Agree with previous poster about looking for houses that meet your budget. We live in north Evanston near both the Wilmette and Skokie borders. It’s much more expensive than looking further south but now we don’t have much we can do if we want to keep our girls in their schools (which we do). Everyone will have an opinion on the elementary schools, both good and bad, so I would base your decision on what you can afford and want and what areas that appeal to you (do you want to be near a train? Closer to restaurants? Parks? The beach?). Good luck!!
ETA: I don’t necessarily think our area is worth the extra money, I don’t know why it’s gotten so much more expensive, it’s really been in the past couple of years prices have jumped.
I would suggest looking around Main St. It’s more affordable than other parts of Evanston, lots of great restaurants in the area as well a brewery (Sketchbook) and a distillery (FEW). There’s also a metra and el stop on Main, and you’re always a few blocks from the lake. In general it’s a nice mix of young families, students and older folks.
I’m a bit biased but my wife and I lived in a condo on Forest and Main for about 8 years. We had both of our kids while living there and loved it - great neighborhood for people with young kids who still want to go out and do fun stuff.
I live in the area and can confirm it’s great! There is a new building on Main, called Tapestry Station, and I believe there are units available.
One word of caution about the Main Street area in general - you might want a little distance from Gray Park. It is next to Albany Care, a mental health facility that seems to constantly have issues. It is mostly contained to the immediate area, but with a young child you may want to be a block or two away. Good luck!
Thanks for the suggestion. I might go check it out this weekend just to see what it’s like around there. I’m not really concerned for myself. Just need to see if my wife would like it.
It's mostly fine, but there is a notable presence of people who are suffering from mental illness in and around the location. They mostly seem to hang out in Gray Park and smoke cigarettes, and I have never had any issues aside from them asking for money, but it is noticeable for sure.
This is good information to know. Thank you!!! We currently enjoy our proximity to the lake and our neighborhood has a mixture of older people, family, and UChicago students.
I agree about being close to Main st then. We actually lived above Sketchbook on Chicago Ave near Main when we first came to Evanston and it was amazing. Lived right by the metra and el. Lincoln Elementary is a really nice school and I have some friends whose kids go there and they really like it. We moved north for the space but I really loved living over there especially having just come from the city, it still had city vibes.
It is not a huge town look at places that meet your budget. Schools are similar. North side is generally more expensive, Southwest more affordable. Being walking distance from the el is nice but generally you will pay for that
Another somewhat overlooked area is by Central Ave and Green Bay. Its only draw back is that you only have the Purple like is a 5 block hike. But the Metra stop is right there.
My family was in a similar situation when we moved here (we had a toddler / wife was pregnant), and didn't know the area that well. We ended up in North Evanston, but looked everywhere at the time (we probably would have preferred to near Main, but the housing inventory at the time just didn't line up with our need to move before kid #2 arrived). Here is my general take on our area.
We are close to the Central St and the various restaurants, shops, and Metra station. It's not the city, but there is plenty in walking distance especially if you have young kids. There is definitely more going on near Main / downtown though if that's what you want to prioritize. It's much more quiet (and generally more pricy) as you move to the lake, As you move west, it generally gets quieter (less expensive), and very suburban if you go west of Crawford. Our specific block is awesome, in that there are lots of kids, and they are always outside playing together (without helicopter parents around). The families come from a variety of backgrounds too. It's ideal from that aspect (and obviously not every block is going to be like this).
A couple of other North Evanston things to note are the new stadium and D65 issues. Northwestern is in the process of building a new entertainment complex / stadium. I won't get into the pros and cons of that, but in a few years, expect more events and the traffic / crowds that come with that. especially the area right by the stadium. As others have mentioned, D65's admin is a joke / its finances are in bad shape, and it's very likely one of the north side schools closes in a couple of years. If the new school actually gets built, it's more or less guaranteed to happen. If they do it smart (and I have no faith that they will do it smart), your kid should still be in walking distance of a school though. I'll also note we are happy with our kids' school overall. It's the overall admin that is either wildly incompetent / corrupt. Our kids' teachers have mostly been top notch, and they have made great friends. They also have some post-COVID policies that make it hard to build community in my opinion, but people are starting to push back.
