Wheaton & Glen Ellyn

Wheaton and Glen Ellyn are neighboring college towns on the Union Pacific West line, with downtowns built around their Metra stations, the Illinois Prairie Path running through both, and the kind of tree-lined streets that make them the middle of the DuPage County map. Wheaton is the county seat, home to Wheaton College and Cantigny Park’s gardens and military museum; Glen Ellyn has the College of DuPage, the state’s largest community college, and a smaller downtown around Main Street and Crescent Boulevard. Both are family-oriented, with older houses near the tracks and 1960s-to-1990s subdivisions on the edges.

Where it is

On the map, Wheaton sits between Winfield and Glen Ellyn along the tracks, from Geneva Road south to Butterfield Road; Glen Ellyn continues east to Lombard, with the College of DuPage campus south of Roosevelt Road. Metra’s Union Pacific West line stops at Wheaton, College Avenue and Glen Ellyn, about 40 to 45 minutes to Ogilvie. Roosevelt Road (Route 38) and Main Street are the main roads, and I-88 and I-355 are a ten-minute drive south and east. The Loop is a 45-minute to hour-plus drive.

What to know if you’re moving here

These are quiet, well-run towns where the schools and the train station set the prices.

• Housing is single-family homes, from 1900s houses near the stations to postwar subdivisions, with typical prices of roughly $350,000 to $1.2 million as a broad editorial estimate as of September 2026.
• Parking is driveways and garages; the Metra lots are permit-based with daily spaces.
• Public schools are Community Unit School District 200 (Wheaton Warrenville) and Glen Ellyn Districts 41 and 89 feeding Glenbard Township High School District 87.
• DuPage County property taxes apply, and both towns have long-standing residents and slow turnover on the older blocks.
• The Prairie Path, a rail trail from Wheaton to the Fox River and to Maywood, is a commuting and recreation route through both towns.
• The drawback is a nightlife limited to a few downtown restaurants and bars, and a long train ride to the city.

What to do if you’re visiting

Both downtowns are a block from their Metra stops, and Cantigny is a short drive west.

• Cantigny Park on Winfield Road has 500 acres of gardens, the First Division Museum and the McCormick mansion, with a parking fee and free admission.
• A crepe cart that turned into a Front Street institution in 2000, Suzette’s Creperie serves afternoon tea and a French-only wine list a block from the Wheaton station, with a bakery next door.
• Dinner inside a former chapel is the draw at Ivy Restaurant on North Hale Street, where the menu leans to steaks, chops and seafood under stained-glass windows.
• Vinyl collectors head to Mile Long Records on West Liberty Drive, which moved to a larger storefront in 2024 after a decade in downtown Wheaton.
• In Glen Ellyn, Marcel’s Culinary Experience on North Main Street pairs a cookware shop with a teaching kitchen that runs hands-on classes most weeks.
• The 1927 Glen Art Theatre on Crescent Boulevard shows first-run and art films on four screens and sells beer and wine at the counter, with Nobel House and its 30-plus taps of smoked brisket and beer around the corner on Main Street.