Best Privacy Trees for Chicago Neighborhoods

Chicagoland Suburbs are home to beautiful neighborhoods and expensive properties with high tax property tax rates. Given the high population density in the Chicago Metro area, privacy is generally highly desirable.

Chicagoland generally has good soil, brutally cold & windy Winters and often high water.

The best privacy trees we see in Chicagoland:

Green Giant Arborvitae Thuja is by far the most popular privacy tree around Chicago, often surrounding fancy homes and businesses.
American Pillar Arborvitae does exceptionally well and is slowly taking over the inferior Emerald Green Thuja.
Emerald Green Thuja still is a dominant variety, but new plantings are decreasing. The established trees do well, but it has a high die out rate with new plantings and the olders ones are just not very pretty.
Junipers in general do well in this region, but often they are not the most ornamental as they lack a uniform appearance.
White Pines are not very common in this area as they do tend to take up more space and are susceptible to breaking branches under wet or icy show.
Norway Spruces are not very common except for a few larger properties as their size can be a threat to nearby structures.
Blue Spruces are also less common as Needlescast threatens them in this area as well.

Green Giant Arborvitae Thujas thriving in Barrington, Illinois