Buffalo Grove is a village of about 42,800 people spread across Lake and Cook counties, roughly 30 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. Over the year ending August 20, 2026, detached homes sold for a median of $550,000 and townhomes and condos for a median of $315,000. Half of everything that sold was an attached home.
Key Takeaways
- Buffalo Grove had an estimated population of 42,812 as of July 1, 2025, and covers 9.56 square miles (U.S. Census Bureau).
- The village sits in two counties. Roughly three quarters of its land is in Lake County and the rest is in Cook County, and that line changes your tax bill, your school districts, and your county offices.
- Over the 12 months ending August 20, 2026, 284 detached homes sold at a median of $550,000 and 281 townhomes and condos sold at a median of $315,000 (ConnectMLS).
- Attached homes were 49.7% of all sales. This is not a village where you have to buy a house to live here.
- The median tax bill on a detached home was $8,591 on the Cook County side and $15,581 on the Lake County side, or about 1.92% versus 2.48% of the sale price (ConnectMLS tax fields, mostly tax years 2023 and 2024).
- Homes move quickly. Half of detached homes went under contract in 11 days or less, and 57.7% sold at or above asking.
- The Buffalo Grove Metra station is on the North Central Service line in fare zone 4, 32 rail miles from Union Station, with about six inbound trains on a weekday and no weekend service (Metra).
- Buffalo Grove Days runs September 3 through 7, 2026 at Mike Rylko Community Park (Buffalo Grove Days).
Where is Buffalo Grove, IL?
Buffalo Grove is about 30 miles northwest of downtown Chicago, straddling the Lake and Cook county line. It covers 9.56 square miles and was incorporated in 1958 with 164 residents. The 2020 census counted 43,212.
The village borders Wheeling, Arlington Heights, Long Grove, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods, and Prospect Heights.
Main roads through town:
- North and south: Milwaukee Avenue (Route 21), Buffalo Grove Road, Arlington Heights Road, Weiland Road
- East and west: Lake Cook Road, Dundee Road (Route 68), Deerfield Parkway, Half Day Road (Route 22)
- Diagonal: McHenry Road (Route 83)
A few numbers that fill in the picture, all from the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 estimates: median household income of $129,395, a homeownership rate of 79.8%, median gross rent of $2,037, and a mean commute to work of 26.3 minutes.
Is Buffalo Grove in Cook County or Lake County?
Both. Most of the village is in Lake County, in Vernon Township, and the southern portion is in Cook County, in Wheeling Township. A single village, two county assessors, two treasurers, two sets of school districts, and two very different property tax bills.
If you take one thing from this guide, take that. It shows up in the numbers below more than anything else does.
How much do homes cost in Buffalo Grove?
Detached homes sold for a median of $550,000 and townhomes and condos for a median of $315,000 over the 12 months ending August 20, 2026.
Everything in this section comes from 565 closed sales pulled from ConnectMLS, our local MLS. Actual recorded sale prices, not estimates.
What does a house cost in Buffalo Grove?
284 detached homes sold. The median was $550,000, and the middle half ran from $470,000 to $666,000. The median worked out to about $260 per square foot on a median of 2,234 square feet.
Price tracks closely with the style of house, which here mostly means when it was built:
Style | Homes sold | Median sale price |
|---|---|---|
Ranch | 31 | $430,000 |
Tri-level | 20 | $468,650 |
Bi-level | 8 | $487,775 |
Colonial | 42 | $615,000 |
And here is how the 284 sales spread across price ranges:
Price range | Homes sold |
|---|---|
Under $400,000 | 34 |
$400,000 to $500,000 | 67 |
$500,000 to $600,000 | 73 |
$600,000 to $750,000 | 57 |
Over $750,000 | 53 |
So there is real inventory under $450,000, 54 sales worth, and there is a genuine upper end: 53 homes cleared $750,000 and 11 sold at or above $1 million.
New construction is rare. Only 8 of the 284 detached homes that sold were built in 2015 or later. Most of the housing stock went up between 1965 and 1995, with the 1980s the single biggest decade.
What does a townhome or condo cost in Buffalo Grove?
