Cary · McHenry County · IL
Homes for sale in
Cary.
- Active listings
- 29
- Median list
- $385K
- Avg time on market
- 7 days
- Sold · last year
- 274
Photo: Cosmo1976 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
About the community
Living in Cary.
Cary is a southeastern McHenry County village on the UP-NW Metra line, ~10 minutes east of Crystal Lake along Route 14. The village's history is literally the railroad, founder William Dennison Cary bought 82 acres here in 1841, the Illinois & Wisconsin Railway reached town in 1856, and the original name was "Cary Station." The current Metra station is the heart of downtown. The Cary-Grove High School reputation (D155 with Crystal Lake Central and Prairie Ridge) anchors family demand, and Cary's median household income (~$110K) over-indexes the McHenry County average, which shows up in the Foxford Hills and Trout Valley housing stock.
At a glance
Metra UP-NW
Cary station at 63 Crystal Street, 38.3 miles to Chicago Ogilvie. 481 parking spaces, daily $1.50.
~17,000 residents
Established southeastern McHenry village; median household income ~$110K.
D26 + D155 (Cary-Grove)
Cary CCSD 26 (PreK-8, 5 schools) + Community HS District 155. Cary-Grove HS is 9/10 GreatSchools.
Route 14 + Route 31
Quick connection to Crystal Lake, Algonquin, and Fox River Grove. I-90 access via Algonquin/Randall.
Fox River frontage
Southern edge of the village. Trout Valley estates and Foxford Hills back to the river.
Foxford Hills Golf Club
Cary Park District 18-hole public course (par 72, 7,047 yards, 4-star Golf Digest), opened 2002.
Pickle town heritage
Cary's farming era ran on pickle production shipped by rail to Chicago and St. Louis through the early 1900s.
Groundhog Day footnote
Bill Murray's bed-and-breakfast set from the 1993 film was built inside a Cary warehouse.
What’s close
Cary runs east-west along Route 14 with the Metra line on the same alignment. Downtown sits at the station; older neighborhoods walk to it. Newer subdivisions sit north and west; the Fox River and Foxford Hills frame the south side.
- Downtown Cary + Metra station
- Walkable village core at Route 14 / Main Street, anchored by the Cary Station depot, the Cary Tracks bar, and the Cary Ale House brewpub on the historic Cary Pub site.
- Fox River + Foxford Hills
- Southern edge of the village. Foxford Hills 18-hole public course backs to the river; Trout Valley estates sit on the river itself.
- Hoffman Park
- 265-acre Cary Park District flagship with off-leash dog area, community gardens, fishing pier, and multi-use trails.
- Schools
- Cary Community Consolidated School District 26 (elementary + Cary Junior High) and Community High School District 155 (Cary-Grove HS).
- Route 14 / Northwest Highway
- Main retail corridor through Cary. Connects to Crystal Lake (10 min west) and Fox River Grove / Barrington (5 min east).
What it’s actually like to live here
Cary feels older and more rooted than its neighbors. The walkable downtown around the Metra station, the depot, the Tracks bar, the brewpub, the antique-leaning storefronts, is the through-line. People who live in Cary walk to the train, walk downtown for dinner, walk back. That's rare in a McHenry County suburb.
Trout Valley and Foxford Hills sit on the other side of the village, riverfront and golf-course-adjacent, established 1980s-2010s estate stock that trades at a premium to the village median. Cary doesn't have the new-construction subdivision pipeline of Huntley or Algonquin, but the existing inventory turns over predictably, and the Cary-Grove school district reputation does most of the work attracting family buyers.
Neighborhoods
Detailed Cary 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 Cary.
Boundary lines do shift. Always confirm in writing for a specific address before writing an offer.
- D26Grades Pre-K – 8
Cary Community Consolidated School District 26
Schools serving the area
- Briargate Elementary
- Deer Path Elementary
- Three Oaks Elementary
- Cary Junior High School
D26 serves most of Cary K-8. Includes the Oak Knoll Early Childhood Center for Pre-K. Five buildings total.
- D155Grades 9 – 12
Community High School District 155
Schools serving the area
- Cary-Grove High School (1,410 students)
- Crystal Lake Central HS (some Cary addresses)
- Prairie Ridge HS (some Cary addresses)
Cary-Grove HS is the primary D155 high school for Cary. Some boundary streets may feed Prairie Ridge or Central. Cary-Grove also serves Fox River Grove. Always confirm per address.
From the neighborhood
Around Cary
Real local creators on TikTok. Tap a tile to play it right here.
ROCKIN’ RIBFEST in Lake in the Hills Illinois FYP TOO LOCAL?!? Comment where you’re from in the Chicagoland or Illinois suburbs #summer #summervibes #thingstodo #chicagosuburbs #huntley #lakeinthehi
@nicolefromchicagoWya crystal lake rookies!!!! #rookies #crystallake #sportsbar #randalroadguy #restaurant
@cadillacjerrySo cool that the Crystal Lake PARK DISTRICT puts this event on! Happy Friday the 13th - part 2! #fridaythe13 #fridaythe13th #crystallake #jasonvoorhees #halloween #horror #illinois #festival
@kitschnsinkJack in the Box in Lake in the Hills, IL now open! #jackinthebox #grandopening #chicagofoodie #latenight #tacos
@dabesteatzAround town
What there is to do in Cary.
A handful of the places people who live here actually use. Not a directory.
- Parks
Hoffman Park
265-acre Cary Park District flagship park with off-leash dog area, community gardens, fishing pier, and multi-use trails.
- Parks
Lions Park
105-acre flagship park with athletic fields, playground, and plaza. Hosts the Summer Concert Series and Fall-A-Palooza.
- Culture
Sands Main Street Prairie
64.3-acre state-designated Nature Preserve featuring a rare dry gravel hill prairie.
