What Do You Think of Living in Elmhurst?

I grew up in Elmhurst and it is still a stable, fairly safe community with good schools, parks, library and fire/police. The one thing it lacked growing up was diversity. Everyone in our neighborhood was white, Christian or Catholic, and middle to upper-middle income. Perhaps someone could speak to any changes that my have occured, but in driving back to visit my parents, everyone is their neighborhood is still very much the same- except the income levels are now upper-middle to very wealthy. We live in Oak Park now, selected for its diversity, proximity to city, proximity to our chosen school (The Children's School), progressive ideas, and social involvement of the community. Welcome to the area!

Elmhurst is a great place to raise a family. The schools are terrific and the town is an old established area with many great homes. We live in Lombard which is just two towns over and we would move to Elmhurst in a heartbeat if we could afford it.

Good Luck!

We moved to Elmhurst almost 3 years ago. To be honest, it was all my husband's idea and I really didn't want to but now am SO glad we did! I just love it here! (We were in the Oak Park area) There is everything you could possibly want close by...restaurants, activities, etc. They have a great park district with tons of fun inexpensive classes for the kids that we take full advantage of. Also I feel like there are alot of parks which is great too. We have wonderful neighbors all down the block and I've made tons of wonderful friends since we've moved here. My daughter started kindergarten this year. The school system was a big part of what brought us here. Also, proximity/transportation to the city. My only complaint is that there isn't a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's closer. All in all I think it's great here (can't you tell??) and always thank my husband for "making" me move here. Best of luck with your move!!

We moved to Elmhurst in 2003. I had been to Chicago many times but not really the suburbs. I thought that the Chicago suburbs were mainly strip malls with subdivisions behind them. Boy was I wrong. We didn't really know anyone in Elmhurst, but one of the guys my husband was going to work with lived here. The comment my husband and I give when we travel to our hometowns and people ask about where we live we say, "Well, we didn't know there was a Mayberry outside Chicago!" We live close to town and like the convenience of everything. I love our neighbors. Also one thing I didn't know would be such an advantage is that although we live close to the elementary school it is on the other side of the railroad tracks so my son gets to take the bus! The other poster is right that it isn't that diverse, but hopefully that is/or will be changing a little bit.

Hi EP,

Welcome to the area! Elmhurst is a beautiful community with a quality school system. The nice thing about Elmhurst is that it has maintained a bit of "old town" charm even though there are a lot of newer homes being built in the area. Have you chosen Elmhurst based on proximity to work or for some other reason? There are other surrounding communities with lots to offer as well. I am a realtor in the area and would be more than happy to help you find the right place to call home when the time is right. Please feel free to contact me and good luck!
Sincerely,
K. Schoeff
____@____.com

We lived in Elmhurst for over 10 years and loved it. We moved to Glen Ellyn to afford more house and more property. While Glen Ellyn is an excellent town with great schools - there is something special about Elmhurst that we still miss 5 years later. Best of luck with your relocation!

I live in the town adjacent to Elmhurst and have been here for the last twenty years or so. And the schools here in Elmhurst are very good (I work in one so I know!) There are little drawbacks that I can think of except I grew up in Chicago and lived by the lake so I miss that! The little town center is adorable with shops,restaurants and ethnicicity (where else do you find an Irish shop and a Chipotle across the street from eachother?, there are old friendly houses and lots of things to do. They have the park district activities, a museum and grocery shopping all over. And if you like Starbucks I notice there are plenty of those! So, maybe soon we'll be saying welcome to the neighborhood!

Oak Park and Naperville have very good reputations as far as school systems go.

I agree with all of the postings. My husband has lived in Elmhurst his whole life and is very happy that his children will grow up here too. They haven't started school yet but he tells me that the school system is very good. Along with it being a "nice" town it has a lot of conveniences too, being close to a lot of shopping and conveniently located near all of the major highways. Good luck!