281 attached homes sold at a median of $315,000, with the middle half between $250,000 and $375,000. That is 49.7% of all sales in the village, which is a much larger share than in most towns nearby.
Bedrooms | Units sold | Median sale price | Median monthly assessment | Median tax bill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 bedroom | 29 | $184,000 | $328 | $2,620 |
2 bedroom | 167 | $289,000 | $396 | $5,300 |
3 bedroom | 80 | $401,500 | $400 | $9,217 |
Sixty-nine attached homes sold under $250,000 and 126 sold under $300,000. If you are working out whether you can stay in this area on one income instead of two, or on a fixed number, that is the table to look at.
One thing to check carefully: the monthly assessment. The village-wide median was $387, and the middle half ran $328 to $460. On a $289,000 two-bedroom, a $396 assessment adds about $4,750 a year on top of the mortgage and taxes.
Ask what the assessment covers, when it last went up, and whether the association has money set aside for the roof, the parking lot, and the mechanicals. Ask for the last two years of meeting minutes. That request has saved more than one of my clients from a special assessment nobody mentioned.
How fast are homes selling in Buffalo Grove?
Quickly. Half of detached homes went under contract in 11 days or less, 56.3% sold within two weeks, and 41.9% sold within a single week. 57.7% sold at or above the asking price.
Townhomes and condos moved at a similar pace, with a median of 13 days and 53.4% selling at or above asking.
The averages are higher, about 26 days for detached and 34 for attached, because a handful of listings sit for months and pull the average up. Plan around the median. In practice that means having financing lined up before you tour anything and being ready to see a home the day it lists rather than the following weekend. My guide to how to make a strong offer in Buffalo Grove walks through what that looks like in a market this fast.
As of the date of this export, there were 82 active listings in the village: 38 detached homes at a median asking price of $581,950, and 44 townhomes and condos at a median asking price of $350,000. Another 156 homes were leased through the MLS over the same 12 months, so there is a real rental market here too.
Why do Buffalo Grove property taxes vary so much by address?
Because the village sits in two counties, and the two sides are taxed differently. The median annual tax bill on a detached home was $8,591 on the Cook County side and $15,581 on the Lake County side. As a share of the sale price, that is about 1.92% in Cook and 2.48% in Lake.
Here is the full comparison from the same 565 closed sales:
| Cook County side | Lake County side |
|---|---|---|
Detached homes sold | 100 | 184 |
Median sale price | $456,000 | $612,500 |
Median tax bill | $8,591 | $15,581 |
Tax as a share of price | 1.92% | 2.48% |
Median year built | 1968 | 1985 |
Median square feet | 1,837 | 2,450 |
Attached homes sold | 111 | 170 |
Median attached price | $242,500 | $355,000 |
Median attached tax bill | $3,441 | $8,160 |
Part of that gap is simply that the homes are different. The Lake County side sold newer and larger: a median build year of 1985 and 2,450 square feet, against 1968 and 1,837 square feet in Cook. Bigger house, bigger bill.
But not all of it. The effective rate is higher in Lake even after you account for size, and the mechanics differ too. Cook County assesses residential property at 10% of market value; the rest of Illinois, including Lake, assesses at 33 1/3%. The two counties then apply completely different rate structures to those different bases, so comparing the tax rates tells you nothing. Compare the actual bills.
Three honest caveats before you budget off these numbers:
- The bills lag the prices. Most of these figures are tax years 2023 and 2024 measured against 2025 and 2026 sale prices, so the current effective percentage is somewhat higher than what you see here.
- Exemptions change everything. A bill reflecting a longtime owner's homeowner and senior exemptions is not the bill you will get. Two homes on the same street, sold for nearly the same price, can carry bills that differ by thousands.
- The two counties bill on different schedules. Confirm due dates and installment amounts with the correct county treasurer, not with a listing site.
Before you write an offer, pull the actual bill, the assessed value, the exemptions currently applied, and three years of history. I walk through how to read all of it in my guide to how Cook County property taxes work, and the same logic applies on the Lake County side with different paperwork.