- Family
Foxford Hills Golf Club
18-hole par-72 public course (7,047 yards) at 6800 S Rawson Bridge Rd. Cary Park District owned, built 2002, four-star Golf Digest.
- Food & Drink
Cary Ale House & Brewing Company
Brewpub at 208 W Main Street, on the site of the historic Cary Pub (operating since the 1890s).
- Food & Drink
The Cary Tracks
Bar and grill at 108 Main Street, across from the Metra station. In operation 40+ years.
Getting around
Commute + transit from Cary.
MetraUP-NW line
- Stations: Cary
- Terminal: Chicago Ogilvie (OTC)
- Distance: 38 miles to downtown Chicago
DriveBy car
- Routes: U.S. 14 (Northwest Highway) · IL 31 · I-90 via Algonquin/Randall
- Chicago Loop (off-peak): ~55 min
By the numbers
Cary taxes + market stats.
Property tax rates vary by exact township and assessor district. Confirm per address before pricing a purchase.
Property tax rate
2.42%
effective avg
Sales tax
8.50%
combined
Median sold price
$372,500
MRED · last 12 mo (274 sales)
Median household income
$109,790
ACS
How Cary got here
A bit of history.
William Dennison Cary purchased 82 acres for $1.25 an acre in 1841 and built a farm at what is now downtown Cary. The Illinois & Wisconsin Railway reached the settlement in 1856, connecting Cary to Chicago and Janesville, Wisconsin. A post office and train station were established with the designation "Cary Station", the original village name. After Cary's land was officially recorded on February 23, 1859, the railroad bought a strip of his property and built the single-track line and the depot. In 1893, with about 300 residents, Cary Station voted to incorporate as a village under the name Cary.
The rail connection let local farmers ship produce to Chicago and St. Louis, Cary's lucrative pickle industry ran for decades on the back of that. In the 1950s highway transportation overtook rail, with Route 14 (Northwest Highway) paralleling the rail right-of-way through town. The former Chicago & North Western corridor became Metra's Union Pacific Northwest Line after the 1995 UP/C&NW merger. Through the 1960s onward, Cary shifted from agriculture toward residential/commuter housing alongside the broader suburbanization of northwest McHenry.
The questions buyers actually ask
Cary FAQ
The questions I get most from buyers shopping Cary. If yours isn't here, text 224-385-8779, same-day reply.
- What's the Metra commute like from Cary?
- Cary station sits at 63 Crystal Street downtown on the UP-NW line. 38.3 miles to Chicago Ogilvie, Fare Zone 4. 481 parking spaces across 4 lots ($1.50 daily, $95 quarterly permit). Typical weekday commute is roughly 60-75 minutes inbound depending on the express schedule. Most Cary buyers who work in Chicago use Metra rather than driving.
- How are Cary schools?
- Cary Community Consolidated School District 26 covers Pre-K through 8 with five schools (Briargate, Deer Path, Three Oaks Elementary, Cary Junior High, Oak Knoll Early Childhood). High school is Community High School District 155, Cary-Grove HS is the main one for Cary addresses, ranked 9/10 GreatSchools. Some boundary streets feed Crystal Lake Central or Prairie Ridge instead. Cary-Grove also pulls from Fox River Grove. Always confirm per address.
- What are property taxes like in Cary?
- Cary's effective property tax rate runs around the McHenry County median of 2.42%. On a $400,000 home that works out to roughly $9,700/year. Cary's actual tax bills tend to track close to the county median because the village doesn't impose a separate home-rule property tax. Confirm by pulling the County Clerk extension for the specific address.
- Cary or Crystal Lake, what's the difference?
- Cary is smaller (~17K vs Crystal Lake's ~40K), more compact, and the downtown is walkable around a single Metra station rather than spread out. Cary-Grove HS (D155) and Crystal Lake Central HS (also D155) are sister schools with similar reputations, they're literally in the same district. Cary trades quieter and a touch more established; Crystal Lake has more inventory, more retail (Randall corridor), and more new construction. Some Cary buyers cross-shop both.
- Is the Fox River accessible from Cary?
- Yes, on the south side. Trout Valley estates back directly to the river, and Foxford Hills Golf Club is right at the river bank. Hoffman Park has a fishing pier on a smaller water body, and the Prairie Trail along the Fox River runs through the south end of the village. Cary doesn't have a downtown riverwalk like McHenry, the river access is more residential/golf-adjacent than civic.
- What's the housing stock like?
- Cary's mix is older and more established than the newer Huntley/Algonquin subdivisions. Downtown-area 1950s-70s splits and ranches near the Metra station. 1990s-2010s subdivisions like Greenfields and West Lake on the north and west edges. Trout Valley estate-acreage along the Fox River. Foxford Hills golf-course-backed homes. Less active builder pipeline than Huntley, Cary is mostly resale.
- Anything to know about the Groundhog Day connection?
- The bed-and-breakfast Bill Murray's character stays at in the 1993 film was built inside a Cary warehouse (the exterior shots are in Woodstock, where the rest of the movie was filmed). It's a fun bit of local trivia rather than anything you can visit. The Groundhog Day tourism action is in Woodstock proper.
Nearby
Towns next to Cary.
If you’re cross-shopping the area, these are the places that border Cary.
Your local agent
Joe knows Cary
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
- Cary specialist
- Honest local market take
- Brokerocity
Thinking of selling?
What's your home actually worth?
Not a Zestimate. A real CMA from someone who's sold this neighborhood, knows the floor plan premiums, and can tell you which upgrades the buyer pool here actually pays for.
- Pricing range with comp-by-comp logic
- Pre-list improvements that pay back, and the ones that don't
- No obligation, no spam, no auto-dialer