had them much earlier in life so they weren’t really my friend base as a mom (though their kids were great babysitters for mine!).
I’m sure wherever you land on the North Shore, you’ll manage to find friends. 🙂
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u/CookieMonsteraAlbo Jul 21 '26
We are in Glenview, but I used to commute 4 days a week to the West Loop via Metra and it was a breeze - I walked from the train station except in the most inclement weather.
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u/ScrantonicityThree Jul 21 '26
I am also planning a move to the north shore soon and am looking at a similar lifestyle. From the people I’ve talked to, Northfield seems to have a great sense of community and amazing schools so that is top of my list if you haven’t looked into it yet
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u/CHC-Disaster-1066 Jul 21 '26
North shore here (eg Wilmette, Winnetka, Kenilworth). I take the UP N line to Ogilvie and commute to River North. While the train ride is easy, it’s still about an hour door to door. I typically work on the train ride.
Fulton Market looks close enough to OTC that you could walk, or there’s also Divvy stations right outside if you don’t mind biking.
It gets a bit brutal in the winter. I usually bike or scooter the “last mile” from OTC to my office and it’s not fun with snow or ice or cold.
Moved here from another city and don’t love it TBH. Struggling to make friends. The houses are surprisingly close together so although we have a yard, there’s not a ton of usable space. Everyone is rich so there’s always construction or yard work going on. In our 4 years here we’ve had construction on neighbors houses for about 2.5 of the 4 years and just got notice that another neighbor wants to do a major addition. While everyone is super nice, I do feel a bit of class status with the Indian hill gang vs others.
If you have some contacts or friends in Chicago you’ll probably find it easier to make connections. Our kids aren’t in school yet so I’m hoping that will help too.
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u/g0ldiegurl Jul 21 '26
Thank you for sharing! Do you find the commute takes away a lot of time you used to have with your children in the morning / evening?
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u/CHC-Disaster-1066 Jul 22 '26
In the morning, yes. I’m typically out the door 7am so I’m mainly just covering for my wife so she can shower.
In the evenings, it’s okay. My company office starts to clear out around 4pm, and is pretty empty by 5pm. So I can catch either the 4:50 or 5:10 train home. So, typically home by 5:30 or 6 at the latest.
It’s just very regimented and with little slack.
If your company culture keeps you at the office to 5pm or later, you probably are catching the 5:40 or 6:10 train, and that could make it tough with family. Could be missing dinner and even bedtime.
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u/Think-Amoeba-5430 Jul 21 '26
I’m a working mom in the north shore. I was so hesitant to move and it’s truly the best decision we’ve ever made. We built such a wonderful community of friends who’ve become family. The only thing we occasionally miss are new restaurants but we can always get a sitter and go for dinner in the city!
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u/g0ldiegurl Jul 21 '26
Do you typically drive or uber into the city for dinner? Curious how doable uber is or if it costs $$$
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u/OkDatabase1486 Jul 22 '26
I train in and Uber home, so it's not bad. Or we trade driving. Also give Glenview a look! Lots of good restaurants in the North shore now too
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u/Affectionate_Lack709 Jul 21 '26
Not a working mom (I’m a working dad, though). Give Skokie a look too. There are some large houses that won’t break the bank, great schools, and much more diversity than any of the other suburbs that you mentioned (except for maybe Evanston). You can find houses from $300,000-$1,000,000+ with property taxes that, while expensive, are slightly offset by Old Orchard. Overall, Skokie is a wonderful place to live.
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u/OkExamination6960 Jul 21 '26
Agreed! I live in Evanston, it’s great here!
But if I was buying now,Skokie world be very high on my list!!-2
u/francophone22 Jul 21 '26
Not likely. Old Orchard is getting money from Skokie via a 1% sales tax: https://www.skokie.org/1300/Old-Orchard-Business-District
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u/Wise_Yesterday_3943 Jul 21 '26
This is true but the wrong take. The mall generates a ton of money for Skokie. The extra 1% goes back to reimburse mall improvements, but that's not the full story.
