Naperville, IL

Naperville is the flagship of Chicago's far western suburbs: top-rated schools, the Riverwalk winding through a genuinely pleasant downtown, and four decades of best-places-to-live lists that have priced the housing accordingly. It's the suburb people mean when they say they're moving out for the schools.

The math deserves honesty. Metra's BNSF line runs express to Union Station in under an hour from two stations, which is a workable commute. But a Transit Score in the low 30s means the rest of life happens by car, two per household as the default, and that's roughly $24,000 a year of vehicles before the commute is counted. Naperville suits families who will genuinely use the schools and space, and who take the transportation line item seriously instead of ignoring it.

Naperville offers limited transit access: most households rely on personal vehicles. Most households here need two cars, which adds substantially to annual costs.

At roughly $24,000/year for 2 cars, transportation is a major line item in Naperville's true cost. Combined with a 55-minute commute valued at $11,458/year, the true cost of suburban living in Naperville can significantly exceed what the rent or mortgage alone suggests.