Which school districts serve Buffalo Grove?
Several, and which ones apply to a given home depends on the address and, in most cases, the county line. There is no single "Buffalo Grove school district."
Across the 565 homes that sold in the past year, here is how the district fields broke down:
County side | Elementary and middle districts | High school district |
|---|---|---|
Cook | Community Consolidated School District 21 | Township High School District 214 (Buffalo Grove High School or Wheeling High School) |
Lake | Kildeer Countryside CCSD 96, Aptakisic-Tripp CCSD 102, Lincolnshire-Prairie View SD 103 | Adlai E. Stevenson High School District 125 |
Of the sales with a high school listed, 347 fed Adlai E. Stevenson High School, 135 fed Buffalo Grove High School, and 29 fed Wheeling High School.
Confirm attendance boundaries directly with the district before you write an offer. Listing sites and third-party school directories are frequently out of date, and a boundary that was accurate two years ago may not be accurate now. District offices will confirm the assignment for a specific address, and most publish a boundary lookup tool. Here is my walkthrough on how to verify school boundaries before you buy.
For enrollment, testing, and school-level data straight from the state, use the Illinois Report Card.
How do people commute from Buffalo Grove?
Which Metra line serves Buffalo Grove?
The Buffalo Grove station at 825 Commerce Court is on the North Central Service line, which runs to Chicago Union Station. The station is in fare zone 4, 32.0 rail miles from downtown, with about 1,050 parking spaces including 21 ADA spaces.
Two things to know before you plan a commute around it:
Service is limited. Published weekday schedules show roughly six inbound trains in the morning and early afternoon and four outbound in the afternoon and evening. Trips run about 47 to 62 minutes.
There is no weekend or holiday service on this line at all. If your schedule includes Saturday trips downtown, this station will not cover them.
Confirm the current timetable on Metra's site before you commit, since schedules change.
Zone 4 fares were listed at $6.75 one way, $13.50 for a day pass, and $135.00 monthly when this was written. Metra's fare table does not publish an effective date, so verify before you budget.
What are the other train options from Buffalo Grove?
Plenty of people here drive to a different station. Two common alternatives:
- Union Pacific Northwest Line, at the Arlington Heights or Palatine stations, which runs to Ogilvie Transportation Center with far more trains per day and weekend service.
- Milwaukee District North Line, at the Lake Cook Road station in Deerfield, which runs to Union Station.
If the train matters to your week, drive to the station you would actually use, park where you would actually park, and check the permit waitlist before you buy. Waitlists in this corridor can run long, and that is a phone call, not a guess.
How long is the drive from Buffalo Grove to Chicago or O'Hare?
Rough ranges, and traffic is the whole story:
- Downtown Chicago: about an hour to 90 minutes at rush hour, less off-peak
- O'Hare International Airport: about 25 to 35 minutes
- Deerfield and the Lake Cook Road corridor: 10 to 15 minutes
- Arlington Heights or Wheeling: about 10 to 20 minutes
Most drivers reach I-294 by way of Lake Cook Road, Milwaukee Avenue, or Dundee Road. The village's own mean commute to work is 26.3 minutes, which tells you that a large share of people here work in the northern and northwestern suburbs rather than downtown.
What are the neighborhoods like in Buffalo Grove?
Rather than describing how areas "feel," here is what actually sold in each subdivision that had at least eight closed sales this year. Listed alphabetically within housing type, not ranked.
Subdivisions with mostly detached homes
Subdivision | Homes sold | Median sale price | Median days on market | Typical build year | County |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cambridge of Buffalo Grove | 12 | $510,000 | 6 | 1968 | Cook |
Highland Grove | 9 | $590,300 | 14 | 1979 | Lake |
Mill Creek | 8 | $515,000 | 5 | 1973 | Cook |
Old Farm Village | 16 | $625,000 | 11 | 1987 | Lake |
Strathmore | 28 | $500,000 | 12 | 1970 | Lake |
Strathmore Grove | 11 | $565,000 | 14 | 1975 | Lake |
Woodlands of Fiore | 10 | $832,500 | 8 | 1991 | Lake |
Strathmore is the largest single subdivision in this data, with 28 closings. It is also one of the oldest, built mostly around 1970, which shows up in lot layouts and floor plans.
