Community Corner

'West Suburban Living' Says Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills Top Two Places to Live

In its latest edition, West Suburban Living released its rankings of 63 towns based on a number of factors, including schools, crime, and real estate markets.

Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills are the two top west-suburban towns to live in, according to a comparison study in the May/June 2012 edition of West Suburban Living.

The study was based population/diversity, home values, education, library usage, public safety, location, parks and recreation, and several other subjective criteria.

According to WSL's study, Hinsdale is the No. 1 place to live. It has the highest home values in the western suburbs ($916,874) and the best schools based on the town's average ACT score (25.4) and high-school graduation rate (97 percent). 

Find out what's happening in Hinsdale-Clarendon Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The study also ranked Hinsdale's violent-crime index as the sixth best and it ranked No. 13 in library materials checked out per library-card holder.

Clarendon Hills is the No. 2 place to live and has a violent-crime index of 0. (The crime indexes are based on 2010 numbers.) 

Find out what's happening in Hinsdale-Clarendon Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Clarendon Hills' schools were ranked No. 3 based on the above factors and its average home value ($562,726) was fourth best.

"Hinsdale topped the list, in large part due to its strong home values, excellent schools, easy access to Chicago, O'Hare and Midway airports, and major expressways, and its quaint downtown," the WSL story reads. "Neighboring Clarendon Hills finished close behind for many of the same reasons."

The average home values are based on 2011 numbers, WSL says.

Glen Ellyn, Elmhurst and Naperville were Nos. 3, 4 and 5 on the overall list.

The sent out a release on May 7 that quoted Village President Tom Karaba on WSL's high rating of the village.

“Clarendon Hills is a fantastic place to live, work, play and shop,” Karaba said. “Our residents know that our community offers an unsurpassed quality of life, some of the best schools in the state, beautiful neighborhoods and friendly neighbors, and a better location than Hinsdale. We all take great pride in our village and community and celebrate in this recognition from West Suburban Living magazine.”

Hinsdale is on a roll in terms of rankings.  that Bundle ranked it the No. 11 most fashionable town in America.

See the full May/June 2012 issue of West Suburban Living by clicking here.


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