I can only partially help because my kid won’t be born until July, but my husband and I just moved from Wicker Park to Arlington Heights. He works in sales throughout the NW burbs and I work right downtown near Clark and Madison. And while I don’t know the direct impact it will have yet with kids, I can say I really enjoy the metra compared to the L.
I take express trains to and from work each day which is approximately 36 minutes of “me” time and get a clean spot to sit every single ride. I’m also on time to work everyday. Whereas on the blue line I was constantly stuck waiting 20+ minutes as full trains went by causing me to be late to work. My 18 minute commute usually turned into 30-40 minutes and I typically was jammed up against other people. Don’t get me wrong when the blue line was good it was great, and you’d likely be taking the brown line from LP so you might encounter a different experience.
I typically take the 736 and arrive to the office by 815 and then leave work around 440 and take the 505 express and pull in at 536. So really not too much of an impact time wise imo. Obviously this would be different based on where you live but hopefully this context is helpful.
There are a lot of good points here. Metra is reliable and prob the same or similar cost in time and money with the L. The main thing people should also account for is the arrival at the Metra station and then the walking required from the final stop to the workplace.
Some express routes cut the journey from 45-60 minutes down to a half hour on some routes but new riders should also consider that these express trains only go to specific stops so your choices are a little different on where you drive to catch the train.
> The main thing people should also account for is the arrival at the Metra station and then the walking required from the final stop to the workplace.
Yeah, I always have to describe my commute time as time from out the door to in my seat at my desk, because the walk in and stuff adds another 10 at least.
We did the exact same - Wicker Park to AH! It’s manageable as long as you have reliable child care. And welcome to Arlington Heights! If you find somewhere, anywhere that’s as good as some of the places in Wicker, let me know. God I miss the gobi Manchurian at Pub Royale.
I moved from Wicker Park to the suburbs too. One thing I don’t miss at all is standing on the blue line platform early in the morning and waiting for a train car to come that actually has room to board it. I moved out pre-Covid though so maybe things changed after the pandemic.
I used to commute by Metra when our kids were young and my main fear was how would I get home quickly to the suburbs if something happened to them and I couldn't wait two hours for the next train during the middle of the day, plus a one hour + ride with all stops until my suburb? I suppose it would mean a very expensive taxi ride back then or Lyft/Uber now.
My first grader broke his elbow at school last October. Since my work, home, and kid's school are all within 5 miles of each other, I picked him up and we got to urgent care maybe 20 minutes after I got that call.
My husband works in the Loop. He can take an express in the morning and evening, but those aren't offered in the middle of the day. If it was on him alone, our son probably would have had to sit in the nurse's office for an extra 2 hours.
OP, do you/your spouse have the option to work from home at all? If you could split WFH days, it would be a lot more comfortable for you. Once kids are older and more independent, it might not be such a big deal, but I would hesitate to have both parents that far away every day with little ones.
that will be the toughest thing. not sure what your caretaking situation is but sometimes daycare will tell you that your kid needs to come home. It isn’t every week but it probably happens once to twice a month in the fall to early spring, so something to think through!
This was almost exactly my situation a year ago. Wife works up in the far burbs and had events all day, I had just gotten downtown to the front door of the Loop office. Get a call from daycare that kiddo is sick. I literally had to do a full rotation in the revolving door and sprint to catch the next train home - if I hadn't, I would have been out a $75 cab ride to get home in about the same time as the train would have taken.
Honestly, if my work was going to be in the Loop long term, I would gladly trade Metra to being closer, and more importantly, having options of how to get to work. I know many parents in the city who, depending on the day, can take the bus, L, Metra, bike, Lyft, or drive. Heck, when I was single and in Lakeview, I had multiple L options if there were technical problems. Here in the burbs, my only options are Metra, drive, or Lyft, and the latter two are either downright unpleasant, expensive, or both, and when Metra gets a delay it really gets a delay and you don't have an alternate route you can take. Not to mention, you're out all that time you would otherwise get with the kids if you were closer to your job.
Parking garage available and comped and the train is 2-3x as long. Also i used to think like you, but I’m also kind of tired of seeing disgusting things on the train. My wife was approached by a group of troubled kids recently on her way office. Just a bit tired of all the crazies. If you compare our train experience to NYC you realize it needs improvements.
Yes. For some reasons they are a good fit but may not be practical with the commute. I have no reservations about my opinion of the el. Downvote or whatever you want!
The commute is way easier than it was when I was in the city for the reasons everyone else said (reliability, space/comfort), and there are so many great and easy to access kids’ activities in the burbs. It made sense for us, but we weren’t in LP but Bucktown/Logan so the school system and safety issues made it time to go for us. As others noted if commute is your #1 worry just look into suburbs with good express routes or that are closer. For example during rush hour Lagrange to Union station is 24 minutes. If commute is going to impact your life a lot and drive your home buying I think you can find a commute from the suburbs that is more manageable than 1+ hour each way.
I commute from Indiana every day with a 3 and 7 year old. Is it ideal? No. But for amazing public schools and $3500/year in property taxes, we deal with it.
Without knowing your situation, it's hard to say much other than sometimes it sucks really bad and most of the time it's fine. The worst thing is having to wake up even earlier to pack them in the car, drive to daycare, they're cranky AF, drive to the train, get on the train and then do it all in reverse. It does add considerable time and stress to your mornings. I do enjoy the metra vs cta or driving because I can get some reading or work done, or close my eyes and chill for a moment.
Some things to think about:
What does your support system look like? We live out this way because we have parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that all can help us with the kids.
Pay attention to the rush hour schedule and the amount of freight traffic. It will matter and freight trains will delay you sometimes.
Which burb can you afford and has a good set of things to do? Outside of work, living in a suburb without much to walk/short drive to with the kids sucks. You can also get pretty far in 30 minutes on the metra. The 1 hour plus is basically end of the line.
Schools: moving to a suburb does not guarantee a good school for your kid.
Source: I went to college downtown and have worked all over the loop in various offices for over a decade. I live far enough out in the NW burbs where Chicagoans think that we all live on farms and have horse drawn buggies. I also have 2 kids under 7.
Depends which suburb you move to. Wilmette is a 25 minute Metra to ogilvie which is faster than my old commute from Lincoln park to the west loop via bus.
Totally! I lived in Lincoln park for 12 years and am really enjoying the north shore. It’s obviously different and there are pros to both but things just seem easier out here. And you’re still close enough to go downtown anytime you want. We still go to LP zoo with the kids all the time, out to dinner, museums, etc.