Townhome and condo communities
Community | Units sold | Median sale price | Median days on market | Typical build year | Median assessment | County |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arbors | 8 | $203,500 | 24 | 1979 | $420 | Cook |
Cambridge on the Lake | 18 | $269,500 | 26 | 1973 | $569 | Cook |
Hidden Lake Village | 18 | $292,500 | 11 | 1985 | $375 | Lake |
Oak Creek | 9 | $240,000 | 19 | 1979 | $311 | Cook |
Woodlands of Fiore | 18 | $365,000 | 9 | 1990 | $416 | Lake |
Woodstone | 8 | $378,650 | 14 | 1989 | $409 | Lake |
Notice the assessment column next to the price column. Cambridge on the Lake had the lowest median price of the Cook County communities on this list and the highest median assessment, at $569 a month. Price alone will not tell you what a place costs to own.
What is there to do in Buffalo Grove?
The Buffalo Grove Park District runs the parks, pools, and two golf courses: the Buffalo Grove Golf Course and the Arboretum Club, which opened in 1990. Willow Stream Park covers about 54 acres and includes the outdoor pool complex. Mike Rylko Community Park at 951 McHenry Road is the village's main event grounds.
The village is also threaded with bike and walking paths that connect neighborhoods to the parks and schools, which is one of the more useful features of a town built mostly in the 1970s and 1980s when path systems were planned in from the start.
Two library districts serve the village, split along the same township line as everything else: Indian Trails Public Library District on the Wheeling Township side and Vernon Area Public Library District on the Vernon Township side. Check which one covers your address, since your card, your programs, and your tax line item all follow it.
What annual events happen in Buffalo Grove?
Buffalo Grove Days is the big one. In 2026 it runs September 3 through 7 at Mike Rylko Community Park, over Labor Day weekend, with live music, food vendors, a parade, and a carnival. Advance carnival wristbands were listed at $70 for all five days (Buffalo Grove Days).
The Buffalo Grove Farmers Market runs Sundays from June 14 through October 11, 2026, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., also at Mike Rylko Park.
For more of the day-to-day version of this, I wrote about a weekend in Buffalo Grove separately.
What is being built in Buffalo Grove right now?
Two projects are reshaping the commercial corridors, and both are worth knowing about if you are buying nearby.
The Clove, at McHenry and Lake Cook roads, is a redevelopment of the old Town Center site by Kensington Development Partners, running about $150 million with roughly 78,000 square feet of commercial space. The seven-story residential building holds about 295 apartments and was more than 90% leased as of August 2026. Open so far: Chick-fil-A, Panda Express, Guzman y Gomez, Lazy Dog, Wild Fork, Sushi Grove, an Endeavor Health facility, and a Dutch Bros that opened in August 2026. A Whole Foods Market is targeted for 2027, and a public park on the site is still in planning (Village of Buffalo Grove).
Chase Plaza, at Arlington Heights and Lake Cook roads, is next. Sprouts Farmers Market and Club Studio are coming to the existing center, and in August 2026 village trustees referred a proposal for a six-story, 256-unit apartment building and parking deck to the plan commission. The former Buffalo restaurant building at the corner would be demolished and replaced with a smaller retail building. As of this writing the apartment piece is a proposal under review, not an approval.
What this means if you are buying: expect construction traffic along Lake Cook Road for the next couple of years, and expect more retail within a short drive of the eastern half of the village. Do not price a home on what might get built. Buy the house, the block, and the commute you actually want.
How does Buffalo Grove compare with Arlington Heights, Wheeling, and Palatine?
There is no single Northwest Suburb that is right for everyone. The better question is which one fits your commute, your budget, and the amount of house you want to take care of.
Some factual differences to work with:
Buffalo Grove and Arlington Heights. Arlington Heights sits on the Union Pacific Northwest Line with frequent all-week service; Buffalo Grove's station is on the North Central Service with about six inbound weekday trains and nothing on weekends. Buffalo Grove's housing stock is newer on average, and roughly half its sales are townhomes and condos. Arlington Heights is entirely in Cook County, so it does not have the two-county tax split. I compared these two in more detail in Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove side by side.
