Carol Stream · DuPage County · IL
Homes for sale in
Carol Stream.
- Active listings
- 50
- Median list
- $377K
- Avg time on market
- 9 days
- Sold · last year
- 375
Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons (Unknown)
Active listings
50 homes on the market
About the community
Living in Carol Stream.
Carol Stream is a village of roughly 39,800 residents in northwestern DuPage County, about 30 miles west of the Chicago Loop. Founder Jay Stream platted the town from raw farmland starting in 1957 and named it for his daughter Carol, and the planned-community DNA still shows: a leafy Ross Ferraro Town Center on Gary Avenue, residential subdivisions wrapping the core, and a heavy industrial and commercial spine pushed to the east edge where Tyndale House Publishers, Christianity Today, and roughly 900 other employers fill more than 20 million square feet. Elementary and middle school students mostly attend Community Consolidated School District 93, then the high school assignment forks between Glenbard North (Glenbard 87), Wheaton North (CUSD 200), and West Chicago Community High (CHSD 94) depending on the street. The village has no Metra station of its own. Commuters drive south to Wheaton or College Avenue on the UP-W line. IL 64 (North Avenue), IL 38 (Roosevelt), and Gary Avenue out to I-355 and I-390 handle the rest of the commute load. The village's own municipal property tax rate runs among the lowest in DuPage, which is part of why the housing stock turns over briskly here.
At a glance
~39,800 residents
2020 Census population 39,854. One of the larger DuPage villages.
CCSD 93 elementary
Community Consolidated School District 93 covers K-8 for most of Carol Stream, headquartered in Bloomingdale.
Three high school districts
High school assignment forks between Glenbard North (Glenbard 87), Wheaton North (CUSD 200), and West Chicago Community High (CHSD 94) depending on address.
No in-village Metra
Closest UP-W stations are Wheaton and College Avenue, both a short drive south.
Tyndale House Publishers
Christian publishing HQ on Executive Drive since 1967. Anchor of the east-side employer corridor with Christianity Today and roughly 900 other businesses.
IL 64 + IL 38 + Gary Ave
North Avenue east-west, Roosevelt Road south, Gary Avenue north-south to I-390 and I-355.
Great Western Trail
Roughly 12 miles of the DuPage crushed-limestone rail-trail runs through the village toward Villa Park and West Chicago.
Low municipal tax rate
The village's own municipal property tax rate (0.2246 per $100 assessed value) runs among the lowest in DuPage, carried by the heavy commercial and industrial base.
What’s close
Carol Stream sits in northwest DuPage County, framed by IL 64 (North Avenue) east-west and Gary Avenue north-south, with Wheaton to the south, Bloomingdale north, Glendale Heights northeast, Glen Ellyn southeast, West Chicago west, and Bartlett and Hanover Park on the northwest side.
- Ross Ferraro Town Center
- Civic core at 960 N. Gary Avenue with gazebo, ponds, fountain, visitor center, and the summer concert and Last Blast Carnival grounds.
- Glenbard North High School
- 990 Kuhn Road, about 2,200 students. The Glenbard 87 campus that anchors central Carol Stream.
- Tyndale House Publishers
- Christian publishing HQ at 351 Executive Drive since 1967, in the eastern industrial corridor.
- Coral Cove Water Park and Simkus Recreation Center
- Carol Stream Park District flagship with slides, climbing wall, and tot playground.
- Stratford Square Mall
- 1.3 million square foot regional mall just east in Bloomingdale, anchored by Kohl's and Woodman's.
- Great Western Trail
- 12-mile DuPage rail-trail of crushed limestone runs through the village from Villa Park toward West Chicago.
What it’s actually like to live here
Day to day Carol Stream reads like a 1960s-into-1990s planned suburb in good repair. Subdivisions like Heritage Lake, Western Trails, Stratford Lakes, Newport Village, Spinnaker Cove, and Cambridge Pointe trade off pond frontage, swim and tennis amenities, and walkable access to the Great Western Trail. The Park District's 40-plus parks and Coral Cove Water Park give families a soft landing, and the Town Center concert series and Last Blast Carnival serve as the village's social glue each summer. Restaurants and everyday retail cluster on Army Trail Road, North Avenue, and Kuhn Road.
