Sycamore, IL Reviews

The blue collar St Charles - 8/7/2022
We’ve lived in sycamore for going on 2 years now, it’s definitely a blend of blue collar families like myself and people who couldn’t afford those st Charles or Geneva type communities so they build new houses out here and pretend it’s a yuppie utopia. I would say it’s politically split which isn’t all a bad thing people are very friendly definitely a community sense at least in our neighborhood. Taxes are high! But a lot does go towards the schools which most people say they are happy with I just don’t see why they should be that high. Crime is very low especially compared to neighboring Dekalb! A lot of young families a decent downtown area and overall a safe calm quiet Read More

Beautiful small town with wonderful people - 6/29/2021
Moved to the area about 15 years ago (have lived in Sycamore then another nearby town for 7 years before moving back to Sycamore) and have been in our current neighborhood for 3 years. Absolutely love the small town feel yet all the amenities close by. Our neighbors have been so incredibly warm and welcoming truly making us feel we are “home”. We moved from another nearby town and the Sycamore school district has been a breath of fresh air. Our kids teachers and special education staff has constantly gone above and beyond to help our children succeed. I could not be happier with our town, neighborhood, neighbors, and school. Read More

Great place to raise a family!! - 6/29/2021
Sycamore is a beautiful, clean, welcoming community. We were outsiders when we moved here from Chicago and people were nothing but lovely. I could not have dreamt of a better place to raise my children. I feel so grateful to our schools and our neighbors who helped me raise such great kids. Stcamore is amazing! Read More

I like it here - 5/8/2019
It's great Read More

Homogeneous Town - "Outsiders" Not Welcome - 8/24/2017
Small town mindset filled with unwelcoming and superficial people. Might be a good place if you are part of the "inbred" crowd - related to everyone else, never lived any where else, etc. Not such a good experience otherwise. Residents act extremely closed off to anyone from the "outside" - you might as well be from another planet. Spent many years living there and during that time no one was welcoming or inclusive. Townies often won't even talk to those not in the "clique". They must be afraid of any outside perspectives and interests - might be a "threat" to their town's homogeneous attitude.

Unless you're related to someone and/or went to high school in Sycamore, your kids will also be affected in schools, activities, sports, etc. Only the "locals" get the best teachers, make the teams, etc. (again because decision-makers are related and/or high school friends with parents). Small town politics and stereotypes on steroids here.

Schools are okay but it's Read More

Sycamore OK - for some people - 3/6/2012
I'd mostly agree with what Liz from Texas had to say, though when I lived there (1994-2001) the snow plowing was better (not the county roads, though!)

Sycamore is an OK place to live if you're rich and happily married, but if you're poor or single, forget it! Especially single men, you definitely will not find Ms. Right here, or anywhere else in Illinois for that matter. People here are very materialistic and there is an abundance of class discrimination.

As for the crime, Sycamore like most small towns seldom has really horrible crimes like murder, but it does have a lot of petty crime and more violence than you might expect. Part of this is because of the university town next door. The police are so-so, they generally try to fight crime but they also meddle a lot. They work for the local politicians and are union-shop, so don't expect them to always be fair.

The attitude of the long-time residents toward newcomers and people outside their Read More

small town - 2/17/2009
My husband and I moved to this town from Texas as a halfway mark b/w his work and Chicago. We have family in Chicago which is the reason we moved here. Our experience here is that it is not an ideal place to live. At first the town appeared to be nice, but the town is money hungry. Their school systems are not well run or organized. Parents seem to lack common sense when picking up or dropping off their children, and the school administration does nothing to even try and correct it, and the school that my son was supposed attend was overcrowded and had to attend a school further away. (Over crowded schools is a problem in Dekalb County). That is just one of my list of complaints about their school system. Also, the general age group for Sycamore is seniors; however, DeKalb has a univeristy so if you go to that town, be aware that there is not a lot of family friendly areas. The scenery is appealing ONLY if you like corn fields! The climate is FREEZING with a ton of snow, and Read More

in Sycamore IL all my life - 11/29/2006
Nice town. Growing fast and property values are high. Decent schools. Safe place to live. Not the same small town I grew up in but quality has been Read More