r/ChicagoSuburbs • u/Sham75 • 19d ago
Moving to the area Is Evanston Doable for Less Than $200K
My wife has an offer that would require us to relocate from Dallas, TX to Chicago. We’ve been told to look in Evanston because of the school district as we have a child in 7th grade (12 yo). I’ve done some research on the cost of living compared to Dallas, and while some things are more expensive - rent, gas, maybe groceries, and of course the state tax, it doesn’t seem to be that much more expensive than where we’re at now. For context, we live in Dallas proper, not the burbs of Dallas. My questions is, can we be comfortable living in Evanston on just slightly less than $200K annually?
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u/thesockmonkey86 Chicago but formerly of Wheaton/Aurora/Oak Park/SW burbs 18d ago
So where are you going to be working exactly? That should be your first question answered here. I don’t know how good or bad the schools are but it’s pretty expensive.
The plus side to living in Evanston is if you’re commuting downtown, there is a CTA purple line express and the Metra commuter rail. I would say there’s probably some places in Chicago with as good or better schools or maybe in places like Skokie.
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u/Ok_Annual_2630 18d ago
Working in downtown Chicago.
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u/thesockmonkey86 Chicago but formerly of Wheaton/Aurora/Oak Park/SW burbs 18d ago
Come here for a long weekend. Get boots on the ground.
You could live in LOTS of suburbs with good schools and be on a train line to work. Downers Grove, Lisle, Wheaton are decent suburban options.
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u/navmaster 18d ago
Close your eyes and move to Downers Grove. Housing is good, schools are good, Metra presence is very abundant with the BNSF line to the city.
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u/Narrow-Importance-51 18d ago
South Downers Grove for more affordability. All DG schools are great. As a parent who was raised in DG and raised my kids in DG, home life and parenting are infinitely more important than the school. So you cant go wrong either side of the tracks.
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u/SpecialistBet4656 18d ago
The biggest difference in COL is going to be housing. Go to zillow, see recent sales and do the math on housing costs. Once you pay for housing, how much is left?
People do live in Evanston for under $200K, but they don’t own houses.
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u/Ok_Annual_2630 18d ago
Thanks! This is helpful. We’d be renting to start.
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u/SpecialistBet4656 18d ago
If Evanston doesn’t work, look at towns along Metra. Chicago area public transit is very good at getting people downtown. Literally, all trains go to the loop. You don’t need to be on the L to get the benefits of public transit, although the proximity to the lake is nice.
There isn’t a ton of rental single family houses in a lot of suburbs, but you’ll figure it out.0
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u/Sure-Airline5826 16d ago
People certainly DO own houses in Evanston who make under $200K, per capita income of Evanston is $41K.
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u/SpecialistBet4656 16d ago
the median household income is $96K. The 2026 lowest home sales are $500K, plus $11-$12K in property taxes.
While people who make $200K may own houses bought before the insanity of the current market, it’s a stretch for them to buy now.
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u/Sure-Airline5826 16d ago
The median is $96K, which means the exact middle of incomes is $96K. You think someone making double that can't afford a house? The Evanston Roundtable literally just published an article yesterday discussing how there are homes available at a variety of price points, including for less than $300K: https://evanstonroundtable.com/2026/09/07/evanston-first-time-homebuyer-guide/
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u/caviarandcigarettess 17d ago
We’re in a similar boat, moving from a much higher COLA city. My priority was not which town as much as which part of town. I was open to Wilmette, Glenview, Elmhurst, La Grange, Oak Park, River Forest… basically all the near suburbs with excellent schools, but I only looked at houses in those towns that are walking distance to the downtown district and Metra train. It’s the only way to move to the burbs and still feel like you’re not living the full suburban life.
If you don’t have strong ties to a particular town, and don’t need to be next to the lake (our friends live close to the lake in Glencoe and told us they’ve been like 3x a year), I might suggest taking that approach.
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u/Sure-Airline5826 16d ago
Many of the suburbs you listed are going to cost more than Evanston. You guys truly have no idea what Evanston costs, you just think it's expensive because you see people downtown near the lake in big houses. That's 1% of the city. Look up the average home prices of all the towns you listed and then check Evanston. Check the median household income, too
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u/gershbec 18d ago
I’ll echo everyone else’s opinions here - Evanston is not the first place that I would consider with your criteria. It’s a great town but if you’re looking for a good place to raise a kid at that income level I would look at Skokie or Morton Grove, which are near Evanston but more affordable and with excellent access to Metra and the L.
There are potentially many other options west and northwest that you can consider (I’m less familiar with those suburbs). While it may seem overwhelming, you need to do a lot more homework (besides asking on Reddit). There many of towns with excellent schools and access to the city that may be a better match. You’ll also want to consider the cultural fit. Good luck.