Buffalo Grove and Wheeling. They share a border, the Cook County side shares school districts, and both have a North Central Service station. Wheeling's entry prices generally run lower. More on that in my guide to living in Wheeling.
Buffalo Grove and Palatine. Palatine has a downtown built around a Union Pacific Northwest Line station and a wider range of older housing stock. Buffalo Grove has more attached-home inventory and a larger Lake County component with its own tax and school picture.
What is it actually like to live in Buffalo Grove?
Daily life here depends a lot on where in the village you land, and the county line is a bigger part of that than people expect.
Someone on the Cook County side is in a 1960s ranch or split-level, sends kids to District 21 schools, pays a Cook County bill, and holds an Indian Trails library card. Someone two miles north is in a 1985 colonial or a townhome in a Lake County subdivision, in District 96 or 102 feeding Stevenson, with a Lake County bill that runs noticeably higher on a comparable price.
Both are Buffalo Grove. Neither is more correct. But they are different enough that "what are taxes in Buffalo Grove" has two answers, and anyone who gives you one number has not looked.
What I would tell anyone seriously considering a move here: go spend a Saturday. Drive both sides of Lake Cook Road. Walk a path. Stop at Rylko Park. Then drive your actual commute at the actual hour you would be driving it, and if the Metra matters, check the schedule against your real workdays before you fall for a house.
And if you are looking at this because something in your life is changing rather than because you woke up wanting to move, that is worth naming out loud. Sorting through prices, taxes, and school boundaries is hard enough without also carrying a divorce, a parent's health, or a job that relocated. You do not have to solve all of it in one week.
Guides that pair well with this one
- How to make a strong offer in Buffalo Grove, for a market where half of homes go under contract in under two weeks
- Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove side by side, if those two are your finalists
- How Cook County property taxes work, so the monthly number does not surprise you
- A weekend in Buffalo Grove, for the non-spreadsheet version of the town
Common questions about living in Buffalo Grove
Is Buffalo Grove in Cook County or Lake County?
Both. Most of the village lies in Lake County in Vernon Township, and the southern portion lies in Cook County in Wheeling Township. The county your address falls in determines your property tax bill, your school districts, your library district, and which county offices you deal with.
What do homes cost in Buffalo Grove, IL?
Between August 2025 and August 2026, detached homes sold for a median of $550,000 and townhomes and condos for a median of $315,000, based on 565 closed sales in ConnectMLS. The middle half of detached sales ran $470,000 to $666,000.
What are property taxes in Buffalo Grove?
It depends on the county. The median annual bill on a detached home was $8,591 on the Cook County side and $15,581 on the Lake County side, or roughly 1.92% and 2.48% of the sale price. Exemptions and the tax-year lag both shift the real number.
Which Metra line goes to Buffalo Grove?
The North Central Service line, which runs to Chicago Union Station. The station at 825 Commerce Court is in fare zone 4, 32 rail miles out, with about six inbound weekday trains, roughly 47 to 62 minute trips, and no weekend or holiday service.
Which high school do Buffalo Grove students attend?
It depends on the address. Homes on the Lake County side generally fall in Adlai E. Stevenson High School District 125, and homes on the Cook County side fall in Township High School District 214, attending Buffalo Grove High School or Wheeling High School. Confirm any specific address with the district.
Can I stay in Buffalo Grove if I am downsizing?
Often, yes. 281 townhomes and condos sold in the past year at a median of $315,000, including 69 under $250,000. Median monthly assessments ran $387, which belongs in any comparison alongside the price and the tax bill.
Equal Housing Opportunity. Mari Van Meter and the Dragonfly Home Team conduct business in accordance with the federal Fair Housing Act and the Illinois Human Rights Act. This article is general information about a local housing market and is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Market data reflects a specific period and will change. Property tax figures reflect prior tax years and individual exemptions. Please consult your own attorney, tax professional, or lender about your situation.