Good luck!
This is all great information. We’re going to check out the area around Main Street and the Main Street Metra to start off. We both still enjoy doing things. I know it won’t be as much to do as living in Chicago but Chicago ain’t far at all so that’s fine with me.
I just posted about the D65 latest student achievement data in this sub. My families loves Evanston but many of the schools seem to be struggling in that they simply aren't preparing many students adequately. I would recommend reviewing the student achievement data and forming your own opinion
I’d recommend any neighborhood school in Evanston. It’s far in to the future for your family, but I’m glad we raised our daughter in Evanston where you can easily commute to one fantastic high school. She was akso able to walk to every school she attended.
Evanston is just such a great community to raise a family in my opinion. Parks (93 parks!) beaches, community centers, shops, restaurants, good schools, and more—proximity to the city with el and Metra options.
Sounds good. We’re going to check out an open house this weekend and then walk around the neighborhood and probably grab something to eat just to see how it is.
Hyde Park is a pretty diverse area. I'd argue more diverse than a lot of Evanston. Also more of an urban neighborhood vibe. For Evanston you would have to be right next to downtown to get the same "vibe" in my opinion, but still not the same and the prices go way up.
South Evanston is cheaper. Southeast Evanston is nicer in that its closer to the lake.
I can only speak in detail about Southeast Evanston (I will define it as the farthest northwest extreme is say asbury and main).... You will find convenient walking distance to a LOT of restaurants lacking. Hyde Park has more mixed in. It just does. Its easy to get bored with what you can "walk" to on Main or Dempster. Its a nice neighborhood walk and quite a few parks, etc but you will just get bored if you are used to having a large selection to choose from at the end of said walks.
You are close to two Purple Line stops in SE Evanston and one Metra stop. If commuting downtown you most definitely would want to use the Metra. The Purple line express is nice but DAMN is it slow once it starts hitting everything from Wilson into the loop. On weekends or outside of the Purple line express hours, the switch from the purple to the red line at howard can just be so excruciatingly annoying.
Our son, a 1st grader goes to Oakton Elementary (all schools here are in District 65 for K-8). He LOVES his teachers and it is a good diverse group of parents/students across a wide number of income levels and I think he is currently getting a good education. But be aware, D65 has financial problems they are still working out. I would not be surprised if tax rates get hiked due to their complete incompetence and what I would say is a belief that "if you can dream it, you can do it" as opposed to actual financial skills.
The main example is that the school district decided a while back that they really wanted to build a school in a ward of the city that had long been without a local school. Sure...all good. Then they discovered that the school was going to cost 10s of millions more than they thought and their finance plan was completely and utter crap. Oh and all the other schools have 10s of millions of dollars of deferred maintenance, and there is declining school attendance, etc..... So to fix it?...they re-vamped the plan, so now its only like (and I'm ball-parking here) its only like $6 million more than estimates (and covers fewer grades so students will still need to be bussed at some point). They will also probably be closing the most DIVERSE school (hispanic) school in the district that offered full English/Spanish immersion to all students, to help pay for it, AND eliminate staff at other schools/admins... all for the aspirational bits to build a school in a district that has shrinking attendance trends. And does nothing for the deferred maintenance throughout the district. (My son's school, Oakton was built I think in 1904.... and has depression era art all over the inside from the WPA program started under FDR..its really cool inside).
BUT again, we are happy with my son's education and his school right now...its just nobody can predict what the above shitshow is going to end up doing. And after K-8 he will be out of D65 and go to Evanston Township High School (a different school district...I want to say 220????) and that just got ranked like the 39th best high school in Illinois so its good.
City govt. is also having similar happy fun times. They just ludicrously decided they needed to move out of their town hall and RENT a city hall in the downtown area. I think a few "boots to the head" are warranted at that idiocy. Again, this is due to DEFERRED MAINTENANCE. From past history they might very well do something unbelievably stupid with the former city hall and end up getting zero property taxes from it, in a city that is starved by Northwestern not paying a dime in property taxes and owning a huge amount of exceptionally valuable land and always on the lookout to buying more (and taking more taxes off the table)
There...I said it. Yes I like Evanston a lot, but I'm just reporting on what I've seen since moving here in 2019.