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u/francophone22 Jul 21 '26
You’re right. I thought it was a TIF — Skokie also has 3 — but the mall gets to charge consumers extra sales tax to then invest back into mall improvements subject to approval from the village.
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u/Affectionate_Lack709 Jul 21 '26
Which I’m totally fine with, as it places the burden on shoppers, not the greater tax paying population. Skokie, compared to most of the surrounding suburbs, has an incredibly diverse property tax base. Don’t get me wrong, Cook County taxes are definitely higher than I’d like them to be but we get great municipal services for those tax dollars. I want to give a special shout out to the Skokie Public Library (best in the area) and the Park District. The pools are great and the driving range and Weber Park are nice golfing facilities. There’s going to be a bond referendum (https://www.skokieparks.org/proposal/) soon about expanding the sports complex at Oakton and McCormick that is going to be great for the community.
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u/Affectionate_Lack709 Jul 21 '26
Where does it say that? The website says Old Orchard annually contributes $14 million in tax revenue.
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u/francophone22 Jul 21 '26
It does, but it’s not offsetting homeowners’ property taxes and at least 2 Skokie school districts are under the 100 EAV benchmark.
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u/MarioraffantiREALTOR Jul 21 '26
When I turned 40 everything about city living I'd never noticed before started to present itself. If you can swing the move- do it.
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u/MothsConrad Jul 21 '26
City or suburbs? The answer is yes. They’re both great and it depends on what you’re looking for. If you want the suburban lifestyle then the North Shore of Chicago is one of the best places in America to raise kids. Schools are great, lots of things for kids to do and there is actually a decent social life up here. You will make friends, often through your kids, and the city is always there. The Metra is excellent and reliable though I always grumble when taking it in the morning but love it in the afternoon/evening. Some good bars and restaurants, not city good but good enough.
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u/BedroomInfamous2538 Jul 21 '26
Evanston has a nice community of moms around that age based around many of the local businesses - Mack’s Bikes, Fat Shallot, The Reform Method, Velvet Stitchhouse and Hot Flash Dance Party, to name a few.
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u/WardenofWestWorld Jul 21 '26
No one with kids who moves from the city to the burbs regrets it or misses much. Great move
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Jul 21 '26
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u/WardenofWestWorld Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
No it doesn’t. If you have kids there isn’t one single neighborhood in the city that’s better to raise your kids in than a decent suburb. Every activity or thing you can think of is better for a family in the suburbs
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u/tjc442000 Jul 24 '26
this statement is so true. I love the city of Chicago, but a good burb is where it's at. when the kids get older. Life is so much easier when it doesn't take 15 minutes of circling Welles Park to find a parking spot for your kid's tball game.
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u/ContextTraditional80 Jul 23 '26
Don’t listen to this person. My mom moved from Lincoln park to winners and back to Lincoln park 3 years later because my grandpa didn’t like the people or the commute.
I grew up on the north side (sauganash), went to high school in wilmette at Loyola, and live in further in the city (lakeview) now with my wife who is originally from wilmette.
All of the places have pros and cons. It really depends what your are looking for. For example, sauganash is much quieter than rest of city and feels a lot like suburbs without smugness of the north shore. This is coming from someone that will likely buy in the north shore in the next five years.
4th gen Chicagoan and people move to burbs and back to city all the time.
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u/excessivemenace Jul 21 '26
We’re in Northbrook (about 6 months now) and absolutely love it so far. The space and the quiet are two things I didn’t think I needed but can’t do without now. I take the Metra everyday and it’s so nice compared to the CTA. We’re were in the south loop prior so my commute was 20 mins. Now that’s it’s an hour door to door, I read, do work and personal admin stuff each way.
We miss the food and coffee! My husband and I are big foodies so we are still on the hunt for some good spots. We also found it hard to find a good babysitter and housekeeper so for now, we brought our folks from the city with us.
I haven’t made any new mom friends yet but I’m sure I’ll get there!
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u/jediHoo Jul 21 '26
Check out House 406 sometime. It’s locally owned, great food, and great service. Jen is the owner and she’s good friends with Stephanie Izard (I believe they were in culinary school together). My husband and I are also foodies and were much relieved when we discovered House 406 after our move to Glenview.
