Hinsdale, IL

Appears on

• Top 6 Suburbs Outside Chicago

  Currently #5 · score 0

Reviews

Log in to leave a review.

Barks

Log in to bark.

Similar places

• Naperville, IL

  Naperville, spanning parts of DuPage and Will Counties roughly 30 miles west of downtown Chicago, has grown from a small early-19th-century settlement into one of the largest suburbs in the entire Chicago metropolitan area, with a population well over 140,000 — larger than many standalone American cities, let alone typical commuter suburbs. The Naperville Riverwalk, a landscaped pedestrian path built along the DuPage River beginning in the 1980s as part of the city's sesquicentennial celebration, transformed a formerly industrial stretch of riverfront into one of the most-used public gathering spaces in the western suburbs, hosting festivals, farmers markets, and a popular annual Ribfest event. Naperville's public school districts have consistently ranked among the strongest in Illinois, and the city has repeatedly landed on national "best places to live" rankings from outlets like Money magazine over the past several decades, a track record that's helped sustain steady population and housing-value growth even as some other Chicago-area suburbs have seen slower growth. Metra's BNSF Line connects Naperville to Chicago's Union Station in roughly 35 to 45 minutes, and the city's combination of a large, well-resourced tax base, a genuinely landscaped downtown riverfront, and consistently top-ranked schools has made it one of the most nationally recognized suburb names in the entire Midwest.

• Oak Park, IL

  Oak Park sits directly on Chicago's western border, and it holds the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings anywhere in the world — more than two dozen structures, including Wright's own Home and Studio, where he lived and worked from 1889 to 1909 while developing the Prairie School architectural style that would go on to influence residential design across the entire country. Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park in 1899, and though he later famously described his hometown as a place of "wide lawns and narrow minds," the village has long since embraced its connection to him, preserving his birthplace as a museum alongside the Wright sites as part of a broader architectural and literary tourism identity. Oak Park is served directly by both the CTA's Green Line elevated train and Metra's Union Pacific West Line, giving residents a genuinely rare dual option for reaching downtown Chicago — the "L" for a roughly 25 to 30 minute ride into the Loop, or Metra for a faster express option — a level of transit access most Chicago suburbs don't come close to matching. The village has also built a strong reputation for racial and economic integration going back to a series of deliberate fair-housing initiatives in the 1960s and '70s, a history that's made Oak Park a frequently cited case study in successful, sustained suburban integration efforts nationally, layered on top of its architectural and literary significance.

• Evanston, IL

  Evanston sits directly north of Chicago along Lake Michigan and is home to Northwestern University, whose lakefront campus and roughly 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students give the city a genuine college-town energy layered on top of its identity as a Chicago suburb — a combination that's produced a denser concentration of bookstores, theaters, and independent restaurants than most comparably sized suburbs. The city was also the founding headquarters of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the Frances Willard House, preserved as a museum, commemorates Willard's leadership of the organization and its significant role in both the temperance and women's suffrage movements of the late 19th century — a genuine piece of national reform-movement history tied directly to the city. Evanston's public beaches along Lake Michigan give residents direct lakefront access rarely available in suburbs further from the shoreline, and both the CTA's Purple Line elevated train and Metra's Union Pacific North Line serve the city, putting downtown Chicago within roughly 25 to 35 minutes depending on the service and specific stop. In 2019, Evanston became one of the first cities in the United States to approve a reparations program funded specifically for Black residents affected by historical housing discrimination, a policy that drew national media attention and positioned the city as an early test case for how American municipalities might address the lasting effects of redlining and discriminatory zoning.

• Wilmette, IL

  Wilmette sits on Chicago's North Shore along Lake Michigan, and it's home to the Bahá'í House of Worship, one of only a handful of Bahá'í temples in the entire world and the oldest surviving one still standing — an architecturally striking domed structure completed in 1953 after more than three decades of construction, drawing visitors and religious pilgrims from across the country regardless of their own faith. The village's North Shore location places it among a cluster of affluent lakefront suburbs extending north from Evanston, and Wilmette's own public beaches and Gillson Park give residents direct Lake Michigan access alongside a well-regarded park district that runs an extensive network of local recreational facilities. Metra's Union Pacific North Line serves Wilmette with a commute of roughly 30 to 35 minutes into downtown Chicago, and the village's public schools, part of the well-regarded New Trier Township High School District along with several other North Shore communities, have long been a significant draw for families prioritizing school quality. Wilmette's combination of a globally significant architectural and religious landmark in the Bahá'í temple, direct Lake Michigan beach access, and strong regional schools has made it one of the more distinctive entries among Chicago's North Shore suburbs, offering a genuine cultural landmark most comparably sized suburban communities simply don't have.

• Lake Forest, IL

  Lake Forest sits on bluffs above Lake Michigan roughly 30 miles north of Chicago, and its Market Square, completed in 1916, is widely credited by architectural historians as one of the first planned shopping centers built anywhere in the United States — a deliberately designed commercial plaza built to serve the surrounding residential estates rather than growing organically along an existing street grid. The city's history as a retreat for wealthy Chicago industrial and business families dates back to its founding in 1857 by Presbyterian church leaders seeking to establish a college town removed from the city, and Lake Forest College, still operating today, traces its own roots directly to that founding mission. Large lakefront and near-lakefront estates, many dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries and set well back from the road on heavily wooded lots, have kept much of Lake Forest's residential character oriented around privacy and scale in a way that's distinct even from other wealthy North Shore communities closer to Chicago. Metra's Union Pacific North Line serves Lake Forest with a commute of roughly an hour into downtown Chicago, a longer ride than closer-in North Shore suburbs like Wilmette or Evanston, reflecting the city's position further up the shoreline — a trade-off many residents have historically accepted in exchange for larger lots, mature wooded landscaping, and a genuinely historic planned commercial center in Market Square.