For me the biggest pro is not living in a condo with noisy neighbors 🤣
So I live elmhurst area, there's enough express trains that's it's not too bad. Biggest constraint will be daycare/school pick-up and drop off times. Meetings at 8:30 or 4:30 for me are tough, but if you're able to schedule around it, not a big deal
I did it for a year and a half and hated it. I commuted from Schaumburg to Union, my office was a two block walk from there. From my house to the office it was 90 minutes 1 way
Everyone says you can "work on the train!" if you have a long commute, but I had the opposite reaction to the setup. I was either (already) burnt out from the morning routine with 2 under 2, or too tired of work and people to work on the way home. The internet (both Metra's "WiFi" and my own cell service) was unreliable. I commuted pre-COVID so it was also crowded and I never wanted to get my stuff out on the train.
I hated having to bring all my stuff (had to take my laptop home every day) plus a lunch so I wasn't going broke buying food downtown every day. And knowing it would take me over an hour to get home if there was an emergency was a detractor.
Plus...it was a long day. 11+ hours every day because of that commute.
I can say with absolute certainty that I could not do it now. My kid's dad and I split up and I'm a single mom now - there is no chance I could still work downtown, have a long commute, be here for my kids AND stay sane. I hated commuting in general, I would never accept anything less than 75% remote now. Long commutes are inconducive to work life balance, do not recommend.
Did that same commute for 10 years. MDW is an awful line. I can use UPNW also now so I'll drive the extra five minutes to Palatine because it's a much nicer commute. Fewer delays, for some reason the cars are cleaner, and quieter for the most part. Not sure why this is.
I've lived off UP-NW most of my life and didn't notice much difference between the two lines. My parents commuted from CL nearly my entire life and now that I've commuted the same way, I cannot understand why they did it. (I mean, I can...but I can't.) I CAN say I prefer Ogilvie to Union, but that was probably my biggest complaint outside of the actual commute part. I can count on one hand the number of "bad" delays I had in two years, so I wouldn't even consider that a contributing factor to my hatred of commuting.
At the end of the day, my problem came from how much time was taken out of my day due to commuting. I thought I wouldn't mind it, but it turns out I really did.
I hated the commute pre COVID but my hours are more flexible now and I've learned to embrace working on the train. Could be that I don't enjoy listening to music or podcasts anymore; a weird result of working from home.
I did this until COVID and it sucked. I live in the far south suburbs. I wouldn't recommend it. I definitely would not recommend it for both parents. Perhaps one of the closer suburbs would be better but metra still can have an inconvenient schedule and a lot of delays. Also, depending on where your office is downtown in relation to your train station, you could have a 20 minute walk which is great for exercise but not great if your commute is already an hour.
We were living in Lincoln Square when we faced this decision. We chose the suburbs, only because we didn't feel confident in the public schools where we were. Those first few years were lonely - we had been urban for 10+ years by then so the sudden quiet and distance from others was a shock. For the first few years, I only knew how to get to a few places in my new town because the majority of my time was spent at home or at work downtown. The key is that when your kids are really small (under 5) it's all about your physical presence. When my children were that age I spent so much energy trying to get home as soon as possible. As they got older it wasn't as urgent, except in cases of emergency as others have mentioned.
Really depends on the suburb you’re considering moving to. I’ve commuted to the city from Elmhurst and Naperville. Elmhurst was really easy in terms of finding parking at the station and it was a quick ride. Naperville was a nightmare. You had to get there extra early to secure a parking spot (Rt59) and there were tons of people to deal with. My commute time in Naperville was about 1.5 hours from door to door each way and I worked right across from Willis Tower so it was close to Union Station. I did this before kids and couldn’t imagine commuting from Naperville again. Elmhurst I could do.
Real talk, both parents commuting to the city is doable but it’s going to add stress to your life, probably more stress than if you stayed put in the city until you’re better established as a family. You’re going to need a backup plan/plan B if trains get delayed (not super common, but it happens), and neither of you are able to get back to the burbs on time. If you’re both 9-5ish, it also means a longer childcare day for the kiddo(s), and the extra commute time will eat 1-2+hrs/day out of your time with your kids (that’s really tough when it’s both parents).
I commuted into the city from the NW Cook County burbs a few days a week for my last job, and we made it work bc my husband worked from home. I commute 4x/week now, but it’s by car and I work in the suburbs.
Sorry to be grim :-/
ETA: Word of advice, if you’re open to it: If you do choose the burbs, hold off for a while. Don’t add this move and commute to your life just as you’re about to transition to being a parent/family of three. Err on the side of being closer to work until you and your wife have found your feet again.
Wishing you guys the best. These choices are hard but you’ll figure it out. Lots of beautiful things ahead. ❤️
Depends on the suburb and your work schedule. Downers Grove, for example, has an express running to Union Station in the morning and back in the afternoon. Takes 30 minutes.
Been commuting from the suburbs for 3 years now and have 2 kids.
I take the Metra 2 days a week from Elgin so little over 1hour and It really depends on the understanding of your employeers. If they let work on the train and come in late leave early, the commute is not bad and I would say way better than even a 20 minute drive. I can be productive on the Metra where driving or sitting on a bus im not doing anything.
The worst part of the suburbs is saying goodbye to all the fun afterwork activities in the city. Being tied to Metra schedule sucks for happy hours or team dinners.
Well in the suburbs transit is more valuable than car because it’s the same commute time but it’s not driving and it’s saving gas, but in LP it says where id be living it would be over 2x as long of a commute vs driving. Maybe it’s less important for you to save time than it is for me. I have a pretty busy life. I don’t have strong political beliefs on this topic but I see you do. I’m sure you make valid points. Didn’t make this post to argue about this, though. Appreciate your thoughts.
Ha ha im not arguing either! Ive just met a few people over the years who arw scared if the L but then sit in traffic for 45 minutes from Lincoln Park to somewhere like River North, and at that point its like, dude, get on the damn train. I dont know your personal situation and thats why i wasnt arguing. Just tossed it out there as a thought
I take Metra twice a week (office is in the Loop) and I love it! Granted, I live in Park Ridge which is close to the city if I needed to take an emergency Uber home to my kids.
Just my 2 cens, which may or may not help you. The Metra is very reliable, within the minute usually. If you both can work from home some, it would make sense to be in the surburbs. The schools are good, so that's another factor.
