Lowell · Lake County · IN
Homes for sale in
Lowell.
- Active listings
- 1
- Median list
- $639K
- Avg time on market
- 117 days
- Sold · last year
- 0
Map data, Mapbox / OpenStreetMap contributors
Active listings
1 home on the market
About the community
Living in Lowell.
Lowell sits in southern Lake County, Indiana, on State Road 2 about nine miles south of Crown Point and just west of Interstate 65. Founded in 1853 by Melvin A. Halsted along Cedar Creek, the town grew up around a grist mill and a downtown grid of brick storefronts on Commercial Avenue and Mill Street that still defines the village center. Lowell is a Tri-Creek School Corporation community, with Lowell High School's red and gold woven into local identity, and it remains best known regionally for the Lowell Labor Day Parade, one of the largest in Indiana. For buyers, Lowell offers detached single-family homes on generous lots, agricultural edges, and a noticeably lower cost basis than north-county suburbs like Schererville and Munster.
At a glance
~10,400 residents
2020 Census. Town of Lowell in Cedar Creek Township, southern Lake County, Indiana.
Platted 1853, incorporated 1868
Founded by Melvin A. Halsted along Cedar Creek. Named after Lowell, Massachusetts, with the hope of replicating that city's mill-powered economy.
Tri-Creek School Corporation
Lowell High School, Lowell Middle School, plus Oak Hill, Lake Prairie, and Three Creeks Elementary Schools.
Lowell Labor Day Parade
Among the largest and longest parades in Indiana. Fills Commercial Avenue and Mill Street every Labor Day weekend.
Buckley Homestead County Park
1849-era working farmstead operated by Lake County Parks just north of town. Heritage events, trails, and historic buildings.
SR 2 + I-65 access
State Road 2 runs east-west through downtown; the I-65 interchange sits just east of town.
~55 mi to Chicago Loop
Typical drive 70 to 90 minutes via I-65 to the Chicago Skyway or I-90/94, depending on traffic.
Median home value ~$245,000
Zillow ZHVI area estimate. Generally below north-Lake-County markets like Schererville and St. John.
What’s close
Lowell anchors southern Lake County, Indiana, along State Road 2 with I-65 access just east at the SR-2 interchange. The Chicago Loop sits roughly 55 miles north, the Indiana Dunes lakeshore about 40 miles northeast, and Crown Point and Cedar Lake are short drives up US-41.
- Crown Point
- About 9 miles north on US-41 / SR-2. County seat with the historic 1878 Old Lake County Courthouse.
- Cedar Lake
- About 10 miles north. Lakefront town wrapped around 781 acres of natural lake.
- I-65 interchange
- Sits immediately east of town at the SR-2 exit. Direct north-south interstate to Chicago and Indianapolis.
- Chicago Loop
- Approximately 55 miles north, 70 to 90 minutes via I-65 in normal traffic.
- Indiana Dunes National Park
- Roughly 40 miles northeast via I-65 and US-12. Lake Michigan beaches, dune trails, and visitor center.
- Downtown Mill Street / Commercial Avenue
- Two-block historic core with locally owned shops, restaurants, and the brick storefronts that have defined Lowell since the 1860s.
What it’s actually like to live here
Day to day, Lowell feels like a working agricultural town that happens to be commutable to Northwest Indiana's industrial belt and, for those willing to drive, to the south Chicago suburbs. Downtown clusters along Mill Street and Commercial Avenue, with locally owned restaurants, a hardware store, and the kind of independent storefronts that have largely been crowded out in north-county strip-mall corridors. Saturday mornings in the warm months bring families to Buckley Homestead for heritage events and to Freedom Park for youth league games.
The social calendar peaks each Labor Day weekend, when the parade route fills downtown and the town's effective population doubles for the morning. Outside that signature event, recreation skews toward the outdoors: Cedar Creek runs through town, Lake County Parks operates Buckley Homestead and several smaller properties nearby, and the Kankakee River corridor to the south is a short drive for fishing and kayaking. Housing stock leans toward detached single-family on generous lots, with newer subdivisions on the perimeter and farmhouse-vintage homes near the original plat.
Neighborhoods
Detailed Lowell 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 Lowell.
Boundary lines do shift. Always confirm in writing for a specific address before writing an offer.
- Tri-CreekGrades K to 12
Tri-Creek School Corporation
Schools serving the area
- Lowell Senior High School
- Lowell Middle School
- Oak Hill Elementary
- Lake Prairie Elementary
- Three Creeks Elementary
Tri-Creek serves nearly all of Lowell and surrounding Cedar Creek Township. Some rural parcels on the southern fringe may fall in adjacent corporations. Always confirm district by parcel.
Around town
What there is to do in Lowell.
A handful of the places people who live here actually use. Not a directory.
- Parks
Buckley Homestead County Park
1849-era working farmstead operated by Lake County Parks just north of Lowell. Heritage events, trails, restored barns, and historic farmhouse on roughly 184 acres.