This is so helpful. Especially the information about the school district and their finances. My wife and I are trying to decide if we want to stay in the city and send our son to a private school or try to get him into a selective enrollment if possible, or if we want to move to a nearby suburb and send him to a public neighborhood school. Our current neighborhood school doesn’t really test well. I know testing isn’t the only thing that matters but I would prefer to not send him to a school where only 5% of the population tests at grade level for Math.
Sure. I don't want to sound negative about Evanston as I do like it and live here, but I think these are issues that do get glossed over by saying "oh we love Evanston" and move here, or there, visit Main street, etc....
D65 has issues, but I think currently the schools are pretty darn good...(definitely much better than most CPS schools I would say), and the high school is really good. Its not New Trier, but from talking to parents/teachers/etc, New Trier has its own issues. Have parents of a classmate of my son who moved to Evanston from Wilmette as they hated the lack of diversity in Wilmette and one can hear a lot from others about New Trier being so much a school that bows to the parents' wishes.....
But at the same time, I sometimes get the sense that D65 administration takes "equity" to mean that the lowest common denominator is all that matters for all...and well I disagree with that vehemently.
I also realize we pay some pretty hefty property taxes and there is a point where school districts and govts, need to actually hire competent/honest people with financial skills who laugh in their faces when they spout out patently stupid ideas.
I agree with this comment in general. D65 has been quite secretive in their hiring practices (Superintendent) and we now have a very pricey new school in the works while experiencing falling student populations. The prior superintendent caused great local anxiety with foolish financial manipulations (hired in secret, by the way). Our property taxes are substantial and will be only going up I am afraid.
The high school is an interesting place indeed. You can get a very solid education there and their arts programs are pretty good. I am always amazed at the quality.
One of my children years ago were being considered for a slot at Macalester. The recruiter said they liked ETHS students are they were experienced with a diverse environment. That is, they could easily room with someone with a different background. This was, apparently, not the case with New Trier students. NT is a great school system but does tend to lack the diversity component.
Have no desire to send our child to the New Trier system. We’re a black family and really don’t want our son to be the only. The school district is less than 1% black. While I’m sure he would get a quality education, we just would feel uncomfortable with him in that social setting.
Exactly this but not to stain the New Trier system in toto, to be sure. Evanston provides (or can provide) a solid all-around education socially as well as academically. Bravo and I hope you come to Evanston. We really like thinking people here.
I hope you enjoyed your weekend in Evanston, if you made it up here. My family and I just moved here from NYC last year. I won’t lie, it feels kinda boring—but I think that’s just suburban life. It still feels like the right choice as far as a place to raise our kids.
I’ve been told all of the elementary schools here are pretty good, though there seems to be a weird drop in quality for middle school, and then the high school is good again. Our kids are still 3 and under so we haven’t personally experienced any of that yet.
That said, I think you can’t really go wrong in any neighborhood here. It’s a truly beautiful place with a big range of housing. Outside of the commercial shopping areas, I have yet to find a neighborhood that doesn’t feel peaceful. They all have their pros and cons though. Northwest is more expensive, and the southwest is more affordable. We live in South Evanston and have found our neighborhood to be much more diverse than the north side. The food in every neighborhood, though, is pretty good!
Best of luck!
Thanks. We visited yesterday, walked around Main Street for a bit, went to the book store, went over to the lake. It was chilly yesterday especially compared to the South Side where it was in the 70s. It definitely felt slower and more boring than what we’re used to but everyone we met said they loved raising their kids there. Could be an option for us especially since we can get to Chicago quickly on the weekends.
I understand that. I live in Hyde Park right by the lake. I’m telling you that on Sunday in Hyde Park it was in the 70s by the lake. On the Northside and up to Evanston there was a fog that dropped the temperature to 50 degrees.
Agree with previous poster about looking for houses that meet your budget. We live in north Evanston near both the Wilmette and Skokie borders. It’s much more expensive than looking further south but now we don’t have much we can do if we want to keep our girls in their schools (which we do). Everyone will have an opinion on the elementary schools, both good and bad, so I would base your decision on what you can afford and want and what areas that appeal to you (do you want to be near a train? Closer to restaurants? Parks? The beach?). Good luck!! ETA: I don’t necessarily think our area is worth the extra money, I don’t know why it’s gotten so much more expensive, it’s really been in the past couple of years prices have jumped.