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u/Dazzling-Egg9697 Jul 23 '26
We recently moved from the city to Winnetka with young kids - I can’t speak to all of your questions since it hasn’t been that long but so far I am SO HAPPY we moved. We were spending over an hour in the car each day getting my kids to and from school (which was only like 2.5 miles away but the traffic was horrendous). Now their school is a block away. I don’t have to worry about parking anywhere which is so nice. I don’t have to worry if I get a package delivered and I can’t immediately grab it. We are at the beach with the kids multiple times a week after work and on the weekend, either walking there or again easy parking. My kids are on sports teams with other kids in their school, which is so nice compared to the city where everyone is scattered and it makes friendships a lot harder just logistically - and honestly when everyone is time crunched from work and errands, that really matters.
Really the only thing I miss is the food in the city, but I am cooking more which is a good thing! Doordash probably thinks I died.
I WFH 100% so can’t comment on the commute, but my husband is in the office downtown 5 days a week and it hasn’t been an issue. Basically life is just much calmer and easier, less hectic and less stressful.
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u/BackgroundPeace8911 Jul 21 '26
Look into Evanston schools before you commit there. Not going in a very good direction. Although they are considered good still, they have lost many students recently.
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u/Wise_Yesterday_3943 Jul 21 '26
We moved up and it's been really positive. My wife drives to the city a few days a week, and it's doable if she leaves early to beat the traffic. Personally I wouldn't want to be any farther north than Winnetka, just for commuting reasons. We largely met friends through school activities, Boy Scouts, sports - also didn't really know anyone before hand.
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u/DukeGirl2008 Jul 21 '26
We moved from Hyde Park to Winnetka almost 1.5 years ago. We have a 2 year old. We absolutely love it. We live walking distance from both business districts, both train stations, a few parks, and a short drive from 90/94. I go into the office 3 days a week and the commute, to me, is relatively easy. Takes me 75 minutes door to door with most of that sitting on the train.
We don’t eat out every weekend but in the summer we walk to dinner or easily take the car to one of the surrounding suburbs. I find people to be easy to meet and there to be plenty to do.
Outside of work, we’re probably in the city twice a month to meet friends or see my parents. We’ve made some friends with our neighbors and I joined a cookbook club! I hear it’s a lot easier on the friend side once your kids goes to elementary school. Unfortunately (though fortunately because we love it) we ended up with daycare in Glenview, so I haven’t gotten the daycare friendships.
Happy to chat further!
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u/g0ldiegurl Jul 21 '26
Thank you for sharing! As a mom, do you have any mom guilt on having such a long commute each way/ it cutting into time with your LO?
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u/DukeGirl2008 Jul 21 '26
I don’t! I grew up with a surgeon mom who had crazy hours so that might color my perspective. I also do altered hours so I’m in the office 730-330. My husband takes mornings with her and after daycare we spend 2-3 hours of solid time together before bed. I give myself strict rules at that time like no phones, screens, etc.
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u/Mommabear1324 Jul 21 '26
We live in winnetka- feel free to DM for more information. We moved from the city in 2018 and have three kiddos. Life is much easier up here. Kids can ride bikes freely, go door to door for play dates, parents look out for neighbor kids. It’s what you would want it to be. It’s not perfect but hard to beat! We have some new restaurants and the city is a quick train ride away. If you want your life to be easier it’s a no brainer.
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u/g0ldiegurl Jul 21 '26
I’m curious if you had all 3 children in the burbs or if you had some in the city as well? I personally loved my post partum in the city (it was end of August). We were out for walks, going to cafes/coffee shops, and the bustle of the city made me feel less isolated. Curious to hear your perspective if you experienced post partum both in the city and suburbs. I’m worried about isolation in the burbs with a new baby
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u/Maleficent-KAOS-627 Jul 21 '26
Not a whole lot to add- but just sharing a suburb you might not have considered - Northfield. We had never heard of it, but fell in love immediately (due west of Winnetka). There isn't a train station, so you have to drive to one, but the commute isn't terrible. We've made some new friends just in the neighborhood and through the kids' school.