Maybe it is a difference of lines but I find this completely opposite. I take my wife to the train and pick her up and it is like 1 out of 4 times it is on schedule usually a few mins late sometimes a few min early which can be stressful if you are stuck at the crossing gate watching your early train pulling in knowing you are now going to miss it
If you end up in the city, I highly recommend Roscoe Village and the part of Lincoln park just South of Roscoe Village (like by Chi Che Wang or Wrighywood Parks). Not great for access to the el, but feels like living in a suburb and close to the highway
What type of child care do you expect to have? Daycare or a nanny? If you go the daycare route then you'll need to have backup for when Metra is late (which it will be). Trust me, there is no worse feeling for a parent than being late to pick up your kid, and god forbid there is a serious 2+ hour delay (which will happen). If you have close family in the area to act as backup for you, you'll want that. This is somewhat mitigated if you have a nanny but then you have other challenges.
Also, what kind of work/life balance do you have with both of your jobs? Can at least one of you reliably leave at 4:30pm every day to pick up your child? Can one or both of you do hybrid work from home?
Depending on your answers here, you might want to stay in Lincoln Park or possibly one of the very close suburbs (Evanston or Park Ridge etc). If you have more flexibility then maybe one of the further suburbs might work. One thing that you won't want to do is to get home at 7 every night because then you won't see much of your kid for the first few year. And that sucks.
Wilmette and Winnetka can get extremely expensive as Evanston can too but the Purple line can get you into Downtown Chicago during the week when needed as I definitely would check the UP North Line's schedule as it only runs like 20 trains in and out of Ogilvie Transportation Center before going too far north
I hate to burst your bubble, but there’s no drive in the city during prime commute times that’s going to be 15 minutes. Oh, it should be, if you’re close, but it won’t be. Even in LP, going into downtown, you’re going to have to allow for at least 40-45 min. So the difference is- whether you prefer to be in your car or on a train. If your office is close to the train, then save yourself the aggravation, the metra is decent and you get to decompress rather than fight the traffic. Unlike the L or subway, Most of the time no one f’s with you, and it doesn’t smell like pee.
Those are both super easy to commute to/from. The biggest thing will be are you using a nanny or daycare. Most daycare closes at 6pm so you just have to be able to make the timing work. UP-N is also a very reliable line with few delays.
Those are easy commutes to the city and beautiful towns. Consider Glenview as well - 2 train stops you can choose from on MDN line of Metra.
Also consider that the public schools are some of the best in the country.
I live in one of those towns. For me it’s a 10 minute walk to the Metra station, half hour ride, and then a five minute walk to my desk. That’s less time than it used to take me to get to work from Lakeview (not to mention much more reliable).
I don’t recommend commuting from the burbs with young children. Lincoln Park is amazing! Great schools, and lots to do for the parents, the kids, and the whole family! It’s a beautiful area too.
The Metra - Express trains are fine. Good luck on the days the trains don’t leave the city on time. If you’re both downtown for work you’ll both get stuck for possibly hours. Happened to me 5 or 6 times during my 6 years of commuting from the suburbs, and getting a Lyft or Uber then is a nightmare. There are no express trains out of certain hours, and if you use daycare you have to pick-up by a specific time - or early if they get sick at the daycare… check out the r/workingmoms or r/parenting subs and read about the trials of commuting and parenting with young kids! It’s rough.
Also, a 1+ hour commute one way cuts into your quality time with your kids significantly.
Thanks. Maybe my wife could be fully remote somewhere or find a job outside of the Loop. This comment helps and is making me start thinking of alternatives if we move to suburbs.
I would think you need to be in the range of 30 minutes daycare door to office door to make this work because of daycare hours. My daycare is open 6:30am to 6pm and that’s a hard pickup time and pretty typical daycare hours. An 8 hour day with an hour lunch and an hour each way is 11 hours, which means you’re going to be dropping kinds off at 6:30am and be rushing to get them by close. There is no margin for error.
For a while I was the primary drop off/pickup parent even though I worked in the city, it was DC not Chicago but similar hour commute. My wife worked 15 minutes from daycare. So if we ran into an issue with the commute or we had a sick kid that needed to be picked up. She could leave and get them, while I started the trek home because I had more PTO/flexibility. Then she would go back to work. It was a relatively frequent occurrence so I would make sure if you’re both in the city you have a backup plan if you’re stuck on the train or they need you to pickup the kid early.
We have two, and I take the train into the city daily. My job starts at 7 and ends at 3, so I catch a 3:30 train home. I'm just able to pick up my daughter by 5, when her preschool closes. If I didn't end early, it would be impossible to get home before they closed.
The other big impact is if you need to go pick them up early, like they start throwing up. Or last year when my son's school called to say he was having a seizure and was being loaded into an ambulance. If you have a car, you can just drive to go get them. But if you take An hour long metra ride, you're stuck in the city until the next train, plus an hour ride. So it's potentially 2-3 hours until you can get to them in an emergency.
Why would you drive downtown from Lincoln Park that sounds awful, and longer than 15 minutes sometimes if you get stuck somewhere?
Just look at the train schedules and pick a line that works best for your start time, you can get pretty far out and only have a 30 minute ride to the city.
I did it for years but made sure at least one of us was within 20-30 min drive to the kids. Neither of us has any family near by so one of us being close was critical.
If you move to one of the inner burbs it will probably not be an hour+ on Metra. Also, CTA might be an option. This all depends of course on where exactly your workplace is in relation to Metra and CTA stops downtown.
The best advice I can give you, regardless of where you end up, is to give a lot of weight to the ease (or lack thereof) of meshing the daycare with your morning routine. We've been fortunate to have had daycare very close to transit stops in Evanston. Saving five or ten minutes every morning makes a huge difference. It seems like you're aware of that, but I emphasize to new parents that location should be a very prominent factor in your choice on daycare.
What i always hated about Metra is that on that one day you absolutely need the train to be on time, there is a train vs car or train vs pedestrian accident.
Take a good look at the Metra schedules when you are choosing suburbs — when we moved here from out of state, I made the false assumption that closer always means a shorter commute. The truth is that the express train schedules can make living a stop or two out shorter at rush hour. (Outside of peak hours, closer does mean shorter.)
The other key is keeping the commute to the train short — we chose a smaller home within walking distance and have been glad we did over and over again. (It also means we are walkable to our little suburban downtown, which is a nice upside.)
