Montclare · Cook County · IL
Homes for sale in
Montclare.
- Active listings
- 2
- Median list
- $512K
- Avg time on market
- 32 days
- Sold · last year
- 0
About the community
Living in Montclare.
Montclare is Community Area 18 of Chicago's 77 official community areas, sitting at the far northwestern edge of the city about 9 miles northwest of the Loop. It covers just under one square mile of land, 0.99 square miles total, making it one of the most compact community areas on the city map, bordered by Harlem Avenue to the west where Chicago meets the village of Elmwood Park, Belmont Avenue to the north, and railroad tracks to both the south and east. The 2020 Census counted 14,401 residents, giving Montclare a density of roughly 14,600 people per square mile. The neighborhood's housing character is defined almost entirely by the classic Chicago brick bungalow and sturdy single-family home, with the majority of usable land devoted to single-family residential use. Ethnic heritage here runs deep, as Polish, Italian, and German families built the neighborhood through the mid-20th century, and by 2015 the Hispanic and Latino community had grown to represent more than 62 percent of residents, giving Montclare a strongly bicultural character today. The name itself is borrowed history, since developers in 1873 platted the area and named it after Montclair, New Jersey, building around the stop on what would become the Milwaukee Road rail line. Chicago annexed Montclare in 1889, when the rural stretch of Jefferson Township was folded into the city, and real residential growth did not arrive until the Grand Avenue streetcar reached the neighborhood in 1912. For buyers who want a genuine Chicago address, a Metra commute downtown, owner-occupied streets with well-kept bungalows, and walkable everyday errands without Lincoln Park price tags, Montclare is a compelling target.
At a glance
Population and size
The 2020 Census recorded 14,401 people living in 0.99 square miles, making Montclare one of Chicago's most compact community areas at roughly 14,600 residents per square mile.
Brick bungalow belt
Single-family residential use dominates the neighborhood, with brick bungalows built from the 1920s through the 1950s as the defining housing type, plus some Tudor and ranch homes in the northern section.
Metra MD-W line
The Mont Clare Metra station at 7007 W. Medill Ave. sits on the Milwaukee District West Line just 9.5 miles from Union Station and is served by 41 trains on weekdays, placing downtown within a quick commute.
Walk Score 77
Walk Score rates Montclare 77 out of 100 (Very Walkable), 56 for transit, and 69 for bike, ranking it among the more walkable neighborhoods in Chicago.
Rutherford Sayre Park
The 13.94-acre Rutherford Sayre Park at 6871 W. Belden Ave., donated by the founding Sayre and Rutherford families before World War I, offers ball fields, tennis courts, a spray-pool playground, a fitness center, and a community garden.
CPS and a language magnet
Sayre Language Academy, a PreK-8 CPS World Language Magnet Cluster school at 1850 N. Newland Ave., serves roughly 400 students at a 10-to-1 student-teacher ratio, and Locke Elementary also serves the community.
Median near $395K
In early 2026, Montclare home prices rose about 7 percent year over year to a median sale price of roughly $395,000, offering relative affordability compared with many other Chicago neighborhoods.
Grand and Harlem avenues
The Grand Avenue and Harlem Avenue corridors handle everyday needs, and The Brickyard center at 2600 N. Narragansett Ave., anchored by Target, Jewel, Marshalls, and Lowe's, is a short trip east.
What it’s actually like to live here
Living in Montclare today means living on a block that looks much as it did in 1950, in the best possible sense. The streets are lined with well-maintained Chicago brick bungalows and two-flats, owner-occupied at a high rate of roughly 69 percent, and the neighborhood retains a tidy, stable character. Home prices have risen steadily, with medians around $395,000 in early 2026, but that still represents meaningful value compared with neighborhoods closer to the Loop. The population skews family-oriented, with a median age around 35 and more than a quarter of residents under 19, and Rutherford Sayre Park serves as the neighborhood's de facto backyard, hosting youth baseball, summer day camps, community garden plots, and evening fitness programs year-round.
The Mont Clare Metra station on the Milwaukee District West Line gives residents a direct commute to Union Station in roughly 25 to 30 minutes on an express train, a real advantage over driving downtown. For daily errands, Walk Score rates the neighborhood at 77, with Grand Avenue providing local eateries including Mexican family restaurants and pizzerias that reflect the area's bicultural character, and Harlem Avenue adding more retail. The Brickyard strip center, anchored by Target, Jewel-Osco, Marshalls, and Lowe's just east of the boundary, handles big-box shopping without a highway trip. The Galewood-Mont Clare branch of the Chicago Public Library, housed in the Rutherford Sayre Park fieldhouse, adds a civic anchor, and Elmwood Park's commercial strips along Grand and North Avenues sit steps away across Harlem Avenue. The overall vibe is quiet and resolutely residential, a neighborhood where people buy in their twenties or thirties, raise kids at Sayre Language Academy, and stay for decades.
Neighborhoods
Detailed Montclare 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.
Around town
What there is to do in Montclare.
A handful of the places people who live here actually use. Not a directory.
- Parks
Rutherford Sayre Park
The neighborhood's 13.94-acre heart, donated by the founding Sayre and Rutherford families before World War I, offers baseball diamonds, tennis courts, a spray-pool playground, a fitness center, and a community garden.
- Shopping
The Brickyard Shopping Center
Built on the site of the old Carey brickyard and opened in 1977, this northwest-side retail anchor at 2600 N. Narragansett Ave. now features Target, Jewel-Osco, Marshalls, and Lowe's after a major 2003 redevelopment.