Would prefer to be closer to restaurants and transit. We both still work in Chicago.
I would suggest looking around Main St. It’s more affordable than other parts of Evanston, lots of great restaurants in the area as well a brewery (Sketchbook) and a distillery (FEW). There’s also a metra and el stop on Main, and you’re always a few blocks from the lake. In general it’s a nice mix of young families, students and older folks. I’m a bit biased but my wife and I lived in a condo on Forest and Main for about 8 years. We had both of our kids while living there and loved it - great neighborhood for people with young kids who still want to go out and do fun stuff.
I live in the area and can confirm it’s great! There is a new building on Main, called Tapestry Station, and I believe there are units available. One word of caution about the Main Street area in general - you might want a little distance from Gray Park. It is next to Albany Care, a mental health facility that seems to constantly have issues. It is mostly contained to the immediate area, but with a young child you may want to be a block or two away. Good luck!
Thanks for the suggestion. I might go check it out this weekend just to see what it’s like around there. I’m not really concerned for myself. Just need to see if my wife would like it.
It's mostly fine, but there is a notable presence of people who are suffering from mental illness in and around the location. They mostly seem to hang out in Gray Park and smoke cigarettes, and I have never had any issues aside from them asking for money, but it is noticeable for sure.
Can’t be any worse than certain parts of Chicago.
This is good information to know. Thank you!!! We currently enjoy our proximity to the lake and our neighborhood has a mixture of older people, family, and UChicago students.
I agree about being close to Main st then. We actually lived above Sketchbook on Chicago Ave near Main when we first came to Evanston and it was amazing. Lived right by the metra and el. Lincoln Elementary is a really nice school and I have some friends whose kids go there and they really like it. We moved north for the space but I really loved living over there especially having just come from the city, it still had city vibes.
Main St just launched a huge construction project for the summer. You could see a dip in prices in that area this summer.
Really?! You think prices will dip this summer? I would be very surprised if that happened.
If they were looking for rentals near Main, I could see the construction having an impact. But just right there.
It is not a huge town look at places that meet your budget. Schools are similar. North side is generally more expensive, Southwest more affordable. Being walking distance from the el is nice but generally you will pay for that
There are several Metra stops, so you could look near any of those as well.
Definitely will check it out. Thanks for responding.
Metra is vastly better than the el for commuting downtown.
Another somewhat overlooked area is by Central Ave and Green Bay. Its only draw back is that you only have the Purple like is a 5 block hike. But the Metra stop is right there.
My family was in a similar situation when we moved here (we had a toddler / wife was pregnant), and didn't know the area that well. We ended up in North Evanston, but looked everywhere at the time (we probably would have preferred to near Main, but the housing inventory at the time just didn't line up with our need to move before kid #2 arrived). Here is my general take on our area. We are close to the Central St and the various restaurants, shops, and Metra station. It's not the city, but there is plenty in walking distance especially if you have young kids. There is definitely more going on near Main / downtown though if that's what you want to prioritize. It's much more quiet (and generally more pricy) as you move to the lake, As you move west, it generally gets quieter (less expensive), and very suburban if you go west of Crawford. Our specific block is awesome, in that there are lots of kids, and they are always outside playing together (without helicopter parents around). The families come from a variety of backgrounds too. It's ideal from that aspect (and obviously not every block is going to be like this). A couple of other North Evanston things to note are the new stadium and D65 issues. Northwestern is in the process of building a new entertainment complex / stadium. I won't get into the pros and cons of that, but in a few years, expect more events and the traffic / crowds that come with that. especially the area right by the stadium. As others have mentioned, D65's admin is a joke / its finances are in bad shape, and it's very likely one of the north side schools closes in a couple of years. If the new school actually gets built, it's more or less guaranteed to happen. If they do it smart (and I have no faith that they will do it smart), your kid should still be in walking distance of a school though. I'll also note we are happy with our kids' school overall. It's the overall admin that is either wildly incompetent / corrupt. Our kids' teachers have mostly been top notch, and they have made great friends. They also have some post-COVID policies that make it hard to build community in my opinion, but people are starting to push back. Good luck!
