Which Detroit suburb most resembles Naperville, IL?

[garyjohnyang]

Originally Posted by ram2

Isn't one part of Naperville "independent" from the rest of the city and the property taxes in that area are lower than the rest of Naperville? I knew someone who lived in this area and was told if police are needed, you have to call the county sheriff because the Naperville police are not responsible for covering the "independent" area.

Yep, that's right. There are unincorporated areas which have Naperville addresses and are zoned for Naperville schools, but for other services like police and fire they have to rely on the county. Not sure if I'd live there just to save on property taxes, though.

[Hiruko]

Comparing Birmingham to Naperville is being VERY kind to Naperville. Naperville is by no means low-end. However, Birmingham and Bloomfield are more upscale along the lines of the North Shore or Hinsdale/Oak Brook areas. Birmingham is simply a cut above.

[highlanderfil]

Originally Posted by garyjohnyang

Makes sense. And welcome to Illinois! We appreciate you bringing us the additional tax revenue

Don't get me started... Though, at least the roads seem to be better.

[secondbreakfast]

Originally Posted by garyjohnyang

It seems that Detroit and Chicago have some very similar suburbs. What would be the closest equivalent to Chicago's western suburb of Naperville?

I would argue Novi + Northville would probably be the closest match. I disagree with those who suggested Birmingham. Birmingham doesn't have the large Asian minority that Novi has, and the built environment is more dense (unlike Novi which is very suburban). Keep in mind that COL is slightly lower in metro Detroit than in metro Chicago. I'll go through this one by one:

Median household income (2019 census.gov data):
Naperville: $125,926
Novi: $98,020

Demographics (2019 census.gov data):
Naperville: 72.1% White alone, 5.0% African American, 19.1% Asian and 5.8% Hispanic or Latino.
Novi: 64.7% White alone, 7.6% African American, 23.9% Asian, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino.

Median value of owner-occupied housing units (2019 census.gov data):
Naperville: $416,700
Novi: $322,100

Novi doesn't have a downtown per se (unless you count the fake downtown at the intersection of Grand River and Novi), but its neighbor Northville looks strikingly similar to the first two pictures you showed.

Novi is currently the top-ranked school district in Michigan, Northville is #2.

In the case of Novi, it's the east side that is older (built up in the 70s-80s) and the west side that is growing.

Most residents of Novi are commuters who work elsewhere in metro Detroit. However, there are office corridors in Novi as well as in nearby Farmington Hills and Livonia.

And some street view pictures:
Downtown Northville
Northville "Historic District" (adjacent to downtown)
A more typical subdivision
A new part of the city with larger homes
Some McMansions (only a small portion of the city)

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

Comparing Birmingham to Naperville is being VERY kind to Naperville. Naperville is by no means low-end. However, Birmingham and Bloomfield are more upscale along the lines of the North Shore or Hinsdale/Oak Brook areas. Birmingham is simply a cut above.

I came here to make a similar point, for those comparing Birmingham and Naperville.

Naperville’s core and surrounding neighborhoods are generally quite high end, but are in stark contrast to much of the rest of Naperville which is solidly middle to upper middle class with quite a bit of sub-development and newer neighborhoods, state roads and shopping centers.

Birmingham’s core is similar, but the neighborhoods continue the higher density and uniformity with very little contrast from one area to the next. Yes, west of the core is where a good bit of the high end luxury homes sit, but the rest of town is still very middle upper class with almost no sub developments to note.

Again, this is all relative, but Birmingham is very much like Hinsdale in look and feel with a larger downtown. On paper, Hinsdale boasts higher-if-not-much-higher median income levels, but I’m sure educational attainment of the residents is close. COL will be higher in Hinsdale as a result, but that’s a fundamental difference in the two metros.

To the original question, I immediately through of Plymouth (far smaller than Naperville) or Troy (not as nice as Naperville). Still not sure which MI suburb I’d choose.