Waukegan · Lake County · IL
Homes for sale in
Waukegan.
- Active listings
- 26
- Median list
- $280K
- Avg time on market
- 8 days
- Sold · last year
- 0
Photo: edward P. steinburg desnged / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Active listings
26 homes on the market
About the community
Living in Waukegan.
Waukegan is the county seat of Lake County and, with roughly 89,000 residents, its largest municipality and the tenth-most populous city in Illinois. The city sits on Lake Michigan about 40 miles north of the Chicago Loop, anchored by a working harbor, a historic downtown, and the restored 2,400-seat Genesee Theatre that draws touring acts from across the Midwest. A 2003 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill master plan continues to guide ongoing harborfront and North Harbor redevelopment, with new waterfront housing, marina retail, and an intermodal connection to the Metra Union Pacific North line at Waukegan Station. The Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 serves about 13,700 students across more than 20 schools, with Waukegan High School split between the Brookside (9-10) and Washington (11-12) campuses. Waukegan's community is majority Hispanic and notably diverse, with a deep industrial and maritime heritage tied to former Outboard Marine Corporation operations, the birthplaces of Ray Bradbury and Jack Benny, and active downtown arts programming through ArtWauk.
At a glance
89,321 residents (2020 Census)
Lake County's largest municipality and the tenth-most populous city in Illinois.
Lake County seat
Designated 1841. Lake County courthouse and government center sit in downtown Waukegan.
Metra UP-N
Waukegan Station on the Union Pacific North line. About 1 hour 8 minutes to Ogilvie Transportation Center on the fastest train.
Lake Michigan harbor
Working harbor, public marina, and South Beach on the Waukegan lakefront. Subject to a multi-decade Skidmore, Owings & Merrill master plan.
Genesee Theatre
Restored 1927 movie palace at 203 N Genesee Street. 2,400-seat performing arts venue for national touring acts in downtown Waukegan.
Waukegan CUSD 60
PreK-12 unified district. About 13,700 students across 22 schools. Waukegan High School splits 9-10 at Brookside and 11-12 at Washington.
Bowen Park
60-acre Waukegan Park District flagship park with old-growth forest, ravines, ball fields, and the Jack Benny Center for the Arts.
Median household income $71,919
Median age about 34.6, several years younger than the U.S. median. Majority Hispanic community (about 58 percent).
What’s close
Waukegan stretches along about 8 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline in central Lake County, with a historic downtown set on a bluff above the harbor and residential neighborhoods running west to U.S. Route 41 and Illinois Route 131.
- Downtown Waukegan / Genesee Theatre
- Restored 1927 movie palace and surrounding Arts & Entertainment District on Genesee Street.
- Waukegan Harbor and South Beach
- Working harbor, public marina, and Lake Michigan beach. Ongoing waterfront redevelopment under the SOM master plan.
- Bowen Park
- 60-acre Waukegan Park District flagship with old-growth forest, ravines, ball fields, the Jack Benny Center for the Arts, and the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra.
- Belvidere Mall area
- Lake County's first enclosed mall, at Belvidere Road and Lewis Avenue, now operating as a Hispanic-oriented discount mall.
- Waukegan History Museum at the Carnegie
- Restored 1903 Carnegie library on the bluff, now the city's history museum and a Ray Bradbury heritage site.
- Illinois Beach State Park (adjacent)
- 4,160-acre state park starting at Waukegan's northern edge, with more than 6 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline in Waukegan and Zion.
What it’s actually like to live here
Waukegan is a working, blue-collar lakefront city with a denser, more urban feel than most of suburban Lake County. The population is majority Hispanic (about 58 percent), with substantial Black (roughly 17 percent) and White (roughly 17 percent) communities, and a median age of about 34, several years younger than the U.S. median. Households trend toward families, the median household income is in the low-$70,000s, and housing stock ranges from early-20th-century bungalows near the bluff to mid-century neighborhoods west of U.S. 41.
The lifestyle pull is the lakefront and the downtown arts scene. The Genesee Theatre books national touring acts, ArtWauk's monthly third-Saturday gallery walk has drawn artists back into downtown storefronts, and the Waukegan Park District's Bowen Park hosts the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra and Bowen Park Theatre at the Jack Benny Center. The harbor and South Beach offer fishing, boating, and free Lake Michigan access, and the multi-decade Skidmore, Owings & Merrill lakefront master plan continues to redevelop the harborfront with new mixed-use neighborhoods. Illinois Beach State Park sits at the city's northern edge for hiking and beach days.
Neighborhoods
Detailed Waukegan 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 Waukegan.
Boundary lines do shift. Always confirm in writing for a specific address before writing an offer.
- D60Grades Pre-K to 12
Waukegan Community Unit School District 60
Schools serving the area
- Waukegan High School - Brookside Campus (9-10)
- Waukegan High School - Washington Campus (11-12)
- Robert Abbott Middle School
- Jack Benny Middle School
- Miguel Juarez Middle School
- Edith M. Smith Middle School
- John R. Lewis Middle School
Almost all of Waukegan is served by CUSD 60, a Pre-K-12 unified district with about 13,700 students across 22 schools. Waukegan High School operates on two campuses: ninth and tenth graders attend the Brookside Campus at 2325 Brookside Avenue, and eleventh and twelfth graders attend the Washington Campus at 1011 Washington Street.
Around town
What there is to do in Waukegan.
A handful of the places people who live here actually use. Not a directory.