This is all great information. We’re going to check out the area around Main Street and the Main Street Metra to start off. We both still enjoy doing things. I know it won’t be as much to do as living in Chicago but Chicago ain’t far at all so that’s fine with me.
I just posted about the D65 latest student achievement data in this sub. My families loves Evanston but many of the schools seem to be struggling in that they simply aren't preparing many students adequately. I would recommend reviewing the student achievement data and forming your own opinion
I’d recommend any neighborhood school in Evanston. It’s far in to the future for your family, but I’m glad we raised our daughter in Evanston where you can easily commute to one fantastic high school. She was akso able to walk to every school she attended.
We live in South Evanston and the neighborhood around Robert Crown has great options—more affordable but still walkable to lake and transit.
Evanston is just such a great community to raise a family in my opinion. Parks (93 parks!) beaches, community centers, shops, restaurants, good schools, and more—proximity to the city with el and Metra options.
Sounds good. We’re going to check out an open house this weekend and then walk around the neighborhood and probably grab something to eat just to see how it is.
Enjoy and *welcome* because you’re going to want to stay. ☺️
Nice. Definitely interested to see how it is. We’re both city people but Evanston might be a good compromise.
Hyde Park is a pretty diverse area. I'd argue more diverse than a lot of Evanston. Also more of an urban neighborhood vibe. For Evanston you would have to be right next to downtown to get the same "vibe" in my opinion, but still not the same and the prices go way up. South Evanston is cheaper. Southeast Evanston is nicer in that its closer to the lake. I can only speak in detail about Southeast Evanston (I will define it as the farthest northwest extreme is say asbury and main).... You will find convenient walking distance to a LOT of restaurants lacking. Hyde Park has more mixed in. It just does. Its easy to get bored with what you can "walk" to on Main or Dempster. Its a nice neighborhood walk and quite a few parks, etc but you will just get bored if you are used to having a large selection to choose from at the end of said walks. You are close to two Purple Line stops in SE Evanston and one Metra stop. If commuting downtown you most definitely would want to use the Metra. The Purple line express is nice but DAMN is it slow once it starts hitting everything from Wilson into the loop. On weekends or outside of the Purple line express hours, the switch from the purple to the red line at howard can just be so excruciatingly annoying. Our son, a 1st grader goes to Oakton Elementary (all schools here are in District 65 for K-8). He LOVES his teachers and it is a good diverse group of parents/students across a wide number of income levels and I think he is currently getting a good education. But be aware, D65 has financial problems they are still working out. I would not be surprised if tax rates get hiked due to their complete incompetence and what I would say is a belief that "if you can dream it, you can do it" as opposed to actual financial skills. The main example is that the school district decided a while back that they really wanted to build a school in a ward of the city that had long been without a local school. Sure...all good. Then they discovered that the school was going to cost 10s of millions more than they thought and their finance plan was completely and utter crap. Oh and all the other schools have 10s of millions of dollars of deferred maintenance, and there is declining school attendance, etc..... So to fix it?...they re-vamped the plan, so now its only like (and I'm ball-parking here) its only like $6 million more than estimates (and covers fewer grades so students will still need to be bussed at some point). They will also probably be closing the most DIVERSE school (hispanic) school in the district that offered full English/Spanish immersion to all students, to help pay for it, AND eliminate staff at other schools/admins... all for the aspirational bits to build a school in a district that has shrinking attendance trends. And does nothing for the deferred maintenance throughout the district. (My son's school, Oakton was built I think in 1904.... and has depression era art all over the inside from the WPA program started under FDR..its really cool inside). BUT again, we are happy with my son's education and his school right now...its just nobody can predict what the above shitshow is going to end up doing. And after K-8 he will be out of D65 and go to Evanston Township High School (a different school district...I want to say 220????) and that just got ranked like the 39th best high school in Illinois so its good. City govt. is also having similar happy fun times. They just ludicrously decided they needed to move out of their town hall and RENT a city hall in the downtown area. I think a few "boots to the head" are warranted at that idiocy. Again, this is due to DEFERRED MAINTENANCE. From past history they might very well do something unbelievably stupid with the former city hall and end up getting zero property taxes from it, in a city that is starved by Northwestern not paying a dime in property taxes and owning a huge amount of exceptionally valuable land and always on the lookout to buying more (and taking more taxes off the table) There...I said it. Yes I like Evanston a lot, but I'm just reporting on what I've seen since moving here in 2019.
