Ringwood · McHenry County · IL
Homes for sale in
Ringwood.
- Active listings
- 1
- Median list
- $1.50M
- Avg time on market
- 7 days
- Sold · last year
- 6
Active listings
1 home on the market
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About the community
Living in Ringwood.
Ringwood is a small village in northeastern McHenry County, tucked between Johnsburg to the southeast and Wonder Lake to the southwest, about four miles north of the city of McHenry. With roughly 844 residents spread across close to four square miles, it has a genuinely rural feel: low density, large lots, and open land rather than tightly packed subdivisions. The village wraps around Glacial Park, one of the largest conservation holdings in the county, so a lot of daily life here revolves around the Nippersink Creek corridor, trails, and open space. It is an unusually young village in legal terms, incorporated only in 1994, even though the settlement dates to 1837. Buyers come here for space and quiet while still being a manageable drive to McHenry's shopping and the Metra terminus. Most households own their homes, and the housing stock skews toward single-family on larger parcels.
At a glance
~844 residents
The 2020 census counted 844 residents across about 3.86 square miles, one of the smaller incorporated villages in McHenry County.
Glacial Park
The McHenry County Conservation District's largest and most-visited site, with thousands of acres of prairie, oak savanna, kettle wetlands, and about eight miles of trails in and around the village.
Johnsburg CUSD 12
Served by Johnsburg Community Unit School District 12, which runs the Ringwood School Primary Center (PK-2) right in the village.
Illinois Route 31
Richmond Road passes just northeast of the village center, connecting north to Richmond and southeast to the city of McHenry.
Nippersink Creek
A calm, shallow paddling stream winding through Glacial Park, the backbone of a roughly 18-mile canoe and kayak route toward the Chain O'Lakes.
~93% homeownership
A very high owner-occupancy rate, with housing that skews single-family on larger, rural lots.
Incorporated 1994
Settled in 1837 but not incorporated until November 15, 1994, largely to avoid annexation by Johnsburg.
Drive-everywhere commute
Average commute of about 29 minutes, with most residents driving alone; the nearest Metra terminus is in McHenry.
What’s close
Ringwood sits north of the city of McHenry along Illinois Route 31, with Barnard Mill Road and Ringwood Road carrying local traffic through a village center surrounded by the Glacial Park conservation land and the Nippersink Creek.
- Illinois Route 31 / Richmond Road
- Passes just northeast of the village center, running north to Richmond (about 6 miles) and southeast to McHenry (about 4 miles).
- Local crossroads
- Barnard Mill Road runs northwest to southeast through the village center, and Ringwood Road crosses it running southwest to northeast.
- Glacial Park
- The McHenry County Conservation District's largest and most-visited holding sits in and around the village, with about eight miles of trails.
- Nippersink Creek
- The creek winds through Glacial Park and forms the backbone of a roughly 18-mile paddling route toward the Chain O'Lakes.
- City of McHenry
- About 4 miles southeast, the closest source of shopping, services, restaurants, and the Metra terminus.
- Bordering villages
- Johnsburg lies directly to the southeast and Wonder Lake to the southwest, with Richmond a short drive north.
What it’s actually like to live here
Daily life in Ringwood is shaped by open space. Glacial Park, the conservation district's most popular site, draws tens of thousands of visitors a year to its hiking and horseback trails, prairie, oak savanna, and kettle wetlands, with a stretch of the regional Prairie Trail running along its eastern edge. The Nippersink Creek is a calm, shallow paddling stream, and launches like Keystone Landing let residents put in a canoe or kayak and choose their own trip length downstream. For households that value being able to walk or bike into a few thousand acres of preserve, that is the central draw of living here.
Because the village itself is small and largely residential, most everyday errands, dining, and bigger shopping happen a short drive away in McHenry, with Wonder Lake and Johnsburg also close by. The Lost Valley Visitor Center and the historic Powers-Walker House inside Glacial Park add a cultural and educational layer through seasonal programs and events. The overall rhythm is rural and quiet: large lots, a high homeownership rate, and a car-dependent commute, balanced against quick access to conservation recreation that most suburbs cannot match.
Neighborhoods
Detailed Ringwood 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 Ringwood.
Boundary lines do shift. Always confirm in writing for a specific address before writing an offer.
- D12Grades PK-12
Johnsburg Community Unit School District 12
Schools serving the area
- Ringwood School Primary Center
- James C. Bush Elementary School
- Johnsburg Junior High School
- Johnsburg High School
Johnsburg D12 serves Ringwood addresses along with Johnsburg, and the district's PK-2 Ringwood School Primary Center sits in the village itself. Attendance boundaries in this rural area can shift by parcel, so confirm the assigned school for a specific address in writing.
Around town
What there is to do in Ringwood.
