Naperville

Naperville is the largest suburb in the region after Aurora and the one that shows up on every national best-places list, with a downtown along the DuPage River that stays busy at night, a brick Riverwalk, Centennial Beach in a converted quarry, and two school districts families move across the country for. The city grew from a farm town of 12,000 in 1960 to about 150,000 today, and most of it is subdivisions from the 1980s and 1990s, but the downtown is older and walkable. It sits in DuPage and Will counties, 30 miles west of the Loop, on the BNSF line.

Where it is

On the map, Naperville covers about 39 square miles between Warrenville and Lisle on the north, Bolingbrook and Plainfield on the south, and Aurora on the west, with the downtown at Washington Street and Jackson Avenue. Metra’s BNSF line stops at Naperville and Route 59, about 35 minutes to Union Station on the express. I-88 runs along the north edge with exits at Naperville Road and Route 59, and Route 59, Washington Street and Ogden Avenue are the main roads. Driving downtown takes 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on the hour.

What to know if you’re moving here

Schools and the downtown are the two things buyers pay for, and the subdivisions in between are where most people live.

• Housing is subdivisions from the 1960s on, plus downtown condos and townhomes, with typical prices of roughly $350,000 to $1.5 million as a broad editorial estimate as of September 2026.
• Parking is driveways and garages, with four free city parking garages downtown that fill on weekend nights.
• Public schools are Naperville District 203 and Indian Prairie District 204, both with high schools that rank near the top of the state.
• Property taxes are high, and the DuPage and Will county portions of the city are assessed by different offices.
• The Naperville Metra station has one of the busiest ridership counts on the system, and the lot is permit-only with a waiting list.
• The drawback is traffic on Route 59 and Ogden, and a car-first life outside the downtown core.

What to do if you’re visiting

Downtown and the Riverwalk are walkable from the Metra station; everything else needs a car.

• A local would point out that Santo Cielo on the top floor of the Hotel Indigo is the fine-dining room with the view, and Quiubo downstairs on Water Street is the modern Mexican restaurant.
• Locals will tell you Mesón Sabika on Aurora Avenue serves tapas in an 1847 mansion with a lawn for summer dining.
• Ask around and you hear that Hugo’s Frog Bar & Fish House on Main Street and Empire Burgers + Brew on Chicago Avenue are the downtown standbys.
• Anyone who lives here knows Sparrow Coffee on Water Street roasts on site, and Le Chocolat du Bouchard on Washington Street is the chocolate shop with a cafe.
• Regulars will say DuPage Children’s Museum on Washington Street, next to the Metra station, is the rainy-day stop for young kids.
• The Riverwalk runs 1.75 miles along the DuPage River from downtown to Centennial Beach and Naper Settlement, the 13-acre outdoor history museum.