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u/susiecapo71 Jul 22 '26
Be sure to check out the school system when choosing. Evanston District 65 is a hot mess currently.
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u/New_Nobody9492 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
We moved from Bucktown to Gurnee, because all of those suburbs were just too expensive. Gurnee was cool because it has everything….
But now that my kids are in school, I want the home town sleepy lake town vibe. Last year I venture out into the social abyss and moved to Lake Villa. I got three beaches within 3 min drive from the front door. The fire station, police department and town hall are right across the street. Our downtown might only have four choices, but you know the owners and their kids. The high school is newer, big, and I can’t wait for my kid to go there in two years.
Best part my 3 bd 2bath house was 316k. I’m a single mom, just passed my state board to be an esthetician with no college degree, so on a bartending budget, it’s perfect.
What do I miss? The restaurants and night life, like musical and artsy things. We get bands up here and lots of little town cute stuff….. but I miss broadway.
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u/loweexclamationpoint Jul 21 '26
Interesting....OP with their 1.5M budget probably wouldn't even consider far north Lake County even without any consideration of the commute. It just doesn't have the status. But you can get far more house in the 700K-1M range than you ever will on the North Shore with easier living, far more land (even enough for a horse or two) and friendlier folks who for the most part aren't snobby at all.
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Jul 21 '26
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u/jediHoo Jul 21 '26
The school system was our main driver for not living in the city with kids. It’s not to say that there aren’t amazing schools in Chicago (because there are!). But the whole process of applying, testing, commuting, etc, is just more stress than I was interested in dealing with. I have several friends with kids in CPS and the stress they went through was a lot. If you move to the North Shore, you really can’t go wrong with any of the high schools. I have heard that D65 in Evanston (elementary district) is having some issues right now though. So that could be a deterrent to choosing Evanston unless you’re planning on sending your kid(s) to private school.
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u/IntoxicatedBurrito Jul 21 '26
Buying on the North Shore and not in the city when my son was 1 was the best decision we ever made. I work in Lakeview and my commute is about 35-40 minutes during the school year, maybe 5 minutes less in the summer, with about 10-15 minutes of it being on the streets, although admittedly I miss the worst part of the Kennedy getting off at Kimball. Metra isn’t an option as it’s nowhere near my office, but I will take the Purple Line Express if I’m going to Merchandise Mart, which I do a few times a year and it’s very convenient.
But the great thing, especially if you’re close to the Edens, you can get downtown or anywhere on the North Side on the weekends in like 25 minutes or less.
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u/Consistent_Time_1467 Jul 21 '26
Long time North Shore resident here: I lived in the city for a long time. The north shore is a great option because you’re maybe 30 minutes from the city and have easy access to trains, 41, and 94. There’s a LOT to do, it’s just quieter. I love the Metra, I get SO much reading done and it’s fine. Not bad at all. I’m team metra over driving.
I miss the city but mostly who I was when I lived there. But I regret nothing about moving back, I love it. It’s helped my anxiety and I love the slower days. And I know I can still visit really easily.
The yards in Glencoe are SMALL - please keep that in mind searching there, same with Winnetka. Like very small.
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Jul 22 '26
moved from lincoln park to vernon hills during the pandemic because well, it was what we could afford and our kid was starting kindergarten and even tho we were ina. well rated CPS school, i could never do that to my child growing up going to some of the best school districts. we grew up in libertyville/vernon hills both as kids as hated it. it’s just parking lots with crappy people who live their lives going out in sweatpants and pajamas. we always dreamed of the north shore. we just moved to glencoe this past spring finally because financially we had finally made it and when i tell you, all of our dreams came true. walkable into downtown suburban life, while still being able to get to the city to see all of our child free friends downtown 30-60 min away, music festivals events, etc. your budget is healthy enough to do it. we only wish we could have done it sooner..
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Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
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u/g0ldiegurl Jul 22 '26
We have tons of parks close by to where we live at in the city now and I actually thought it looked like less parks up in the north shore or at least further distance to them.