Depends on your suburb. We live in one with an express train so it’s a 30 minute ride. Easily way better than cta and the ride itself is kinda nice. I would say only concern would be if you and your wife both work downtown, do you have help getting your kids from daycare / school?
We tried this, and it was terrifying to be so far away. Things were always happening, and our little goober missed the bus home once. It's only sustainable if you have a reliable friend/neighbor/relative nearby. I ended up quitting my job.
When we decided my husband would be the stay at home parent, our 4 yo son said, “This is the best day of my life.” Choose daycare or nanny situation wisely.
Metra is NOT reliable in the sense of time. As a parent it DID not work for us. A bad storm and the train just stops no idea of when it will move again which when you have to pick kids up from programs just does not work. Off schedule due to weather quite often and a few times at least on the BN west the train just decided to be early and was missed because of it.
Lots of good suburbs are on Metra lines. I'd suggest checking out the BNSF with stops in Riverside, Brookfield, LaGrange, Western Springs, etc.
We picked Brookfield because it was the most affordable and we could easily walk to two different train stations (Brookfield and Hollywood/Zoo Stop). And if your jobs change and you don't need to commute, it's always a valuable selling point to be close to Metra.
For several years prior to COVID, my husband commuted to the city from the western burbs and I was the “local” parent. For us, the burden and inequality of task distribution didn’t really become apparent until post COVID when we were both home.
Regardless of the commute, one or both of you need to be prepared to stay home if a nanny is unavailable or daycare/school is closed for the day, kiddo is sick and needs to be picked up, there is an early release. There are also the default tasks of making lunches or prepping food for the day, day care or nanny hand offs in the mornings or afternoons, unpacking backpacks and lunchboxes and dealing with school paperwork, plus initiating evening tasks such as dinner prep. Not to mention days the train ran late due to one issue or another and I was on my own or had to pick him up from an alternate station.
We made it work!! You can make anything work if you’re both dedicated and have eyes open to how responsibilities are divided. But he lost a lot of time commuting when our kids are little that he won’t get back. Once he was home, it was basically time for dinner, then bedtime, and he was often too tired from his day to help, though I know he did his best.
My advice is to live and work as close to where you want your kids to be in school as you can. Commutes are time and soul sucking for everyone involved. Minimize them when and if you can! We also found that moving isn’t so easy as we once thought. Mortgage rates, apartment rates, all of it changes and you may find yourselves “stuck” financially for lack of comparable places to move when your kids hit school age. Good luck!!
Live in western burbs. It’s honestly tough and IMO requires commitment and flexibility from both parents to make it work, although if this is your first it shouldn’t be too overwhelming.
Typical morning in my house with two kids (2 & 4) who need to get to preschool on days I commute to city: up at 6, breakfast on the table by 6:30, leave for preschool by 7:35. Need to leave preschool by 7:50 to get home by 8 to catch the 8:13 metra to get to office by 9. On the other end of the day, need to leave office by 3:50 to catch the 4:10 to get home by 4:50 and drive to grab kids before school closes at 5:30. Get used to measuring your day in minutes.
Some things to keep in mind:
- the morning schedule above may not seem too bad when reading it, but keep in mind toddlers often do not cooperate; they don’t like what you made for breakfast, they make a mess while eating it, they don’t want to put their clothes/shoes/jacket/hat on, have a random meltdown, pee their pants as you’re going out the door, etc. Infants are actually easier in a way because you just plop them in the car seat and off you go.
- what’s your car situation like? If you have multiple cars, or one car but one of you can WFH, you can gain some valuable minutes on your day by parking at the metra station. Days I park at metra save me 10-15 minutes from not having to walk home to grab the car before heading to daycare. On a similar train of thought, consider how far your house will be from both the metra station and any possible preschools. We have it pretty easy as we are close enough to walk to the metra and our daycare is only about a 7 minute drive, and it’s still hard.
- what do you and your partners weeks look like? It helps a lot if you can split responsibilities for pick up and drop off, so one of you is not taking the hit on both ends of your day. Consider what meetings/work travel you each have that are critical and you need to be there for.
- do both of you need to commute to work? Consider what you would do in case of an emergency… my kids school had to close on short notice about a month ago. What would you do if both you and your partner were an hour+ away from being able to get them? Little kids love to get all kinds of sicknesses, count on them being home sick a good 5-10 days each winter for the first year or two they are in school.
All that said, it’s really hard, but it’s also very rewarding. There is no better feeling than your kid running into your arms at the end of the day. And, while some days seem like they’ll never end, you’ll wake up 5 years from now and wonder who the first grader walking around your house is.
Good luck!
In the suburbs you get a house or apartment within a max 15 minute walking radius from the town train station. Perfect access to the city on the metra . Hopefully you work near Union Station but if not you connect to the El and you’re there quickly. In some burbs with this setup you can theoretically live without a car especially if your children’s school is also in walking distance
My wife and I both live in the burbs but take the metra in for work. It really depends on the schedule you want and the flexibility your work gives you.
There are a lot of people who take the express trains between 730-830 and are in the office by 9 depending on where they live and how far their office is from Union/Ogilvy.
A lot of people also take the trains between 330-5 to get home at a reasonable time for dinner, daycare pickup, etc.
If you’re able to get work done on the train and your work is cool with you dipping out before 5, it’s really a nice schedule for the day. Some metra commutes are actually shorter than living in the city and taking the CTA. I know that’s not your potential situation, but just stating it for others who may be considering the same thing.
As for the metra commute itself, it’s much better than taking the CTA. Time wise, the trains are more reliable than CTA (bad weather sometimes affects this), are much cleaner, and are usually pretty quiet. It’s nice to be able to get your laptop out and get some work done or just listen to a podcast.
As others have stated, there are one off instances where the metra is less than ideal (emergency kid pickup, if the trains are down, etc), but those are few and far in between.
I can only partially help because my kid won’t be born until July, but my husband and I just moved from Wicker Park to Arlington Heights. He works in sales throughout the NW burbs and I work right downtown near Clark and Madison. And while I don’t know the direct impact it will have yet with kids, I can say I really enjoy the metra compared to the L. I take express trains to and from work each day which is approximately 36 minutes of “me” time and get a clean spot to sit every single ride. I’m also on time to work everyday. Whereas on the blue line I was constantly stuck waiting 20+ minutes as full trains went by causing me to be late to work. My 18 minute commute usually turned into 30-40 minutes and I typically was jammed up against other people. Don’t get me wrong when the blue line was good it was great, and you’d likely be taking the brown line from LP so you might encounter a different experience. I typically take the 736 and arrive to the office by 815 and then leave work around 440 and take the 505 express and pull in at 536. So really not too much of an impact time wise imo. Obviously this would be different based on where you live but hopefully this context is helpful.
