My wife and I are torn between Oak Park + Evanston (and wondering if there's other places we should be looking)
Mid-30s couple, no kids, both in tech. We're currently in Atlanta and the car-dependence + traffic here has officially killed us. We're both also progressives who have lived in the South and want to get out and try living in a city/state that aligns better with our beliefs and priorities. We're introverts but not shy. We love books, crafting and smaller groups. We're not looking for nightlife.
We're looking for a single-family home with a small yard, and ideally some walkability. Budget is $650-800K. We like independent bookstores and coffee shops, quiet residential streets, and we want a neighborhood that feels like a community and not an entertainment district.
I've been digging into Oak Park and Evanston pretty hard. Both check a lot of boxes on paper. They both have walkable downtowns, good transit, solid indie business scenes. But the more I look at Oak Park the more it feels like it's built for families (great schools, family-oriented civic stuff). We don't have kids and don't plan to, so I keep wondering if we'd feel a little out of place there, or if that's me overthinking it.
Evanston I like a lot culturally. It feels very suited to us, but it's scraping the very top of our budget and the inventory in the area seems tight right now.
So I basically have two main questions:
- if you live in Oak Park without kids, how has that actually felt, is the family thing overstated or is it real.
- Are there other Chicagoland neighborhoods or nearby towns we should be looking at? Walkable, detached SFH in budget, progressive, low-key, not a ton of nightlife. Open to city or suburb.
Appreciate any honest takes. Thanks!