Schools are the most common source of address-by-address questions. Most elementary and middle school students attend Community Consolidated School District 93, which runs Carol Stream Elementary, Cloverdale, Elsie Johnson, Heritage Lakes, Western Trails, Roy DeShane, Stratford Middle, and Jay Stream Middle. The high school assignment then forks: a majority feeds Glenbard North in Glenbard Township High School District 87, but parts of the village send students to Wheaton North in CUSD 200 and to West Chicago Community High in CHSD 94. Buyers always need to verify by exact address before writing an offer.
Neighborhoods
Detailed Carol Stream community pages coming soon.
Browse the listings above. Detailed neighborhood pages with market stats, school info, and lifestyle take-downs land here as we roll them out.
Schools
Districts serving Carol Stream.
Boundary lines do shift. Always confirm in writing for a specific address before writing an offer.
- CCSD93Grades Pre-K – 8
Community Consolidated School District 93
Schools serving the area
- Carol Stream Elementary
- Cloverdale Elementary
- Heritage Lakes Elementary
- Stratford Middle School
- Jay Stream Middle School
CCSD 93 covers K-8 for most of Carol Stream plus portions of Bloomingdale and Hanover Park. Small slivers of the village fall into Glen Ellyn ESD 41, Benjamin SD 25, or Elgin Area U-46 instead. Verify by address.
- GTHSD87Grades 9 – 12
Glenbard Township High School District 87
Schools serving the area
- Glenbard North High School
The majority of Carol Stream high schoolers attend Glenbard North at 990 Kuhn Road. The west side of the village feeds CHSD 94 (West Chicago Community High) and the south side feeds CUSD 200 (Wheaton North).
From the neighborhood
Around Carol Stream
Real local creators on TikTok. Tap a tile to play it right here.
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@dogdayswithallieAround town
What there is to do in Carol Stream.
A handful of the places people who live here actually use. Not a directory.
- Parks
Ross Ferraro Town Center
Carol Stream's civic green at 960 N. Gary Avenue with gazebo, fountain, ponds, and summer concerts.
- Family
Coral Cove Water Park
Outdoor aquatic center at the Simkus Recreation Center with water slides, a 15-foot climbing wall, drop slide, diving board, and tot playground.
- Parks
Great Western Trail (DuPage)
12-mile crushed-limestone rail-trail from Villa Park to West Chicago, passing through Carol Stream.
- Family
Armstrong Park
Carol Stream Park District park with a baseball complex, sledding hill, basketball and sand volleyball courts, in-line skate rink, and KidsWorld playground.
- Shopping
Stratford Square Mall
1.3 million square foot regional mall just east in Bloomingdale, anchored by Kohl's and Woodman's.
- Food & Drink
Village Tavern and Grill of Carol Stream
Neighborhood American tavern on Army Trail Road, a Carol Stream mainstay.
Getting around
Commute + transit from Carol Stream.
DriveBy car
- Routes: IL 64 (North Avenue) · IL 38 (Roosevelt Road) · Gary Avenue · Schmale Road · Army Trail Road
- O'Hare Airport: ~34 min
- Chicago Loop: ~58 min
By the numbers
Carol Stream taxes + market stats.
Property tax rates vary by exact township and assessor district. Confirm per address before pricing a purchase.
Property tax rate
2.80%
effective avg
Sales tax
8.00%
combined
Median sold price
$370,000
MRED · last 12 mo (375 sales)
Median household income
$89,820
ACS
How Carol Stream got here
A bit of history.
