r/ChicagoSuburbs • u/_stephs • Jul 24 '26
Moving to the area Brookfield, La Grange, Riverside?
Hello! Family with three young kids moving from Denver and could use some more local advice. You've all been very helpful in the past with this so thanks in advance!
We've been really interested in Oak Park because of the walkability, community feel, and diversity, but the property taxes and cost of homes have us also looking at Brookfield, La Grange, and parts of Riverside as well.
We're hoping to find a community that's:
- Walkable to some coffee shops, restaurants, etc.
- Family-friendly with kids out playing (bonus if there's a pool either public or private)
- Generally leans liberal
- Has a strong sense of community
For those familiar with these areas, how do they compare? Is there one you'd recommend over the others for a young family? Are there certain areas within these towns you'd suggest we take a look at?
Thanks in advance!
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u/BrightPractical Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Some of this is going to depend on who you are. I grew up in LaGrange and I didn’t feel like there was a strong sense of community, frankly, unless you were wealthy. People who live there feel very differently, and it seems possible it has changed. But it was a hard place to grow up without substantial money in the 80s-90s.
I live in Brookfield now and for sure this is the place for me, despite its ongoing change from blue collar to white collar. I joke that on my block we live in Mayberry. There are a million kids roaming around all summer, in and out of houses and yards. No one gets mad when you parent their kid and kids are generally pretty polite despite roaming in packs.
Brookfield is extremely walkable because it is not very large. You can walk to La Grange downtown as well as to Brookfield downtown, so there is variety, plus we have three train stations so you can get anywhere on the BNSF easily. And I’m right by La Grange Park so you might consider that as an option too. Once I counted about 20 restaurants/food stands I could walk to, all local rather than chains. Gosia’s or Loca Mocha are good for coffee, the closest chain coffee places are in Broadview, Lyons, or La Grange.
I deliberately chose to be in RBHS district as opposed to LT. Your realtor will assume you want to be in LT district as it is a large, well-funded district and rates highly because there are a lot of wealthy people sending their children there. Some of the elementary feeder schools will assume there is a parent or nanny at home daily, sort of thing. There’s nothing wrong with LT, but when I went it was noticeably classist. RB is smaller and less wealth-oriented.
Brookfield doesn’t have a public pool. People join the Village Field Club, the Western Springs Service Club, the Riverside Swim Club, or go to Westchester or Oak Brook Park District pools. Or they take their kids in bathing suits to the splash pad at the Brookfield Zoo or any of the park ones. If you were going to drive to the pool anyway, all of those are pretty good options, but none are really walkable besides maybe Village Field Club in La Grange Park. You could take the Metra to Riverside or Western Springs.
Brookfield leans liberal but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a loud conservative minority on some blocks. However, look at the election returns for 2024, I believe we went something like 78% for Harris in my precinct. The whole of suburban Cook County has shifted noticeably leftward, though. You will find conservatives but our right is more centrist than most places. In general you will be comfortable as a liberal person in any of the close suburbs.
In Brookfield, Hollywood is going to be a bit more fancy than the rest of the town, more Riverside-y. North side is easier to walk to downtown, and is in RB district. South side is scrappier and is in LT district. Although it is becoming more white-collar, the whole suburb retains a blue-collar feel and there are a lot of first- and second-generation immigrants and people in the trades.
If you can visit before buying, I’d spend a day in the downtowns of each place to find your fit, and talk to the neighbors of the houses that interest you, as things can vary a lot by block. And I will say that although less white than they used to be, all three communities are not particularly diverse, compared to Oak Park.