Once a quaint farming town, Naperville has evolved into a wealthy city due in part to a massive migration of professionals in the 1990s seeking jobs and globally renowned public schools. This can be seen in part by the enormous growth of high-tech companies such as Nalco Holding Company, Tellabs, Alcatel-Lucent and the BP North American Chemical Headquarters, all located in Naperville. U.S. News and World Report recently ranked both Naperville School District 203 high schools among the top 3 percent of high schools in the country. Also, District 204's Neuqua Valley High School has won the a Grammy for being the top school in the nation for music. In the 2008-2009 year, they also won the honor of again, being a Grammy Gold Signature School.
According to the 2005 American Community Survey, there were 147,779 people, 48,655 households, and 37,143 families residing in the city; as of 2006-07-01, Naperville is the 164th most populous city in the United States. The population density was 4,162.8 people per square mile (1,606.3/km²). There were 51,636 housing units at an average density of 1454.5/sq mi (561.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 80.00% White, 3.54% African American, 0.07% Native American, 15.65% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 1.26% from other races, and 1.48% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.23% of the population.
There were 48,655 households out of which 45.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.0% were married couples living together, 6.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.7% were non-families. 17.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.04 and the average family size was 3.55.
In the city, the population was spread out with 30.2% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 6.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.9 years. For every 100 females there were 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $97,790, and the median income for a family was $124,701. Males had a median income of $87,527 versus $51,586 for females. The mean, or average, income for a family in Naperville was $149,352 according to the 2005 census. The per capita income for the city was $44,235. About 2.5% of the population was below the poverty line, including 1.2% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.
As a typical American suburb, the main mode of transportation is via automobile. The Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (the tolled portion of Interstate 88) runs near the north edge of Naperville, and Interstate 55 runs south of the city, through Bolingbrook and Romeoville.
From 75th Street south (including 83rd Street, 87th Street, etc.) Naperville east-west streets and their names roughly follow the same grid layout as the City of Chicago. In other words, if 75th street continued east past its terminus at Illinois Route 83, in Willowbrook, it would eventually be the same 75th Street as found in Chicago city limits. However, the older part of Naperville has a second numerical grid, starting downtown at Main and Benton, with 4th and 5th Avenues just north of the BNSF tracks, and continuing through 15th Avenue. The difference is that the numbers in the older system go up from downtown, traveling south to north, and the other grid's numbers go up as you travel north to south. See the Chicago Streets & Highways article for more information. There is also a geographical based naming system, with West Street and North Street defining the older boundaries of the city. Along with these are streets named after the city they lead to, i.e, Naper/Plainfield Road heads towards Plainfield, while Aurora Avenue leads to Aurora and Chicago Avenue to Chicago (it becomes Maple Ave. in neighboring Lisle before becoming 55th Street). Oswego Road, while having once led to Oswego via U.S. Route 34, no longer connects to that highway, and thus no longer leads directly to Oswego, Illinois. Many other major thoroughfares, such as Diehl Road, Bailey Road, Hobson Road, Modaff Road, Wehrli Road and countless others are named after early farming families and settlers to the area.
The first rail link to Chicago dates to 1864. Naperville currently has three tracks belonging to the BNSF Railway that run through the north end of town, with passenger rail service provided by Metra and Amtrak. BNSF Railway operates trains from the Aurora Transportation Center in neighboring Aurora to Chicago Union Station with stops at the Route 59 Station and the Naperville Station, both of which are located within the city limits. Amtrak operates four routes through Naperville: The Illinois Zephyr and the Carl Sandburg, both with services to Quincy, Illinois; the California Zephyr, with services to Oakland, California; and the Southwest Chief, with services to Los Angeles, California.
Pace provides feeder bus service to the Metra stations and local midday service, both operated under contract. It also operates bus routes from Naperville to Aurora (which serves Aurora's Westfield Fox Valley Mall) and Wheaton (which serves the College of DuPage).
There is also one private airport, the Naper Aero Club field, designation LL-10, on the western edge of town. The field is notable for being the home of the Lima Lima Flight Team.
Nitra, Slovakia has been Naperville's official sister city since the Naperville City Council approved the partnership on November 17, 1993. Nitra was chosen, in part, due to a desire to create a special bond with a city in one of the newly-formed democracies brought about by the fall of the Iron Curtain. Nitra was also chosen due to several similarities between the two cities, such as:
Since the inception of this partnership, the Naperville Sister Cities Commission has worked to strengthen the bond between Naperville and Nitra through its support of various events and delegations. The primary goal of such sister city programs is to increase awareness of other cultures and promote international friendship, and the Naperville-Nitra partnership has so far been a successful one.
In 2002, the Sister Cities Commission supported a youth baseball exchange, sending the Naperville Patriots baseball team, composed of 15 high school age ballplayers and representing each of the four high schools Naperville Central, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley, Waubonsie Valley in the Naperville area, to Nitra. The team travelled throughout Slovakia, and played with and held clinics for the newly-formed Nitra "Little Giants" baseball team. Head coach Dave Perillo and captains Jason Fitterer and Rob Losik were responsible for organizing the clinic for the Nitra players, which proved to be a success. The Naperville Patriots also enjoyed the distinction of being the first baseball team from the United States ever to travel to the nation of Slovakia.
In addition to this exchange, the City of Naperville has supported several other events to strengthen the bond with Nitra, including:
The community at large has enthusiastically supported the Naperville-Nitra partnership, as well. In 1999, Naperville's Our Savior's Lutheran Church raised $275,000 to rebuild a church in Nitra, which was then dedicated the following year. NALCO and school districts 203 and 204 have also shipped 6,000 pounds of books to Nitra since 1993.