A handful of the places people who live here actually use. Not a directory.
- Parks
Glacial Park Conservation Area
A large McHenry County Conservation District preserve of rolling prairie, kames, oak savanna, and Nippersink Creek with about eight miles of trails.
- Culture
Lost Valley Visitor Center
An environmental education center inside Glacial Park with exhibits, a drop-in library, and seasonal programs.
- Culture
Powers-Walker House
An 1854 Greek Revival farmhouse in Glacial Park, designated a McHenry County historic landmark and open for seasonal living-history events.
- Family
Keystone Landing canoe launch
A McHenry County Conservation District canoe and kayak launch on the Nippersink Creek, with multiple downstream takeout options.
- Parks
Prairie Trail
A regional rail-trail running roughly 19 miles from Algonquin north to Ringwood, passing through Glacial Park.
- Family
Petersen Park, McHenry
A nearby lakefront park in the city of McHenry with a beach, boat rental, and a main access point to the Prairie Trail.
Getting around
Commute + transit from Ringwood.
- Routes: IL 31 (Richmond Road) · Barnard Mill Road · Ringwood Road
- O'Hare Airport: ~67 min
- Chicago Loop: ~87 min
By the numbers
Ringwood 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
8.25%
combined
Median sold price
$540,000
MRED · last 12 mo (6 sales)
Median household income
$143,750
ACS
How Ringwood got here
A bit of history.
Ringwood was settled in 1837 by Dr. Luke Hale and William H. Beach, both natives of Vermont. The name comes from the original settlement reportedly being surrounded by a ring of trees. A post office was established in 1845, and the small village was formally platted in 1854, which allowed roads, infrastructure, and legal land ownership for farming and homebuilding. The arrival of the railroad around 1855 helped the community grow into a working rural crossroads.
For much of its history Ringwood functioned as a small farming and rail community, with general and grocery stores, a feed mill, a blacksmith shop, and the Bowman Dairy operation among the largest local businesses. Commuter rail once served a Ringwood station and continued north to Richmond until that service ended in 1980. Concerned about losing its identity to annexation by neighboring Johnsburg, the village finally incorporated on November 15, 1994. It remains a small operation, run by an unsalaried Board of Trustees with a handful of staff and contracted services.
The questions buyers actually ask
Ringwood FAQ
The questions I get most from buyers shopping Ringwood. If yours isn't here, text 224-385-8779, same-day reply.
- What school district serves Ringwood?
- Ringwood is served by Johnsburg Community Unit School District 12, which runs the Ringwood School Primary Center (PK-2) in the village, plus James C. Bush Elementary, Johnsburg Junior High, and Johnsburg High School. Boundaries in this rural area can shift by parcel, so confirm the exact assigned schools for a given address with the district before writing an offer.
- How is the commute to Chicago and O'Hare from Ringwood?
- Most residents drive, with an average commute around 29 minutes. By car, O'Hare is roughly an hour and ten minutes and the Chicago Loop closer to an hour and a half. There is no Metra station in Ringwood; the nearest commuter rail is the McHenry station, a terminus on the Union Pacific Northwest line about four miles south.
- What are property taxes like in Ringwood?
- Ringwood sits in McHenry County, where the median effective property tax rate is about 2.42 percent. A village-specific effective rate is not published separately, so always verify the actual tax bill for the specific property. On a home around the village median that works out to roughly $9,000 a year.
- What is Ringwood actually like to live in?
- It is a small, rural village of fewer than 1,000 people wrapped around Glacial Park and the Nippersink Creek, with large lots, a high homeownership rate of about 93 percent, and an older median age near 47. Expect quiet and open space, with shopping and dining a short drive away in McHenry.
- What is there to do in and around Ringwood?
- Glacial Park anchors the area with about eight miles of trails, the Prairie Trail rail-trail, the Lost Valley Visitor Center, the historic Powers-Walker House, and canoe and kayak launches on the Nippersink Creek. The city of McHenry adds parks like Petersen Park plus restaurants and services.
- Where should buyers look in and around Ringwood?
- Inventory in the village itself is thin given its small size, so buyers typically widen the search to nearby Johnsburg, Wonder Lake, and the north end of McHenry while still targeting the conservation-adjacent, larger-lot character that defines Ringwood. Tell a Subdiview agent what matters most and they can match you to a few areas worth touring.
- Who is the real estate agent for Ringwood?
- Joe Keegan is the local licensed Illinois real estate broker who covers Ringwood in Ringwood, 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 Ringwood specifically, not national averages, and can help you buy or sell here. Reach Joe at 224-385-8779 or joe@joekeeganhomes.com.
Nearby
Towns next to Ringwood.
If you’re cross-shopping the area, these are the places that border Ringwood.
Your local agent
Joe knows Ringwood
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
- Ringwood 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
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