Homes in the
Oak Lawn HS district.

Oak Lawn is one of those southwest Cook County suburbs that just feels like home the minute you turn off the main drag. It is a true village of roughly 58,000 people, incorporated back in 1909, and it has the kind of established, tree-lined residential streets you only get in a town that has been around for generations. Housing here leans toward solid mid-century brick bungalows, Georgians, raised ranches, and split-levels, a lot of it built during the post-World War Two boom when returning veterans poured into the area. You will also find newer condominium living right in the heart of town, thanks to a major downtown redevelopment that started in 2002 and reshaped 95th Street.

The commute is one of Oak Lawn's quiet selling points. The village has its own Metra station on the SouthWest Service line, with trains running straight into downtown Chicago, and the downtown redevelopment included a big modern station with a parking garage built right in. Pace bus routes connect the village too, and you are a short hop from the major arterials that feed the Chicago expressway system. Whether you commute by rail or by car, you have options. Day to day, life centers on the revitalized 95th Street corridor, where the shops, restaurants, the Metra hub, and the children's museum all sit close together.

For families, the lifestyle pitch is easy. Oak Lawn runs an expansive park system, more than 300 acres across 22 parks, with everything from neighborhood play lots up to the 38-acre Centennial Park, plus outdoor pools, an indoor ice arena, fitness centers, and an 18-hole golf course. It is a settled, friendly, well-served suburb where you get city access without city prices, which is exactly what a lot of buyers moving out from Chicago's South Side are looking for.