- Culture
Genesee Theatre
Restored 1927 movie palace, now a 2,400-seat performing arts venue for national touring acts in downtown Waukegan.
- Parks
Waukegan Harbor and South Beach
Full-service public marina and Lake Michigan beach with fishing, boating, and an ongoing waterfront redevelopment district.
- Parks
Bowen Park
60-acre Waukegan Park District flagship with old-growth forest, ravines, ball fields, the Jack Benny Center for the Arts, and trail access.
- Parks
Illinois Beach State Park
4,160-acre state park along Waukegan and Zion's lakefront with more than 6 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, hiking, swimming, and camping.
- Culture
Waukegan History Museum at the Carnegie
1903 Classical Revival Carnegie library on the bluff, recently restored as the city's history museum and Ray Bradbury heritage site.
- Culture
ArtWauk Gallery Walk
Free monthly third-Saturday arts and culture walk through downtown Waukegan's Arts & Entertainment District galleries and venues.
Getting around
Commute + transit from Waukegan.
MetraUP-N line
- Stations: Waukegan
- Terminal: Chicago Ogilvie Transportation Center
- Distance: 39 miles to downtown Chicago
DriveBy car
- Routes: U.S. Route 41 (Skokie Highway) · IL Route 131 (Green Bay Road) · IL Route 120 (Belvidere Road) · IL Route 43 (Waukegan Road)
- Chicago Loop: ~50 min
- O'Hare Airport: ~35 min
- Milwaukee: ~60 min
By the numbers
Waukegan taxes + market stats.
Property tax rates vary by exact township and assessor district. Confirm per address before pricing a purchase.
Property tax rate
2.89%
effective avg
Sales tax
8.50%
combined
Median sold price
$243,750
MRED · last 12 mo (346 sales)
Median household income
$71,919
ACS
How Waukegan got here
A bit of history.
The site of present-day Waukegan appears on a 1778 Thomas Hutchins map as Riviere du Vieux Fort, a French trading post that English speakers later translated as Little Fort, a reference to a long-abandoned Potawatomi-era stockade. The settlement was named Lake County's seat in 1841, and on March 31, 1849, residents officially changed the town name to Waukegan, an anglicization of the Potawatomi word for fort or trading post. Incorporated as a city in 1859 with about 2,500 residents, Waukegan grew quickly as a Lake Michigan port and rail town.
In 1909, Norwegian-American inventor Ole Evinrude developed the first commercially viable gasoline outboard motor in Waukegan, and the company that became Outboard Marine Corporation, maker of Johnson and Evinrude motors, ran its headquarters and roughly 100-acre lakefront plant in the city until its 2000 bankruptcy. The OMC closure left an industrial and environmental legacy, including a federal Superfund cleanup site at the former harbor plant, and reshaped the downtown into the redevelopment-focused city visible today. Waukegan is also remembered as the birthplace of comedian Jack Benny in 1894 and author Ray Bradbury in 1920, whose Green Town stories fictionalized his Waukegan childhood.
The questions buyers actually ask
Waukegan FAQ
The questions I get most from buyers shopping Waukegan. If yours isn't here, text 815-355-0582, same-day reply.
- What school district serves Waukegan?
- Almost all of Waukegan is served by Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 (CUSD 60), which runs Pre-K through 12 across 22 schools and roughly 13,700 students. Waukegan High School operates on two campuses: ninth and tenth graders attend the Brookside Campus at 2325 Brookside Avenue, and eleventh and twelfth graders attend the Washington Campus at 1011 Washington Street.
- How is the commute from Waukegan to downtown Chicago?
- By Metra Union Pacific North (UP-N), Waukegan Station to Ogilvie Transportation Center is about 1 hour 8 minutes on the fastest train and 1 hour 18 minutes on a typical schedule, with roughly hourly service. By car, the Loop is about 40 miles south and typically about 50 minutes via I-94 and U.S. 41 in light traffic.
- Why are property taxes higher in Waukegan?
- Waukegan's median effective property tax rate is about 2.89 percent, above the Lake County median of 2.61 percent and roughly 2.5 times the U.S. median. The median annual tax bill is around $4,212. The higher effective rate reflects Lake County assessment levels combined with Waukegan's local levies for schools, the park district, and city services.
- Which Waukegan neighborhoods are worth a look?
- The bluff and lakefront streets near downtown, the Bowen Park area on the city's north side, and pockets around Washington Park and the historic Carnegie Library are some of the older, character-rich neighborhoods. West-side neighborhoods near IL 131 (Green Bay Road) and U.S. 41 offer mid-century homes and easier highway commutes.
- What is happening with the harbor and Genesee Theatre revival?
- The City of Waukegan adopted a Skidmore, Owings & Merrill lakefront and downtown master plan in 2003 that is still guiding redevelopment of the 95-acre Harborfront and 240-acre North Harbor districts into mixed-use waterfront neighborhoods. The Genesee Theatre, a 1927 movie palace, reopened in 2004 after a $23 million restoration and now seats about 2,400 for national touring acts.
- Is Waukegan really the birthplace of Ray Bradbury and Jack Benny?
- Yes. Comedian Jack Benny was born in Waukegan in 1894, and author Ray Bradbury was born in Waukegan in 1920. Bradbury fictionalized his hometown as Green Town, Illinois in Dandelion Wine and Something Wicked This Way Comes. The city honors both at Bradbury Park and through downtown public art.
Nearby
Towns next to Waukegan.
If you’re cross-shopping the area, these are the places that border Waukegan.
Your local agent
Joe knows Waukegan
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
- Waukegan 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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