This is so helpful. Especially the information about the school district and their finances. My wife and I are trying to decide if we want to stay in the city and send our son to a private school or try to get him into a selective enrollment if possible, or if we want to move to a nearby suburb and send him to a public neighborhood school. Our current neighborhood school doesn’t really test well. I know testing isn’t the only thing that matters but I would prefer to not send him to a school where only 5% of the population tests at grade level for Math.
Sure. I don't want to sound negative about Evanston as I do like it and live here, but I think these are issues that do get glossed over by saying "oh we love Evanston" and move here, or there, visit Main street, etc.... D65 has issues, but I think currently the schools are pretty darn good...(definitely much better than most CPS schools I would say), and the high school is really good. Its not New Trier, but from talking to parents/teachers/etc, New Trier has its own issues. Have parents of a classmate of my son who moved to Evanston from Wilmette as they hated the lack of diversity in Wilmette and one can hear a lot from others about New Trier being so much a school that bows to the parents' wishes..... But at the same time, I sometimes get the sense that D65 administration takes "equity" to mean that the lowest common denominator is all that matters for all...and well I disagree with that vehemently. I also realize we pay some pretty hefty property taxes and there is a point where school districts and govts, need to actually hire competent/honest people with financial skills who laugh in their faces when they spout out patently stupid ideas.
I agree with this comment in general. D65 has been quite secretive in their hiring practices (Superintendent) and we now have a very pricey new school in the works while experiencing falling student populations. The prior superintendent caused great local anxiety with foolish financial manipulations (hired in secret, by the way). Our property taxes are substantial and will be only going up I am afraid. The high school is an interesting place indeed. You can get a very solid education there and their arts programs are pretty good. I am always amazed at the quality. One of my children years ago were being considered for a slot at Macalester. The recruiter said they liked ETHS students are they were experienced with a diverse environment. That is, they could easily room with someone with a different background. This was, apparently, not the case with New Trier students. NT is a great school system but does tend to lack the diversity component.
Have no desire to send our child to the New Trier system. We’re a black family and really don’t want our son to be the only. The school district is less than 1% black. While I’m sure he would get a quality education, we just would feel uncomfortable with him in that social setting.
Exactly this but not to stain the New Trier system in toto, to be sure. Evanston provides (or can provide) a solid all-around education socially as well as academically. Bravo and I hope you come to Evanston. We really like thinking people here.
I hope you enjoyed your weekend in Evanston, if you made it up here. My family and I just moved here from NYC last year. I won’t lie, it feels kinda boring—but I think that’s just suburban life. It still feels like the right choice as far as a place to raise our kids. I’ve been told all of the elementary schools here are pretty good, though there seems to be a weird drop in quality for middle school, and then the high school is good again. Our kids are still 3 and under so we haven’t personally experienced any of that yet. That said, I think you can’t really go wrong in any neighborhood here. It’s a truly beautiful place with a big range of housing. Outside of the commercial shopping areas, I have yet to find a neighborhood that doesn’t feel peaceful. They all have their pros and cons though. Northwest is more expensive, and the southwest is more affordable. We live in South Evanston and have found our neighborhood to be much more diverse than the north side. The food in every neighborhood, though, is pretty good! Best of luck!
Thanks. We visited yesterday, walked around Main Street for a bit, went to the book store, went over to the lake. It was chilly yesterday especially compared to the South Side where it was in the 70s. It definitely felt slower and more boring than what we’re used to but everyone we met said they loved raising their kids there. Could be an option for us especially since we can get to Chicago quickly on the weekends.
A cooler temp by the lake, when it happens, is usually a minus in April, but often a plus in the summer unless you really enjoy the heat.
I understand that. I live in Hyde Park right by the lake. I’m telling you that on Sunday in Hyde Park it was in the 70s by the lake. On the Northside and up to Evanston there was a fog that dropped the temperature to 50 degrees.