Homes for sale in
Woodlawn.
- Active listings
- 8
- Median list
- $599K
- Avg time on market
- 58 days
- Sold · last year
- 88
Active listings
8 homes on the market
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About the community
Living in Woodlawn.
Woodlawn sits on Chicago's South Side, one of the city's 77 official community areas, hugging the shore of Lake Michigan about 8.5 miles south of the Loop. It runs directly south of Hyde Park and the University of Chicago, and it actually contains the southern portion of the university's campus, including the Law School and the Harris School of Public Policy. The neighborhood is bounded by the lake to the east, 60th Street to the north, King Drive to the west, and 67th Street to the south, with locals splitting it into East and West Woodlawn along Cottage Grove. Woodlawn holds a large portion of Jackson Park, the 551-acre lakefront park laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted, which is also the site of the under-construction Barack Obama Presidential Center. That center, a 19.3-acre campus with a museum, a Chicago Public Library branch, and recreation space, is scheduled for a dedication in June 2026, making it a major draw for the area. The housing stock reflects its turn-of-the-century origins in greystones, courtyard apartment buildings, and brick two-flats that grew out of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition boom. After decades of mid-century decline, the southern lakefront communities including Woodlawn recorded population gains between 2010 and 2020, with much of the influx driven by college-educated Black residents. The current market is moderate, with a recent median sale price around $288,000, and transit is a strength, with a Transit Score of 72 and the CTA Green Line terminating nearby at Cottage Grove.
At a glance
Population about 23,956
The Woodlawn community area counted about 23,956 residents in 2023.
Next to the University of Chicago
The neighborhood contains the southern portion of the U of C campus, including the Law School and Harris School of Public Policy.
Obama Presidential Center
The 19.3-acre Obama Presidential Center is under construction in Jackson Park, with a public opening set for 2026.
Jackson Park and the lakefront
Woodlawn holds a large share of the 551-acre Jackson Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted along Lake Michigan.
Vintage housing stock
The building stock grew out of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition era, featuring greystones, courtyard buildings, and two-flats.
Walk Score 65
Woodlawn is somewhat walkable, where some errands can be accomplished on foot.
Transit Score 72
Excellent transit, with about 13 bus lines and the CTA Green Line terminal at Cottage Grove.
Median sale price about $288K
The median home sale price in Woodlawn was about $288,000 in the most recent month reported.
What it’s actually like to live here
Living in Woodlawn today means being a short walk or bus ride from both the University of Chicago and the Lake Michigan shoreline. The southern portion of the university's campus sits inside the neighborhood, and several hundred of its students live south of 60th Street in university-owned and private housing. The Midway Plaisance, the green thoroughfare laid out for the 1893 fair, runs along the neighborhood's northern edge as a walking and biking corridor between the campuses. Jackson Park anchors the eastern side with lagoons, the Wooded Island, a golf course, a harbor, and the 63rd Street Beach and beach house.
The biggest current force on neighborhood life is the Obama Presidential Center rising in Jackson Park, a 19.3-acre campus that will add a museum, a Chicago Public Library branch, an athletic space, and dozens of outdoor spaces, with a public opening scheduled for 2026. Day to day, residents can walk to roughly two dozen restaurants, bars, and coffee shops, and the market remains accessible relative to the lakefront neighborhoods to the north, with a recent median sale price near $288,000 and a somewhat competitive rating.
Around town
What there is to do in Woodlawn.
A handful of the places people who live here actually use. Not a directory.
- Parks
Jackson Park
A 551-acre lakefront park in the Woodlawn community, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, with lagoons, a harbor, and a golf course.
- Culture
Barack Obama Presidential Center
A 19.3-acre museum and library campus under construction in Jackson Park, with a public opening set for 2026.
- Parks
Garden of the Phoenix (Osaka Garden)
A Japanese garden on Jackson Park's Wooded Island, originating from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
- Parks
Promontory Point
A lakefront point in adjacent Burnham Park, designed in 1936 by Alfred Caldwell and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Culture
DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center
The nation's oldest independent Black history museum and a Smithsonian affiliate, founded in 1961, in nearby Washington Park.
