This Naperville ZIP code has the most stressed parents in Illinois — and cracks the top 100 nationally

If you are a parent in Naperville, this might be your sign to take a spa day or at least a deep breath.

America’s best city to raise a family also has Illinois’ most stressful ZIP code for parents, according to a study from mental health care provider A Mission for Michael. Although Naperville has multiple ZIP codes, the study listed 60565 as the one where parents reported feeling the most overwhelmed.

The organization surveyed 3,012 parents across the country about the everyday realities of raising children, looking at such factors as childcare costs, commuting times, grocery bills, school pressures, work demands, sleep deprivation and screen-time battles. It then ranked the ZIP codes where parents reported the highest levels of stress.

“We carried out the study because parental stress is often discussed as an individual or household issue when many of the pressures involved are also shaped by where families live,” said Aja Chavez, vice president of adolescent services for A Mission for Michael.

Naperville ranked No. 1 for Illinois ZIP codes with the most stressed parents, but No. 41 nationally. Wilmette and Lake Forest were the only other two Illinois ZIP codes recognized for having a significant number of stressed parents, ranking No. 45 and No. 100 nationally.

The top five ZIP codes where parents reported being the most stressed were Scarsdale, New York, at No. 1, Huntington, New York, at No. 2, Westfield, New Jersey, at No. 3, Irvine, California, at No. 4 and Palo Alto, California, at No. 5.

Despite Naperville’s reputation for its strong school systems and abundant extracurriculars, Illinois’ third largest city stood out in this survey due to expectations some parents face when presented with too many activities.

“Parents may feel a strong responsibility to take advantage of the area’s educational opportunities, extracurricular programs and community resources,” Chavez said. “Balancing those expectations alongside work and family commitments can leave households feeling stretched, even in a community consistently ranked among the country’s best places to raise a family.”

For Chad Vargo, father of a 10-year-old boy and 7-year-old girl, that statement felt reflective of his own experiences.

“Naperville has a great education system. There’s a lot of activities for kids to do around the area,” the 41-year-old said. “I always see those things as positives in terms of the amount of resources we have, but we could also correlate that to maybe a negative as well, where there’s so many things that it’s hard to choose what’s right for my family.”

For some parents and their children, that can translate into pressure to compete with others both in academics and extracurriculars. In response to that, Vargo said he tries hard to encourage his kids to have fun and give it their all in their educational and extracurricular pursuits, regardless of what others may be doing.

“I always tell my kids, ‘Do the best you can. We’re not measuring ourselves to anybody else. We’re not concerned with what they’re doing or what team they’re on or what activity they’re doing,’” Vargo said.

It is a pressure he said he has not just experienced, but witnessed while talking with others in the Naperville Dad Network. Vargo started the group in 2017 because he was looking for new connections in the area. Since then, the network has grown to more than 3,000 members.

He sees fathers asking each other fairly often whether they should sign their child up for specific activities or pursue certain sports teams, he said. While he encourages dads to reach out to others for advice, he also advises them to follow their own path.

“I don’t recommend trying to let others dictate what your family or your children should do because (others are) doing it,” he said. “At the end of the day, whatever fits your situation the best is what you should do, and (that) you feel confident in that decision.”

Chavez said one of the main lessons parents should take from the survey results is that “feeling overwhelmed is not necessarily a sign” of failure.

“Stress often builds because several demands are arriving at once, rather than because of one single problem,” she said. “Recognizing those pressures early and seeking support before they become unmanageable can make a meaningful difference.”

It is not the only time Naperville has been recognized in a stress-related study by A Mission for Michael. Earlier this year, Naperville ranked No. 10 in the country for having one of the worst “burnout belts,” referring to commutes from suburban areas to major U.S. cities that regularly contribute to chronic stress, exhaustion and burnout for workers.