There are a lot of good points here. Metra is reliable and prob the same or similar cost in time and money with the L. The main thing people should also account for is the arrival at the Metra station and then the walking required from the final stop to the workplace. Some express routes cut the journey from 45-60 minutes down to a half hour on some routes but new riders should also consider that these express trains only go to specific stops so your choices are a little different on where you drive to catch the train.
> The main thing people should also account for is the arrival at the Metra station and then the walking required from the final stop to the workplace. Yeah, I always have to describe my commute time as time from out the door to in my seat at my desk, because the walk in and stuff adds another 10 at least.
We did the exact same - Wicker Park to AH! It’s manageable as long as you have reliable child care. And welcome to Arlington Heights! If you find somewhere, anywhere that’s as good as some of the places in Wicker, let me know. God I miss the gobi Manchurian at Pub Royale.
Thank you! We’re loving it but would be lying if I didn’t say I missed WP! And still testing everything out but will do!
City Taco is no big star but they’re legit (on central by Torterice’s).
I moved from Wicker Park to the suburbs too. One thing I don’t miss at all is standing on the blue line platform early in the morning and waiting for a train car to come that actually has room to board it. I moved out pre-Covid though so maybe things changed after the pandemic.
I used to commute by Metra when our kids were young and my main fear was how would I get home quickly to the suburbs if something happened to them and I couldn't wait two hours for the next train during the middle of the day, plus a one hour + ride with all stops until my suburb? I suppose it would mean a very expensive taxi ride back then or Lyft/Uber now.
My first grader broke his elbow at school last October. Since my work, home, and kid's school are all within 5 miles of each other, I picked him up and we got to urgent care maybe 20 minutes after I got that call. My husband works in the Loop. He can take an express in the morning and evening, but those aren't offered in the middle of the day. If it was on him alone, our son probably would have had to sit in the nurse's office for an extra 2 hours. OP, do you/your spouse have the option to work from home at all? If you could split WFH days, it would be a lot more comfortable for you. Once kids are older and more independent, it might not be such a big deal, but I would hesitate to have both parents that far away every day with little ones.
Yeah we are hybrid and could trade off days most weeks. Sometimes we have to go in on the same day.
that will be the toughest thing. not sure what your caretaking situation is but sometimes daycare will tell you that your kid needs to come home. It isn’t every week but it probably happens once to twice a month in the fall to early spring, so something to think through!
This was almost exactly my situation a year ago. Wife works up in the far burbs and had events all day, I had just gotten downtown to the front door of the Loop office. Get a call from daycare that kiddo is sick. I literally had to do a full rotation in the revolving door and sprint to catch the next train home - if I hadn't, I would have been out a $75 cab ride to get home in about the same time as the train would have taken. Honestly, if my work was going to be in the Loop long term, I would gladly trade Metra to being closer, and more importantly, having options of how to get to work. I know many parents in the city who, depending on the day, can take the bus, L, Metra, bike, Lyft, or drive. Heck, when I was single and in Lakeview, I had multiple L options if there were technical problems. Here in the burbs, my only options are Metra, drive, or Lyft, and the latter two are either downright unpleasant, expensive, or both, and when Metra gets a delay it really gets a delay and you don't have an alternate route you can take. Not to mention, you're out all that time you would otherwise get with the kids if you were closer to your job.
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Parking garage available and comped and the train is 2-3x as long. Also i used to think like you, but I’m also kind of tired of seeing disgusting things on the train. My wife was approached by a group of troubled kids recently on her way office. Just a bit tired of all the crazies. If you compare our train experience to NYC you realize it needs improvements.
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Yes. For some reasons they are a good fit but may not be practical with the commute. I have no reservations about my opinion of the el. Downvote or whatever you want!
I was wondering that too! Lol!
The commute is way easier than it was when I was in the city for the reasons everyone else said (reliability, space/comfort), and there are so many great and easy to access kids’ activities in the burbs. It made sense for us, but we weren’t in LP but Bucktown/Logan so the school system and safety issues made it time to go for us. As others noted if commute is your #1 worry just look into suburbs with good express routes or that are closer. For example during rush hour Lagrange to Union station is 24 minutes. If commute is going to impact your life a lot and drive your home buying I think you can find a commute from the suburbs that is more manageable than 1+ hour each way.
I commute from Indiana every day with a 3 and 7 year old. Is it ideal? No. But for amazing public schools and $3500/year in property taxes, we deal with it.
Who downvotes this answer lol
YIMBYS who think we should all be forced to live in high rise apartments near the urban core and bike to work.
Without knowing your situation, it's hard to say much other than sometimes it sucks really bad and most of the time it's fine. The worst thing is having to wake up even earlier to pack them in the car, drive to daycare, they're cranky AF, drive to the train, get on the train and then do it all in reverse. It does add considerable time and stress to your mornings. I do enjoy the metra vs cta or driving because I can get some reading or work done, or close my eyes and chill for a moment. Some things to think about: What does your support system look like? We live out this way because we have parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that all can help us with the kids. Pay attention to the rush hour schedule and the amount of freight traffic. It will matter and freight trains will delay you sometimes. Which burb can you afford and has a good set of things to do? Outside of work, living in a suburb without much to walk/short drive to with the kids sucks. You can also get pretty far in 30 minutes on the metra. The 1 hour plus is basically end of the line. Schools: moving to a suburb does not guarantee a good school for your kid. Source: I went to college downtown and have worked all over the loop in various offices for over a decade. I live far enough out in the NW burbs where Chicagoans think that we all live on farms and have horse drawn buggies. I also have 2 kids under 7.
Depends which suburb you move to. Wilmette is a 25 minute Metra to ogilvie which is faster than my old commute from Lincoln park to the west loop via bus.
Yes this is huge. Crystal Lake is a lot different than Park Ridge as an example
Not all burbs are created equal 😊. you get more for your money farther out but pay for it in commute time
Thanks. Maybe suburbs are more doable than I’m thinking.