- Family
Sayre Language Academy
This CPS World Language Magnet Cluster school for PreK through 8th grade at 1850 N. Newland Ave. weaves language and culture across every subject for roughly 400 students.
- Culture
Galewood-Mont Clare Branch Library
The neighborhood's Chicago Public Library branch operates inside the Rutherford Sayre Park fieldhouse, offering books, children's programs, and community event space.
- Recreation
Rutherford Sayre Community Garden
Part of the Chicago Park District's community garden network, this plot inside Rutherford Sayre Park lets residents grow their own produce and connect with neighbors.
- History
Mont Clare Metra Station
The Mont Clare station at 7007 W. Medill Ave., the last city-limits stop on the Milwaukee District West Line, is a living link to the 1870s rail line that gave the neighborhood its name.
How Montclare got here
A bit of history.
Montclare's story begins with a single farmer. In 1836, William Sayre claimed 90 acres of rolling northwest-side prairie, and after a faulty government survey delayed his title, he bought the acreage outright at the Jefferson Township land sale in 1838. Sayre and his neighbors cleared fields for hay and grew oats and corn, hauling produce down Grand Avenue to sell at Chicago's Randolph Street Market. The neighborhood's defining infrastructure arrived in 1872, when Sayre granted the Chicago and Pacific Railroad a right-of-way across his farm and a depot named Sayre Station was built. The following year, a developer platted adjacent farmland and named the new town Montclare, after Montclair, New Jersey, selling lots for $250 to $500 each. That railroad line soon failed and was absorbed by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, leaving residents with only a single daily train and keeping the area thinly settled. When Chicago annexed the entire Jefferson Township in 1889, Montclare had just fourteen houses and roughly 120 residents, a farming hamlet attached to a big city.
Real growth did not come until 1912, when the Grand Avenue streetcar was extended to the neighborhood, prompting the first wave of Tudor-style houses and drawing families from the city's denser quarters. In 1916 the Sayre family donated acreage that, combined with land from the Rutherford family, eventually became Rutherford Sayre Park, the neighborhood's green anchor. Streets and utilities arrived through the 1920s, and the standard Chicago brick bungalow became the dominant form, solid, modest, and owner-occupied. By 1970 the population reached 11,675, and Poles, Italians, and Germans made up the majority of households, a Central and Eastern European character that shaped the neighborhood's churches, social clubs, and food culture for decades. Beginning in the 1980s and accelerating through the 2000s, a significant Hispanic and Latino community established roots in Montclare, and by 2015 that group represented more than 62 percent of residents. Commercial development remained deliberately modest throughout, a retail strip at Grand and Harlem later supplemented by The Brickyard shopping center, preserving the neighborhood's quietly residential identity.
The questions buyers actually ask
Montclare FAQ
The questions I get most from buyers shopping Montclare. If yours isn't here, text 815-355-0582, same-day reply.
- What schools serve Montclare, and is there a magnet option?
- Montclare is served by Chicago Public Schools. Sayre Language Academy at 1850 N. Newland Ave. is a PreK-8 CPS World Language Magnet Cluster school with roughly 400 students and a 10-to-1 student-teacher ratio. Locke Elementary serves parts of the neighborhood as well. Because magnet enrollment is open citywide by application, families should verify current attendance boundaries directly with CPS.
- What kind of homes will I find in Montclare?
- The overwhelming majority of the housing stock is classic Chicago brick bungalows and two-flats built from the 1920s through the 1950s, with some Tudor-style homes in the northern section. Single-family residential use covers most of the neighborhood's developed land. Owner-occupancy runs high, around 69 percent by Walk Score estimates, making this primarily a homeowner neighborhood rather than a renter-heavy one.
- How easy is the commute downtown from Montclare?
- Very manageable. The Mont Clare Metra station at 7007 W. Medill Ave. sits on the Milwaukee District West Line, 9.5 miles from Union Station, and is served by 41 trains on weekdays. CTA bus routes including the Grand, Fullerton, and Harlem lines also serve the area for trips that do not require Union Station.
- What is the cultural character of Montclare today?
- Montclare has a strongly bicultural character. Polish, Italian, and German families built the neighborhood through the mid-20th century, and those roots remain visible in local churches and architecture. Beginning in the 1980s a large Hispanic and Latino community established deep roots here, and by 2015 that group represented more than 62 percent of residents, making Montclare one of the more culturally diverse northwest-side community areas.
- What are home prices like in Montclare?
- In early 2026, Montclare's median home sale price was about $395,000, up roughly 7 percent year over year, with homes selling after an average of about 60 days on market. That price point is considerably more accessible than established north-side neighborhoods, offering real value for buyers who prioritize space, good construction, and stable streets.
- Is Montclare walkable for everyday errands?
- Yes, reasonably so. Walk Score rates Montclare 77 out of 100 (Very Walkable), meaning most daily errands can be handled on foot, and the neighborhood has dozens of restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. A transit score of 56 indicates good public transportation, and The Brickyard retail center adds big-box convenience just outside the boundary.
- What green space and parks are available in Montclare?
- Rutherford Sayre Park at 6871 W. Belden Ave. is the primary green anchor, 13.94 acres with baseball and soccer fields, tennis courts, a roller hockey rink, an ADA spray-pool playground, a nature area, a community garden, and a full fieldhouse with a fitness center and gym. The park also hosts the Galewood-Mont Clare branch of the Chicago Public Library inside its fieldhouse.
Your local agent
Joe knows Montclare
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
- Montclare 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
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