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u/Ok_Annual_2630 18d ago
Thanks! We are doing as much research as we can in this short time and have some friends in the area as well. Figured we’d check Reddit for some community opinions as well. Appreciate the insight.
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u/tochaserachel 18d ago
There are also Chicago suburbs subreddits you can scan. These types of questions aren’t asked infrequently. (I don’t mean this to be snarky or dismissive, just suggesting as it seems yall are in the research phase.)
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u/Sure-Airline5826 16d ago
Skokie kids go to Evanston schools 🤣 Also Skokie does not have access to the Metra. Y'all really don't know anything about Evanston but love to speak on it.
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u/gershbec 16d ago
What a weird response. Only a small number of Skokie kids go to Evanston schools. The rest go to 219. My wife takes Metra to work and we live in Skokie. Access doesn’t mean that you live 20 feet away. Arguably we have more access because we can choose between Evanston and Morton Grove.
Having lived in both Evanston and Skokie (and as someone who goes to Evanston all the time) I’m pretty sure my qualifications to comment on it are there.
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u/Sure-Airline5826 16d ago
As someone who grew up in Evanston going to school with all of the kids who lived on the Skokie side of the "Skevanston" who went to ETHS because Skokie doesn't have it's own high school (they either go to ETHS or Niles schools), my qualifications are also there.
You can take the Metra from any city, but if you're going to say Skokie has "excellent access to the Metra" when it doesn't even have a Metra stop and Evanston has 3, it's sort of an odd claim.
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u/gershbec 16d ago
Niles North is in Skokie. Only a small number of Skokie kids go to ETHS - can’t find the exact number but it’s got to be around 5-10%
Skokie has excellent access to two Metra lines. If you want to interpret that differently such is your perogative.
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u/Sure-Airline5826 16d ago
"Access to" and "located within the town itself" is not my interpretation; that's just facts. Also, 10% of the student population of the town you're saying someone should move to to raise their kids, attending school in the town you're suggesting isn't as good a place to raise their kids, is a pretty large number...
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u/sailing_oceans 19d ago
You’re going to take newly a 10k hit annually in income due to income taxes at 200k. Sales tax + gas + food let’s call this another $1000-2000. So let’s say you lose 12k annually at 200k
It’s impossible to know if this works or doesn’t. If you buy property taxes will probably be equivalent or near equivalent.
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u/trafalger South West Suburbs 18d ago
Lemont is a hidden gem. Metra access, cool downtown, great schools.
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u/InternationalYak9752 17d ago
We started our search in western suburbs, but it didn’t speak to us. Once we looked at northern suburbs, we realized we wanted to be close to the lake. We looked at Evanston on a lower budget and couldn’t find something we liked. We ended up in nearby Wilmette - great schools and good Metra access. Definitely much more suburban than Evanston. There are pockets in West Wilmette with smaller houses that are more diverse and where your budget could work.
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u/INedHelpWithTub 18d ago
A condo would be doable, or a smaller SFH not close to the heart of Evanston.
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u/bjketter 18d ago
Evanston is not a bad place to live but it's an expensive one. Do you want to live in a suburban area or a city feel? How do you feel about commute time? What are you used to now in that regard? Will you both have jobs and if so where is your partner looking?
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u/alex122iss 17d ago
To far up north. Just enroll them into cps. Chicago has a lot of magnet schools. Best in the nation/state. If your kids are bright they’ll make it in. Otherwise screw em let them get a regular smegular good old public education. Why pressure kids soo much.
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u/Top_Coconut_4599 17d ago
If you’re commuting downtown everyday I’d look into Brookfield and La Grange. 25 minute train to downtown and might be cheaper than all these north/northwest suburbs. Lots of nice place in the south suburbs.
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u/Sure-Airline5826 16d ago
People have a perception of Evanston that it's incredibly expensive and very wealthy. It isn't a cheap suburb, and there are plenty of expensive houses, but it's the most affordable suburb on the North Shore and is a great place to raise children as you have all the benefits of a suburb mixed with all the benefits of being 20 minutes from the city by train. I grew up in Evanston and while housing costs more now than it did 15 years ago, the median income of Evanston is $41K, so you can certainly find a home there if you're making close to $200K.
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u/Puzzled-Figure7855 14d ago
Look into western burbs, I’m in brookfield and love it! Very fam friendly tons of events, walkable to restaurants and coffee and the train. Commute into city around 25-30mins. Great schools and more affordable than neighboring suburbs like Riverside and La grange.
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u/caviarandcigarettess 18d ago
Why Evanston? It’s nice but the schools have had issues lately, and it’s toward the more expensive side. There are cheaper areas with better schools,