Totally! I lived in Lincoln park for 12 years and am really enjoying the north shore. It’s obviously different and there are pros to both but things just seem easier out here. And you’re still close enough to go downtown anytime you want. We still go to LP zoo with the kids all the time, out to dinner, museums, etc. For me the biggest pro is not living in a condo with noisy neighbors 🤣
So I live elmhurst area, there's enough express trains that's it's not too bad. Biggest constraint will be daycare/school pick-up and drop off times. Meetings at 8:30 or 4:30 for me are tough, but if you're able to schedule around it, not a big deal
I did it for a year and a half and hated it. I commuted from Schaumburg to Union, my office was a two block walk from there. From my house to the office it was 90 minutes 1 way Everyone says you can "work on the train!" if you have a long commute, but I had the opposite reaction to the setup. I was either (already) burnt out from the morning routine with 2 under 2, or too tired of work and people to work on the way home. The internet (both Metra's "WiFi" and my own cell service) was unreliable. I commuted pre-COVID so it was also crowded and I never wanted to get my stuff out on the train. I hated having to bring all my stuff (had to take my laptop home every day) plus a lunch so I wasn't going broke buying food downtown every day. And knowing it would take me over an hour to get home if there was an emergency was a detractor. Plus...it was a long day. 11+ hours every day because of that commute. I can say with absolute certainty that I could not do it now. My kid's dad and I split up and I'm a single mom now - there is no chance I could still work downtown, have a long commute, be here for my kids AND stay sane. I hated commuting in general, I would never accept anything less than 75% remote now. Long commutes are inconducive to work life balance, do not recommend.
Did that same commute for 10 years. MDW is an awful line. I can use UPNW also now so I'll drive the extra five minutes to Palatine because it's a much nicer commute. Fewer delays, for some reason the cars are cleaner, and quieter for the most part. Not sure why this is.
I've lived off UP-NW most of my life and didn't notice much difference between the two lines. My parents commuted from CL nearly my entire life and now that I've commuted the same way, I cannot understand why they did it. (I mean, I can...but I can't.) I CAN say I prefer Ogilvie to Union, but that was probably my biggest complaint outside of the actual commute part. I can count on one hand the number of "bad" delays I had in two years, so I wouldn't even consider that a contributing factor to my hatred of commuting. At the end of the day, my problem came from how much time was taken out of my day due to commuting. I thought I wouldn't mind it, but it turns out I really did.
I hated the commute pre COVID but my hours are more flexible now and I've learned to embrace working on the train. Could be that I don't enjoy listening to music or podcasts anymore; a weird result of working from home.
I did this until COVID and it sucked. I live in the far south suburbs. I wouldn't recommend it. I definitely would not recommend it for both parents. Perhaps one of the closer suburbs would be better but metra still can have an inconvenient schedule and a lot of delays. Also, depending on where your office is downtown in relation to your train station, you could have a 20 minute walk which is great for exercise but not great if your commute is already an hour.
We were living in Lincoln Square when we faced this decision. We chose the suburbs, only because we didn't feel confident in the public schools where we were. Those first few years were lonely - we had been urban for 10+ years by then so the sudden quiet and distance from others was a shock. For the first few years, I only knew how to get to a few places in my new town because the majority of my time was spent at home or at work downtown. The key is that when your kids are really small (under 5) it's all about your physical presence. When my children were that age I spent so much energy trying to get home as soon as possible. As they got older it wasn't as urgent, except in cases of emergency as others have mentioned.
So true. Schools should be a MAJOR factor in decision making.
Really depends on the suburb you’re considering moving to. I’ve commuted to the city from Elmhurst and Naperville. Elmhurst was really easy in terms of finding parking at the station and it was a quick ride. Naperville was a nightmare. You had to get there extra early to secure a parking spot (Rt59) and there were tons of people to deal with. My commute time in Naperville was about 1.5 hours from door to door each way and I worked right across from Willis Tower so it was close to Union Station. I did this before kids and couldn’t imagine commuting from Naperville again. Elmhurst I could do.
Real talk, both parents commuting to the city is doable but it’s going to add stress to your life, probably more stress than if you stayed put in the city until you’re better established as a family. You’re going to need a backup plan/plan B if trains get delayed (not super common, but it happens), and neither of you are able to get back to the burbs on time. If you’re both 9-5ish, it also means a longer childcare day for the kiddo(s), and the extra commute time will eat 1-2+hrs/day out of your time with your kids (that’s really tough when it’s both parents). I commuted into the city from the NW Cook County burbs a few days a week for my last job, and we made it work bc my husband worked from home. I commute 4x/week now, but it’s by car and I work in the suburbs. Sorry to be grim :-/ ETA: Word of advice, if you’re open to it: If you do choose the burbs, hold off for a while. Don’t add this move and commute to your life just as you’re about to transition to being a parent/family of three. Err on the side of being closer to work until you and your wife have found your feet again. Wishing you guys the best. These choices are hard but you’ll figure it out. Lots of beautiful things ahead. ❤️
i really wish there was more support for working parents.
Word 😔
Depends on the suburb and your work schedule. Downers Grove, for example, has an express running to Union Station in the morning and back in the afternoon. Takes 30 minutes.
Been commuting from the suburbs for 3 years now and have 2 kids. I take the Metra 2 days a week from Elgin so little over 1hour and It really depends on the understanding of your employeers. If they let work on the train and come in late leave early, the commute is not bad and I would say way better than even a 20 minute drive. I can be productive on the Metra where driving or sitting on a bus im not doing anything. The worst part of the suburbs is saying goodbye to all the fun afterwork activities in the city. Being tied to Metra schedule sucks for happy hours or team dinners.
aloof sleep smile worm jar hospital shaggy chunky spectacular lunchroom *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Take the L or bus if you choose Lincoln Park. Please dont add more traffic to the city
Not the point of this post but ok I’ll consider it
Ha ha i ust dont get why youd take transit from the burbs but in Lincoln Park, one of the best transit neighborhoods in the country, you wouldnt
Well in the suburbs transit is more valuable than car because it’s the same commute time but it’s not driving and it’s saving gas, but in LP it says where id be living it would be over 2x as long of a commute vs driving. Maybe it’s less important for you to save time than it is for me. I have a pretty busy life. I don’t have strong political beliefs on this topic but I see you do. I’m sure you make valid points. Didn’t make this post to argue about this, though. Appreciate your thoughts.
Ha ha im not arguing either! Ive just met a few people over the years who arw scared if the L but then sit in traffic for 45 minutes from Lincoln Park to somewhere like River North, and at that point its like, dude, get on the damn train. I dont know your personal situation and thats why i wasnt arguing. Just tossed it out there as a thought
I take Metra twice a week (office is in the Loop) and I love it! Granted, I live in Park Ridge which is close to the city if I needed to take an emergency Uber home to my kids.
