Downers Grove & Westmont

Downers Grove and Westmont are neighboring BNSF commuter towns in DuPage County, with Downers Grove’s downtown on Main Street around the Tivoli Theatre and Westmont’s smaller downtown on Cass Avenue plus a long commercial corridor on Ogden Avenue. Downers Grove is the larger town, with about 50,000 people, a strong school district and a mix of 1920s houses near the tracks and postwar subdivisions; Westmont is about half the size, more affordable and known for Ty Warner Park and a cluster of Asian restaurants and groceries along Cass and Ogden. Both are about 20 miles west of the Loop.

Where it is

On the map, Downers Grove runs from Ogden Avenue south to 75th Street between Belmont Road and I-355, with the downtown at Main Street and Burlington Avenue; Westmont sits east of it between Downers Grove and Clarendon Hills, along Cass Avenue. Metra’s BNSF line stops at Belmont, Main Street and Fairview Avenue in Downers Grove and at Westmont, about 30 minutes to Union Station on the express. I-355, I-88 and I-55 all pass nearby, and Ogden Avenue, Butterfield Road and 63rd Street are the main roads.

What to know if you’re moving here

Downers Grove is the pricier, more polished of the two; Westmont is the value play with the better food strip.

• Housing is ranches, colonials and newer construction built from the 1920s on, with typical prices of roughly $300,000 to $1 million as a broad editorial estimate as of September 2026.
• Parking is driveways and garages, with a village garage in downtown Downers Grove.
• Public schools are Downers Grove Districts 58 and 99 (Downers Grove North and South high schools) and Westmont Community Unit School District 201.
• DuPage County property taxes apply, and Downers Grove’s tend to run higher than Westmont’s for similar houses.
• Four BNSF stops between the two towns make the commute one of the easier ones in the western suburbs.
• The drawback is Ogden Avenue, a six-lane commercial strip that is the fastest way anywhere and the least pleasant.

What to do if you’re visiting

Downtown Downers Grove is walkable from the Main Street Metra stop; Westmont’s Cass Avenue is a short walk from its station.

• Anyone who lives here knows Alter Brewing Company on Wisconsin Avenue in Downers Grove is the brewery taproom near the Belmont stop.
• Regulars will say Katy’s Dumplings on Cass Avenue in Westmont is the hand-pulled noodle and dumpling shop that draws people from across the suburbs.
• Most first-time visitors learn that Kim’s Uncle Pizza on Cass Avenue is Westmont’s tavern-style pizza counter.
• The Tivoli Theatre on Highland Avenue in Downers Grove, opened in 1928, still shows first-run movies for a few dollars.
• Ty Warner Park in Westmont has the splash pad and the summer concert series.
• Downers Grove’s Main Street farmers market runs Saturday mornings from May through October.