- Parks
Sky Landing
A public artwork by Yoko Ono installed in Jackson Park near the Garden of the Phoenix.
By the numbers
Woodlawn taxes + market stats.
Property tax rates vary by exact township and assessor district. Confirm per address before pricing a purchase.
Median sold price
$267,000
MRED · last 12 mo (88 sales)
How Woodlawn got here
A bit of history.
Woodlawn grew out of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the world's fair held in adjacent Jackson Park, which sent a flood of workers and commerce into the area and turned it into a middle-class neighborhood. Jackson Park itself, set aside in the 1870s and transformed from a rough stretch of bog and dune by Central Park architect Frederick Law Olmsted, became the fair's White City, and a small number of fair-era structures still remain in the park. During the first half of the twentieth century, many University of Chicago professors lived in Woodlawn, and the neighborhood filled in with the dense vintage housing that still defines it. After the Supreme Court struck down racially restrictive covenants in 1948, Woodlawn began to gain its first African American residents and shifted rapidly in character.
By the early 1960s, Woodlawn was a predominantly African American neighborhood of more than 80,000 people, and 63rd Street ranked among the busiest streets on the South Side, famous for its jazz clubs. The decades that followed brought economic decline, disinvestment, and a wave of arson that destroyed hundreds of abandoned buildings between 1968 and 1971, while the University of Chicago pursued urban renewal and a planned South Campus. More recently the tide has turned, and communities along the southern lakefront including Woodlawn recorded population gains between 2010 and 2020, much of it driven by college-educated Black residents and renewed university-area reinvestment.
The questions buyers actually ask
Woodlawn FAQ
The questions I get most from buyers shopping Woodlawn. If yours isn't here, text 224-385-8779, same-day reply.
- Where is Woodlawn?
- Woodlawn is a community area on Chicago's South Side, near the shore of Lake Michigan about 8.5 miles south of the Loop, bounded by the lake to the east, 60th Street to the north, King Drive to the west, and 67th Street to the south.
- What is the Obama Presidential Center and when does it open?
- It is a 19.3-acre campus in Jackson Park with a museum, a Chicago Public Library branch, and recreation space, with a dedication scheduled for June 2026 and a public opening to follow.
- How close is Woodlawn to the University of Chicago?
- Very close. Woodlawn actually contains the southern portion of the university's campus, including the Law School and the Harris School of Public Policy.
- What kind of housing does Woodlawn have, and is it affordable?
- The housing stock is largely vintage, growing out of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition era, and the recent median sale price was about $288,000 with a market rated somewhat competitive.
- How is the commute downtown?
- Woodlawn sits about 8.5 miles south of the Loop and has excellent public transportation, with a Transit Score of 72, the CTA Green Line terminal at Cottage Grove, and about 13 bus lines.
- What parks and lakefront access does Woodlawn have?
- The neighborhood holds a large portion of the 551-acre Jackson Park along Lake Michigan, which includes lagoons, the Wooded Island and its Japanese garden, a harbor, a golf course, and the 63rd Street Beach.
- Who is the real estate agent for Woodlawn?
- Joe Keegan is the local licensed Illinois real estate broker who covers Woodlawn in Woodlawn, IL through Subdiview, a neighborhood-first home search for the Chicago suburbs and collar counties. Joe prices and negotiates from the live MRED sold comps for Woodlawn specifically, not national averages, and can help you buy or sell here. Reach Joe at 224-385-8779 or joe@joekeeganhomes.com.
Nearby
Neighborhoods near Woodlawn.
If you’re cross-shopping the area, these are the neighborhoods right next to Woodlawn.
Your local agent
Your local agent for Woodlawn
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
- Woodlawn specialist
- Honest local market take
- Brokerocity
Thinking of selling?
What's your home actually worth?
Not a Zestimate. A real CMA built on the homes that actually sold around you, adjusted for the floor plan, condition and upgrades that move the price.
- Pricing range with comp-by-comp logic
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