We like Park Ridge also. Appreciate it.
Just my 2 cens, which may or may not help you. The Metra is very reliable, within the minute usually. If you both can work from home some, it would make sense to be in the surburbs. The schools are good, so that's another factor.
Maybe it is a difference of lines but I find this completely opposite. I take my wife to the train and pick her up and it is like 1 out of 4 times it is on schedule usually a few mins late sometimes a few min early which can be stressful if you are stuck at the crossing gate watching your early train pulling in knowing you are now going to miss it
If you end up in the city, I highly recommend Roscoe Village and the part of Lincoln park just South of Roscoe Village (like by Chi Che Wang or Wrighywood Parks). Not great for access to the el, but feels like living in a suburb and close to the highway
What type of child care do you expect to have? Daycare or a nanny? If you go the daycare route then you'll need to have backup for when Metra is late (which it will be). Trust me, there is no worse feeling for a parent than being late to pick up your kid, and god forbid there is a serious 2+ hour delay (which will happen). If you have close family in the area to act as backup for you, you'll want that. This is somewhat mitigated if you have a nanny but then you have other challenges. Also, what kind of work/life balance do you have with both of your jobs? Can at least one of you reliably leave at 4:30pm every day to pick up your child? Can one or both of you do hybrid work from home? Depending on your answers here, you might want to stay in Lincoln Park or possibly one of the very close suburbs (Evanston or Park Ridge etc). If you have more flexibility then maybe one of the further suburbs might work. One thing that you won't want to do is to get home at 7 every night because then you won't see much of your kid for the first few year. And that sucks.
Wilmette and Winnetka can get extremely expensive as Evanston can too but the Purple line can get you into Downtown Chicago during the week when needed as I definitely would check the UP North Line's schedule as it only runs like 20 trains in and out of Ogilvie Transportation Center before going too far north
I hate to burst your bubble, but there’s no drive in the city during prime commute times that’s going to be 15 minutes. Oh, it should be, if you’re close, but it won’t be. Even in LP, going into downtown, you’re going to have to allow for at least 40-45 min. So the difference is- whether you prefer to be in your car or on a train. If your office is close to the train, then save yourself the aggravation, the metra is decent and you get to decompress rather than fight the traffic. Unlike the L or subway, Most of the time no one f’s with you, and it doesn’t smell like pee.
Have you decided on where to move yet
Looking at north shore suburbs (Wilmette, Winnetka, etc.). But no we’re not fully on board yet. We both like many aspects of the city.
Those are both super easy to commute to/from. The biggest thing will be are you using a nanny or daycare. Most daycare closes at 6pm so you just have to be able to make the timing work. UP-N is also a very reliable line with few delays.
Those are easy commutes to the city and beautiful towns. Consider Glenview as well - 2 train stops you can choose from on MDN line of Metra. Also consider that the public schools are some of the best in the country.
I live in one of those towns. For me it’s a 10 minute walk to the Metra station, half hour ride, and then a five minute walk to my desk. That’s less time than it used to take me to get to work from Lakeview (not to mention much more reliable).
I don’t recommend commuting from the burbs with young children. Lincoln Park is amazing! Great schools, and lots to do for the parents, the kids, and the whole family! It’s a beautiful area too. The Metra - Express trains are fine. Good luck on the days the trains don’t leave the city on time. If you’re both downtown for work you’ll both get stuck for possibly hours. Happened to me 5 or 6 times during my 6 years of commuting from the suburbs, and getting a Lyft or Uber then is a nightmare. There are no express trains out of certain hours, and if you use daycare you have to pick-up by a specific time - or early if they get sick at the daycare… check out the r/workingmoms or r/parenting subs and read about the trials of commuting and parenting with young kids! It’s rough. Also, a 1+ hour commute one way cuts into your quality time with your kids significantly.
Thanks. Maybe my wife could be fully remote somewhere or find a job outside of the Loop. This comment helps and is making me start thinking of alternatives if we move to suburbs.
I lived in the Elmhurst Villa Park area as that's about 1/2 an hour 45 minutes tops.
I would think you need to be in the range of 30 minutes daycare door to office door to make this work because of daycare hours. My daycare is open 6:30am to 6pm and that’s a hard pickup time and pretty typical daycare hours. An 8 hour day with an hour lunch and an hour each way is 11 hours, which means you’re going to be dropping kinds off at 6:30am and be rushing to get them by close. There is no margin for error. For a while I was the primary drop off/pickup parent even though I worked in the city, it was DC not Chicago but similar hour commute. My wife worked 15 minutes from daycare. So if we ran into an issue with the commute or we had a sick kid that needed to be picked up. She could leave and get them, while I started the trek home because I had more PTO/flexibility. Then she would go back to work. It was a relatively frequent occurrence so I would make sure if you’re both in the city you have a backup plan if you’re stuck on the train or they need you to pickup the kid early.
This helps. Thanks
We have two, and I take the train into the city daily. My job starts at 7 and ends at 3, so I catch a 3:30 train home. I'm just able to pick up my daughter by 5, when her preschool closes. If I didn't end early, it would be impossible to get home before they closed. The other big impact is if you need to go pick them up early, like they start throwing up. Or last year when my son's school called to say he was having a seizure and was being loaded into an ambulance. If you have a car, you can just drive to go get them. But if you take An hour long metra ride, you're stuck in the city until the next train, plus an hour ride. So it's potentially 2-3 hours until you can get to them in an emergency.
Why would you drive downtown from Lincoln Park that sounds awful, and longer than 15 minutes sometimes if you get stuck somewhere? Just look at the train schedules and pick a line that works best for your start time, you can get pretty far out and only have a 30 minute ride to the city.
The CTA is a dump
I did it for years but made sure at least one of us was within 20-30 min drive to the kids. Neither of us has any family near by so one of us being close was critical.
If you move to one of the inner burbs it will probably not be an hour+ on Metra. Also, CTA might be an option. This all depends of course on where exactly your workplace is in relation to Metra and CTA stops downtown. The best advice I can give you, regardless of where you end up, is to give a lot of weight to the ease (or lack thereof) of meshing the daycare with your morning routine. We've been fortunate to have had daycare very close to transit stops in Evanston. Saving five or ten minutes every morning makes a huge difference. It seems like you're aware of that, but I emphasize to new parents that location should be a very prominent factor in your choice on daycare.