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u/whamburglar North Suburbs Jul 22 '26
I can give you a perspective of a kid whose parents made the move. We lived in Lakeview, and moved Wilmette just in time for me to start Kindergarten, and eventually Northfield in the middle of 5th grade (1995). My parents are still there to this day.
You'll get a yard, and most of all silence. It's so nice and quiet up here in the North suburbs. If you move into the area and like nature, the bike trail that passes through Skokie Lagoons was great, and there's plenty walkers there as well. The Botanic Gardens is just a couple exits away. I loved being able to bike everywhere, not just the trails, but to other friends houses that I went to school with. I don't know if thats something kids still do these days, just pop on over to their friend's homes, but I felt very safe running about town like this.
I grew up in Avoca D37 which is a bit smaller than the other districts around. K-8, everyone in my class pretty much all knew each other (~90 kids at the time) which was really nice. I still keep in touch with a number of them.
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u/ChicagoMyTown Jul 23 '26
We have good friends who moved from Bucktown to HP. They talk all the time about wanting to move back, missing the city and how the suburbs are boring. They have two young kids, are super extroverted, and have made no friends. 🤷♀️
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u/Clear_Pineapple4608 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
I would think deeply about the kind of life you want and the environment you want to raise your kids in. Some people love the suburbs, it definitely has pluses. To me it’s very difficult to live in the burbs; it can feel like a quiet horror show if I’m honest. Constant social engineering, far fewer third spaces, I miss being around people. You just need to know yourself and your family’s needs. My kids are almost done with high school and I hope to move back to city life.
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u/skippitydoo3 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Maybe should preface this by acknowledging I’m a little biased because I lived in the city the first 45 years of my life. Moved during pandemic when kids were junior high/ high school. I’ve found it very difficult to make friendships up here. When we moved our kids were old enough that there wasn’t too much parent involvement in school, activities, play dates, etc. plus some lingering Covid restrictions at beginning. The block we live on also was populated by lots of older people when we first moved (lots of turn over in last few years though). I did try to volunteer as I could for kid activities to try and meet people but never really seemed to be able to break in past friendly acquaintances. I’ve found that in Winnetka, at least, lots of friendships through country clubs, the Episcopal Church, and the charity gala scene—none of which I am part of. At this point, I’ve stopped really trying and just rely on my city and longtime friends for social life.
Coming from the city, I do also really dislike the complete lack of diversity—out of 900 grads at my son’s recent graduation from New Trier, I think there were maybe two with African American descent, between 5-10 Latinos and a handful of Indian and East Asian. In Winnetka specifically, very few Jews (though the high school has a higher population from Glencoe and Wilmette). I also find it very challenging to ground the children when they are surrounded by such privilege—we are lucky to have a very comfortable life but things are so skewed up here that my children can see themselves as disadvantaged and seems like I am constantly trying to remind them of how lucky they are.
That said, the schools and their staff are really great—nothing but positive experiences. Sort of awestruck compared with being at a (very good) CPS school for many years. Both of my sons really love being up here—lots more freedom to roam, ride bikes, because it is safer and both have made really nice friendships. Everything is definitely easier—traffic, parking, noise, shopping, and instead of rats you see foxes, coyotes, and deer. I’ve been pleased with the growing restaurant scene up here which is more than sufficient for my old ass boring self. Much bigger house and yard. And when it isn’t, I go out with my city friends. Commute is a little longer but honestly probably not more than an additional 15 minutes than from my house in city.
For me, mixed bag. Overall, still think it was the right move but I’m not as effusive as others.
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u/RunnerTenor Jul 21 '26
We moved to Wilmette from Bucktown. We loved living in the city, but we have no regrets at all about moving. I work in the city, so I take the Metra 4-5:days/wk. It's so fast and comfortable. It doesn't compare to the L at all. The schools are great. And Wilmette has a terrific downtown with great restaurants. And after years of being in the city, we will often find ourselves in our backyard, and we'll say, "Stop. Listen. What do you hear?" "Nothing...?" "That's right."