Skokie & Lincolnwood

Skokie and Lincolnwood are the inner-ring suburbs directly northwest of Chicago’s Rogers Park and West Ridge, and they are among the most diverse suburbs in the region, with large Jewish, Assyrian, South Asian, Filipino and Korean communities. Skokie has Old Orchard mall, the Illinois Holocaust Museum on the west side, the Yellow Line’s Skokie stop and a downtown on Oakton Street; Lincolnwood is smaller and quieter, with the Lincoln Avenue commercial strip, the Lincolnwood Town Center mall and the original Lou Malnati’s from 1971. Both are postwar suburbs of ranches and split-levels within a 20-minute drive of downtown.

Where it is

On the map, Skokie runs from the Chicago line at Howard north to Old Orchard Road between McCormick Boulevard and the Edens Expressway; Lincolnwood sits south of it between Devon and Touhy, along Lincoln Avenue and the Edens. The Yellow Line runs from Howard to Oakton-Skokie and Dempster-Skokie, a 20-minute ride to Howard and a transfer to the Red or Purple lines. Pace buses cover the rest, and the Edens has exits at Touhy, Dempster and Old Orchard. Driving downtown takes 25 to 40 minutes.

What to know if you’re moving here

These are practical suburbs: good schools, easy driving and houses that need updating more often than rebuilding.

• Housing is ranches, split-levels and condos built mostly from the 1940s to the 1970s, with typical prices of roughly $300,000 to $800,000 as a broad editorial estimate as of September 2026.
• Every house has a driveway, and the Yellow Line stops have park-and-ride lots.
• Public schools are Skokie’s five elementary districts feeding Niles Township High Schools (Niles North and Niles West) and Lincolnwood District 74 feeding Niles West.
• Cook County property taxes apply, and both villages have older housing stock with 1950s-era systems worth inspecting.
• The Yellow Line is the only L service, and it does not run downtown directly; Metra’s nearest stations are in Evanston and Morton Grove.
• The drawback is a car-dependent layout and busy commercial arterials on Dempster, Touhy and Skokie Boulevard.

What to do if you’re visiting

Old Orchard and the museum are the two destinations, and both are a drive or a Pace bus from the Yellow Line; Dempster Street and downtown Skokie fill in the meals.

• A local would point out that Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria on Lincoln Avenue in Lincolnwood is the 1971 original of the deep dish chain.
• Locals will tell you Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is the main museum on Woods Drive in Skokie, with a downtown Chicago location as well.
• Dempster Street has two of the suburb’s longest-running counters: Kaufman’s Bagel & Delicatessen has baked bagels on site since 1960, and the 1982 original Pita Inn a few blocks west is the falafel and shawarma stop.
• Downtown Skokie near the Oakton-Skokie Yellow Line stop pairs the thin crust at Village Inn Pizzeria Sports Bar & Grill, open since 1990, with Aw Yeah Comics, the comic and toy shop the Tiny Titans creators opened in 2011.
• On Skokie Boulevard, the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts has been Northlight Theatre’s home since 1996 and books touring comedy and concerts.
• The Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park runs two miles along McCormick Boulevard with more than 60 outdoor works and a paved trail.