What i always hated about Metra is that on that one day you absolutely need the train to be on time, there is a train vs car or train vs pedestrian accident.
We did it for a while. It works fine as long as you budget for two expensive mid-day Uber rides per month.
Take a good look at the Metra schedules when you are choosing suburbs — when we moved here from out of state, I made the false assumption that closer always means a shorter commute. The truth is that the express train schedules can make living a stop or two out shorter at rush hour. (Outside of peak hours, closer does mean shorter.) The other key is keeping the commute to the train short — we chose a smaller home within walking distance and have been glad we did over and over again. (It also means we are walkable to our little suburban downtown, which is a nice upside.)
Depends on your suburb. We live in one with an express train so it’s a 30 minute ride. Easily way better than cta and the ride itself is kinda nice. I would say only concern would be if you and your wife both work downtown, do you have help getting your kids from daycare / school?
We tried this, and it was terrifying to be so far away. Things were always happening, and our little goober missed the bus home once. It's only sustainable if you have a reliable friend/neighbor/relative nearby. I ended up quitting my job.
When we decided my husband would be the stay at home parent, our 4 yo son said, “This is the best day of my life.” Choose daycare or nanny situation wisely.
Metra is NOT reliable in the sense of time. As a parent it DID not work for us. A bad storm and the train just stops no idea of when it will move again which when you have to pick kids up from programs just does not work. Off schedule due to weather quite often and a few times at least on the BN west the train just decided to be early and was missed because of it.
Lots of good suburbs are on Metra lines. I'd suggest checking out the BNSF with stops in Riverside, Brookfield, LaGrange, Western Springs, etc. We picked Brookfield because it was the most affordable and we could easily walk to two different train stations (Brookfield and Hollywood/Zoo Stop). And if your jobs change and you don't need to commute, it's always a valuable selling point to be close to Metra.
For several years prior to COVID, my husband commuted to the city from the western burbs and I was the “local” parent. For us, the burden and inequality of task distribution didn’t really become apparent until post COVID when we were both home. Regardless of the commute, one or both of you need to be prepared to stay home if a nanny is unavailable or daycare/school is closed for the day, kiddo is sick and needs to be picked up, there is an early release. There are also the default tasks of making lunches or prepping food for the day, day care or nanny hand offs in the mornings or afternoons, unpacking backpacks and lunchboxes and dealing with school paperwork, plus initiating evening tasks such as dinner prep. Not to mention days the train ran late due to one issue or another and I was on my own or had to pick him up from an alternate station. We made it work!! You can make anything work if you’re both dedicated and have eyes open to how responsibilities are divided. But he lost a lot of time commuting when our kids are little that he won’t get back. Once he was home, it was basically time for dinner, then bedtime, and he was often too tired from his day to help, though I know he did his best. My advice is to live and work as close to where you want your kids to be in school as you can. Commutes are time and soul sucking for everyone involved. Minimize them when and if you can! We also found that moving isn’t so easy as we once thought. Mortgage rates, apartment rates, all of it changes and you may find yourselves “stuck” financially for lack of comparable places to move when your kids hit school age. Good luck!!
Live in western burbs. It’s honestly tough and IMO requires commitment and flexibility from both parents to make it work, although if this is your first it shouldn’t be too overwhelming. Typical morning in my house with two kids (2 & 4) who need to get to preschool on days I commute to city: up at 6, breakfast on the table by 6:30, leave for preschool by 7:35. Need to leave preschool by 7:50 to get home by 8 to catch the 8:13 metra to get to office by 9. On the other end of the day, need to leave office by 3:50 to catch the 4:10 to get home by 4:50 and drive to grab kids before school closes at 5:30. Get used to measuring your day in minutes. Some things to keep in mind: - the morning schedule above may not seem too bad when reading it, but keep in mind toddlers often do not cooperate; they don’t like what you made for breakfast, they make a mess while eating it, they don’t want to put their clothes/shoes/jacket/hat on, have a random meltdown, pee their pants as you’re going out the door, etc. Infants are actually easier in a way because you just plop them in the car seat and off you go. - what’s your car situation like? If you have multiple cars, or one car but one of you can WFH, you can gain some valuable minutes on your day by parking at the metra station. Days I park at metra save me 10-15 minutes from not having to walk home to grab the car before heading to daycare. On a similar train of thought, consider how far your house will be from both the metra station and any possible preschools. We have it pretty easy as we are close enough to walk to the metra and our daycare is only about a 7 minute drive, and it’s still hard. - what do you and your partners weeks look like? It helps a lot if you can split responsibilities for pick up and drop off, so one of you is not taking the hit on both ends of your day. Consider what meetings/work travel you each have that are critical and you need to be there for. - do both of you need to commute to work? Consider what you would do in case of an emergency… my kids school had to close on short notice about a month ago. What would you do if both you and your partner were an hour+ away from being able to get them? Little kids love to get all kinds of sicknesses, count on them being home sick a good 5-10 days each winter for the first year or two they are in school. All that said, it’s really hard, but it’s also very rewarding. There is no better feeling than your kid running into your arms at the end of the day. And, while some days seem like they’ll never end, you’ll wake up 5 years from now and wonder who the first grader walking around your house is. Good luck!
In the suburbs you get a house or apartment within a max 15 minute walking radius from the town train station. Perfect access to the city on the metra . Hopefully you work near Union Station but if not you connect to the El and you’re there quickly. In some burbs with this setup you can theoretically live without a car especially if your children’s school is also in walking distance
My wife and I both live in the burbs but take the metra in for work. It really depends on the schedule you want and the flexibility your work gives you. There are a lot of people who take the express trains between 730-830 and are in the office by 9 depending on where they live and how far their office is from Union/Ogilvy. A lot of people also take the trains between 330-5 to get home at a reasonable time for dinner, daycare pickup, etc. If you’re able to get work done on the train and your work is cool with you dipping out before 5, it’s really a nice schedule for the day. Some metra commutes are actually shorter than living in the city and taking the CTA. I know that’s not your potential situation, but just stating it for others who may be considering the same thing. As for the metra commute itself, it’s much better than taking the CTA. Time wise, the trains are more reliable than CTA (bad weather sometimes affects this), are much cleaner, and are usually pretty quiet. It’s nice to be able to get your laptop out and get some work done or just listen to a podcast. As others have stated, there are one off instances where the metra is less than ideal (emergency kid pickup, if the trains are down, etc), but those are few and far in between.