Northbrook or Northfield? Two towns buyers constantly mix up

I get this call most months. Someone has been sent a list of homes by a relocation service, half are in Northbrook and half are in Northfield, and they assume the two are basically the same place because the names start the same way. They are not the same place at all, and choosing between them is one of the cleaner decisions on the North Shore once you see what separates them.

The school question is the real difference

Northfield sits inside the New Trier feeder belt. Homes in Sunset Ridge School District 29 send children to Middlefork and Sunset Ridge and then on to New Trier, the same high school as Winnetka. That is the entire reason many families look at Northfield in the first place.

Northbrook is a different system. Its high school is Glenbrook North, in Glenbrook District 225, and it is excellent in its own right. The K-8 side is the part that catches people out: Northbrook is split across several elementary districts and the one you are in changes block by block.

Commute: rail versus highway

Northbrook has its own Metra station on the Milwaukee District North line and the best dual-highway access in the north suburbs, with both I-94 and I-294 close by. If one parent takes the train downtown and the other drives to an office in the suburbs, Northbrook handles both without argument.

Northfield has no station inside the village. You drive five to ten minutes to Winnetka, Glenview, or Northbrook to catch a train. Its compensation is fast I-94 access, which is why it suits people whose commute is by car.

What the houses are actually like

• Northbrook leans newer. More mid-century and later construction, more consistent lot sizes, more houses that have already had the kitchen and the mechanicals done.
• Northfield is a small village, so there is simply less of everything. Inventory is thin and you may wait for the right house rather than choose among several.
• Northbrook gives you more square footage per dollar than the New Trier towns. Northfield is the least expensive way into New Trier, which is a different kind of value.

How I tell clients to choose

• If New Trier is the reason you are moving here, look at Northfield and verify District 29 on every address.
• If you want a train at the end of your street, newer houses, and both highways: Northbrook.
• If you are early and unsure, tour one of each on the same afternoon. Fifteen minutes apart, and most people know by the second house.

Related reading why Northfield is the New Trier shortcut