Carol Stream did not exist before Jay W. Stream walked away from a stalled Naperville subdivision in the mid 1950s and decided to build his own town. Starting in 1957, Stream's Durable Construction Company bought unincorporated farmland north of Wheaton and laid out a planned community of residential blocks, industrial parks, and commercial frontage. The village incorporated on January 5, 1959. The name is not a creek. Stream named the village for his 14 year old daughter Carol, after she was critically injured in an August 1957 car crash returning from Racine, Wisconsin. Doctors told her father that good news might aid her recovery, and the new town carried her name. She woke from a four month coma.
The village grew steadily through the 1960s and 1970s as Tyndale House Publishers (1967), Christianity Today, and a wave of light industry filled the planned eastern industrial sector, and as the Carol Stream Park District built out more than 40 parks across roughly 400 acres. Residential development pushed west and north through the 1980s and 1990s, producing Heritage Lake, Western Trails, Stratford Lakes, Newport Village, and Spinnaker Cove, among others. Money Magazine ranked Carol Stream the best small town in Illinois and 49th best in the nation in 2011, a snapshot of the planned community model working largely as Jay Stream designed it.
The questions buyers actually ask
Carol Stream FAQ
The questions I get most from buyers shopping Carol Stream. If yours isn't here, text 224-385-8779, same-day reply.
- Does Carol Stream have a Metra station?
- No. Carol Stream does not have its own Metra stop. The closest stations are Wheaton and College Avenue, both on the Union Pacific West line a short drive south of the village.
- Which high school will my kids attend in Carol Stream?
- It depends on the street. Most addresses feed Glenbard North in Glenbard Township District 87, but parts of the village are assigned to Wheaton North in CUSD 200 or West Chicago Community High in CHSD 94. Always verify by exact address with the district lookup before writing an offer.
- What is the largest employer in Carol Stream?
- Tyndale House Publishers, headquartered at 351 Executive Drive since 1967. The eastern industrial corridor also includes Christianity Today and roughly 900 other businesses across more than 20 million square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space.
- Why is Carol Stream property tax lower than nearby DuPage towns?
- The village levies its own municipal property tax at just 0.2246 per $100 of assessed value, one of the lowest rates in DuPage County, because the large industrial and commercial base carries a big share of the load. School and overlapping district taxes still push the all-in effective rate to roughly 2.8 percent per Ownwell.
- How was Carol Stream named?
- It was named for Carol Stream, the daughter of founder Jay Stream. After a serious 1957 car crash left her in a coma, Jay decided to name his new planned community in her honor. She woke after four months. It is one of the few American towns named for the full first and last name of a living person.
- Which subdivisions should buyers know in Carol Stream?
- Heritage Lake, Western Trails, Stratford Lakes, Newport Village, Spinnaker Cove, Cambridge Pointe, Brookstone, Carolshire, Fair Oaks, Pine Ridge, Easton Park, Concord Pointe, Park Hill, and West Wind are the names that show up most often on Carol Stream listings.
- How long is the commute from Carol Stream to O'Hare and the Loop?
- O'Hare is roughly 21 miles, about 34 minutes by car off IL 64 to I-390. The Chicago Loop runs about 58 minutes by car in normal traffic, or a Metra UP-W ride from Wheaton or College Avenue once you drive to the station.
Nearby
Towns next to Carol Stream.
If you’re cross-shopping the area, these are the places that border Carol Stream.
Your local agent
Joe knows Carol Stream
Most agents will list anything. I focus on the places I actually know, and the things that move value here don't show up in the MLS write-up: which streets and buildings hold demand, what the HOA or assessments really cover, how the comps read once you account for condition and location, and where buyers consistently want to be.
When you're ready to tour or list, you want someone who has read the last 50 closed comps in this specific market, not a national average, and can tell you what they actually mean for your price. That's how I work. Text or call any time, and I'll give you a real take, not a brochure.
- Licensed Illinois broker
- Comp-driven pricing
- Carol Stream specialist
- Honest local market take
- Brokerocity
Thinking of selling?
What's your home actually worth?
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- Pricing range with comp-by-comp logic
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