55+ Communities in the Chicago Suburbs

What Your Budget Actually Buys

Price range banners are misleading. They show the extremes, not what homes are really trading at. Here is what actually closed in 2025.

Under $300,000 — attached homes

The most affordable entry point is an attached home (townhome, duplex, quad) in the south and southwest suburbs. In 2025, attached homes closed at a median of $265,000 in Carillon Lakes, $278,050 in Carillon, $286,000 in Grand Haven, and $286,000 in Shorewood Glen.

At this level you are generally buying into an established community built in the 1990s or 2000s, with mature landscaping and an amenity package that is already paid for. The tradeoff is shared walls and older finishes, so most homes at this price will want updating.

$300,000 to $400,000 — the widest choice

This is where the market is deepest, and where you can choose between a larger attached home in a premium community or a single-family home in a value one. Single-family medians in 2025: Grand Haven $342,500, Carillon Lakes $350,500, Carillon $370,000, Shorewood Glen $373,750, Edgewater $385,000, and Lago Vista $386,250.

If you want a detached home with your own yard and garage without stretching, this band is where to look.

$400,000 to $500,000 — newer construction and larger floor plans

Cambridge Lakes single-family homes closed at a median of $420,000 in 2025, Lincoln Valley at $474,990, Grand Dominion at $485,000, and Carillon at Stonegate at $496,225. You are buying newer construction, larger square footage, or a stronger location.

Above $500,000 — premium and custom

Carillon Club in Naperville is the clear top of the market, with single-family homes closing at a median of $677,500 in 2025 and attached homes at $469,900. That means an attached home in Carillon Club costs more than a detached home in most other 55+ communities on this list. You are paying for Naperville, an 18,000 square foot clubhouse, and larger lots.

Property Taxes Are the Number Buyers Underestimate

Almost every buyer I work with budgets carefully for the purchase price and the HOA fee, then gets surprised by the tax bill. In the Chicago suburbs, the spread between communities is wide enough to change what you can afford. On a home in the $400,000 to $500,000 range, estimated annual property taxes run roughly:

Estimates only. Actual bills vary by assessment, exemptions, and taxing district.

The gap between the low and high end is roughly $6,000 a year. Over a ten-year hold that is $60,000, more than most buyers spend on the upgrades they agonized over during the purchase.

Two things are worth knowing. Illinois offers a Senior Citizen Homestead Exemption and, for qualifying incomes, a Senior Assessment Freeze that can meaningfully reduce these figures. And newer communities frequently carry higher effective rates because the infrastructure is still being paid for.

How Quickly Homes Sell

You will sell this home eventually, or your family will. Average market time tells you how liquid a community is. Based on 2025 closed sales, homes moved fastest in Grand Dominion (7 days), Sun City Huntley (8 days), Edgewater (14 days), and Carillon Lakes (15 days). The slower end: Lincoln Valley (37 days), Carillon Club (29 days), Carillon at Stonegate (28 days), and Shorewood Glen (23 days).

Slower is not automatically worse. Higher-priced and newer-construction communities generally take longer because the buyer pool is smaller and, in still-building communities, resales compete directly with the builder. But if being able to sell quickly matters, whether for health reasons, to move near family, or to move again, the difference between 7 days and 37 days is worth weighing now rather than later.

Big Community or Small One?

Sun City Huntley is the largest active adult community in Illinois, and 257 homes closed there in 2025 alone, more than seven times the volume of most communities on this list. That scale buys you an enormous amenity package, dozens of clubs, and a home that is easy to sell.

It also means you will not know your neighbors the way you would somewhere with a few hundred homes. Some buyers want the activity of a small town. Others find it overwhelming and prefer somewhere like Carillon at Stonegate (18 closings in 2025) or Lago Vista (22), where the clubhouse crowd is familiar.

There is no right answer, but it is the single most common thing buyers change their minds about after touring. If you are early in your search, tour one large community and one small one before narrowing further.

Attached vs Single-Family: What the Market Shows

Some communities are overwhelmingly detached, some are mixed, and it changes the character of the place. Of the 2025 closings, Sun City Huntley was 216 single-family to 41 attached, Shorewood Glen was 26 to 7, and Lago Vista was 16 to 6. Grand Dominion, Edgewater, Carillon at Stonegate, and Grand Haven are single-family throughout. Carillon Lakes ran nearly even at 24 detached to 28 attached, and Cambridge Lakes leaned attached at 24 to 12.

If low-maintenance living is the main reason you are moving, a community with a healthy attached inventory gives you more to choose from and a better resale pool later. If you want a yard and a garage you can work in, look at the single-family communities first.

Sales figures reflect closed transactions reported to MRED MLS, January 1 to December 31, 2025.