- Culture
Lowell Labor Day Parade
Annual parade taking over Commercial Avenue and Mill Street every Labor Day weekend. Regularly described as among the largest and longest parades in Indiana.
- Parks
Freedom Park
Lowell Parks and Recreation flagship with ball diamonds, playgrounds, and walking paths used by Tri-Creek youth leagues.
- Family
Three Creeks Monument and Evergreen Cemetery
Local landmark commemorating the town's founding family and Civil War veterans on the historic east side of downtown.
- Shopping
Downtown Mill Street / Commercial Avenue
Historic two-block core with locally owned shops, restaurants, and the brick storefronts that have defined Lowell since the 1860s.
- Recreation
Kankakee River corridor
A short drive south of Lowell for fishing, kayaking, and birdwatching along one of Indiana's wildest river corridors.
Getting around
Commute + transit from Lowell.
DriveBy car
- Routes: State Road 2 · U.S. 41 · Interstate 65 (eastern edge)
- Chicago Loop: ~80 min
- O'Hare Airport: ~85 min
- Indianapolis: ~130 min
By the numbers
Lowell taxes + market stats.
Property tax rates vary by exact township and assessor district. Confirm per address before pricing a purchase.
Property tax rate
0.95%
effective avg
Sales tax
7.00%
combined
Median sold price
$340,000
MRED · last 12 mo (6 sales)
Median household income
$76,000
ACS
How Lowell got here
A bit of history.
Lowell was platted in 1853 by Melvin A. Halsted, a New York transplant who built a grist mill on Cedar Creek and named the new town after Lowell, Massachusetts, hoping to replicate that city's mill-powered prosperity. Halsted's Mill became the economic anchor of the settlement, and the surrounding plat of Commercial Avenue and Mill Street drew shopkeepers, blacksmiths, and farmers serving Cedar Creek Township. The town was officially incorporated in 1868, by which point Lowell already had a Methodist church, a public school, and a railroad spur connecting it to the regional grain economy.
Through the late 19th and 20th centuries Lowell stayed agricultural in character even as the rest of Lake County industrialized along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The 1849-era Buckley Homestead just north of town was preserved by Lake County Parks as a living-history farm and now operates as a heritage park. The Lowell Labor Day Parade grew into a regional tradition, regularly described as among the longest and largest in Indiana, with vintage tractors, fire apparatus, marching units, and dozens of community floats stretching for hours through downtown.
The questions buyers actually ask
Lowell FAQ
The questions I get most from buyers shopping Lowell. If yours isn't here, text 815-355-0582, same-day reply.
- Where exactly is Lowell, Indiana?
- Lowell is a town in southern Lake County, Indiana, on State Road 2, about nine miles south of Crown Point and just west of Interstate 65. The Chicago Loop is roughly 55 miles north via I-65.
- What school district serves Lowell?
- Tri-Creek School Corporation, which operates Lowell Senior High School, Lowell Middle School, and the Oak Hill, Lake Prairie, and Three Creeks elementary schools. Confirm district assignment by parcel before writing an offer.
- How long is the commute from Lowell to downtown Chicago?
- Roughly 55 miles via I-65 to the Chicago Skyway or I-90/94, generally 70 to 90 minutes outside of peak traffic. There is no South Shore Line station in Lowell; the closest commuter rail is along the Lake Michigan shore in northern Lake County.
- What is Lowell best known for?
- The Lowell Labor Day Parade, regularly cited as one of Indiana's largest and longest parades, and the Buckley Homestead living-history farm operated by Lake County Parks just north of town.
- Who founded Lowell?
- Melvin A. Halsted platted the town in 1853 and built the grist mill on Cedar Creek that anchored its early growth. The town was officially incorporated in 1868, and Halsted named it after Lowell, Massachusetts, in the hope of replicating that city's mill-powered economy.
- What does a home cost in Lowell?
- The Zillow Home Value Index area estimate for Lowell sits near $245,000, generally below north-Lake-County suburbs like Schererville and St. John. Property tax effective rates in the Cedar Creek Township area run near 1.0 percent of market value, subject to Indiana's homestead circuit-breaker caps.
- What about sales tax in Lowell?
- Indiana applies a flat 7.0 percent statewide sales tax with no local add-on for general merchandise. A separate Lake County food and beverage tax applies to restaurant meals.
Your local agent
Joe knows Lowell
Most agents will list anything. I focus on the communities I actually know, and the details that determine resale value here aren't in the MLS write-up: which lots back to open space, which streets carry the most consistent demand, which floor plans buyers ask for by name, and what each HOA actually covers.
When you're ready to tour or list, you want someone who's walked the streets, talked to the residents, and read the last 50 closed comps in this market specifically. That's how I work. Text or call any time, and I'll give you a real take, not a brochure.
- Lives in McHenry County
- Local specialist
- Lowell 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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