Up in Chicago's Chain O’ Lakes, Lake Villa feels like an escape from city living. Glacial movements and melts formed the region’s lakes, which offer swimming, fishing and boating across its 15 interconnected lakes. Lake Villa’s almost 9,000 residents can access the beaches and boat launches along Deep and Cedar Lakes. While other communities in Lake County have built up their communities with extensive downtowns and commercial scenes, Lake Villa seems focused more on nature and a quiet lifestyle. “It’s a great community for people who want a small sense of community but want to embrace having outdoor activities to do,” says Realtor Chicky Johnson with RE/MAX Suburban and lifelong Lake Villa resident. “Almost every neighborhood has a forest preserve or water right next to it.”
Boat rentals are available for Lake Villa visitors and locals alike.
Lake Villa offers a blend of private residential neighborhoods and access to natural amenities.
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Swimming in the lakes and hiking through the forest preserve
Lehmann Park sits right along Cedar Lake’s shoreline and includes a beach where residents swim in the summer or play a round of volleyball and horseshoes. Just a bit up the lakeside, Frank M. Loffredo Park offers various sports amenities, from soccer, football and baseball fields to a seasonal hockey rink and a skatepark. Sun Lake Forest Preserve occupies the northern portion of the village, with Sun Lake at its center. Unlike the other lakes here, the shoreline is more fragile and unstable, so it’s not open for swimming or boating. However, the park offers over 3 miles of hiking, biking and cross-country skiing trails. Johnson also highlights that many people come here to walk their dogs. “We have our own youth baseball complex for little kids all the way through travelers,” says Johnson about the Lake Villa Township Baseball Complex up by the forest preserve. “If you have a little kid and you want them to get into organized sports, almost everyone signs them up for Lake Villa baseball.”
Lake Villa's Lehmann Park features a clock monument, fields, a playground, and a beach.
Lake Villa locals can enjoy the four miles of walking trails at Hastings Lake Forest Preserve.
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Lakeside properties and Painted Lake's New Traditionals in Lake Villa
Lake Villa’s median housing price is about $368,000, just under the national median. Most homes around the village are New Traditionals, like the houses and townhomes in the Painted Lakes subdivision up by the forest preserve. Other communities feature split-level and ranch-style homes. There are some lakeside homes, especially along Deep Lake, built in more eclectic, custom designs and with private docks.
Both violent and property crime rates in Lake Villa have increased slightly in the past couple of years, though they are still lower than the city’s last peak in 2017.
Single story homes of various styles sit peacefully in Lake Villa's more secluded neighborhoods.
Lake Villa residents can peacefully enjoy hobbies, like restoring classic cars.
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Public career and technical education for Lake County students
For kindergarten through eighth grade, Lake Villa students attend Lake Villa Community Consolidated School District 41, which receives a B-plus from Niche. Antioch Community High School District 117 earns an A-plus. While the district designates Lakes Community High School as the village high school, students interested in career and technical education can also go to Lake County Tech Campus, which offers 19 different programs.
Lakes Community High is a highly rated public school in Lake Villa serving grades 9-12.
Palombi Middle School is an above average public school in Lake Villa, serving grades 6-8.
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Local restaurants in Lake Villa and nearby shopping centers
Downtown Lake Villa ’s local restaurants, shops and administrative buildings occupy low brick buildings along Cedar, Milwaukee and Grand avenues. The Lake Villa water tower peaks over the buildings, and streetlights don banners with the village’s name. Timothy O’Tooles is a local staple known for its wings but also serves standard pub food like fish and chips and shepherd’s pie.
For grocery shopping, residents will have to venture beyond the village limits. “Lake Villa is not a hub for shopping because we don’t even have our own major grocery store here,” “It’s in the next town over, about 6 minutes away.” Three miles away in Round Lake Beach, Rollins Crossing offers multiple supermarket options and big box stores. Johnson says most people go to Gurnee Mills for shopping — the center is about 7.5 miles away and includes Jewel-Osco, Mariano’s, Target and Walmart.
Lake Villa's Reflections on Deep Lakes serves Polish food with lakefront views.
There are several local eateries in Lake Villa that sport colorfully decorated interiors.
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Lake Villa's summer concerts and fall festival
Every Wednesday evening in the summer, Lake Villa's Live Music in the Parks concert series features local acts. Lehmann Mansion often hosts, though it sometimes takes place at other nearby parks. Celebration of Fall gets people into the fall spirit with live music and vendors featuring local restaurants and artisans. Attendees can participate in pumpkin painting and making scarecrows.
Monaville residents join Lake County Food Truck Festival for delicious bites & local flavors.
Petite Lake residents are known to hang out at the sandbar.
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Located halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee
Lake Villa doesn’t have buses, so residents will need to drive to get through the village. Milwaukee and Grand avenues bisect the village, with the former connecting it with Antioch to the north. In the winter, the region can get significant snowfall, but the village sends out plows to clear the streets. Even though Lake Villa is 52 miles from downtown Chicago, people still commute to work, take I-94 or the town’s Metra station located downtown. Lake Villa is also 52 miles from Milwaukee for those working there. “If you look at the map, Lake Villa is maybe the second town from touching the Wisconsin border,” “It allows people to be within an hour of Chicago and an hour of Milwaukee, so it’s a great middle point.” For those traveling beyond Illinois and Wisconsin, Chicago O’Hare International Airport is 39 miles from Lake Villa.
On average, homes in Lake Villa, IL sell after 31 days on the market compared to the national average of 70 days. The median sale price for homes in Lake Villa, IL over the last 12 months is $487,865, up 52% from the median home sale price over the previous 12 months.
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Disclaimer: Certain information contained herein is derived from information provided by parties other than Homes.com. Our sources include: Accuweather, Public Records and Neustar. All information provided is deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed to be accurate and should be independently verified.
