Homewood & Flossmoor

Homewood and Flossmoor are the south suburban pair on the Metra Electric line, 25 miles from the Loop, that share a high school, a reputation for integration and some of the best-preserved housing in the south suburbs. Homewood has a downtown on Ridge Road around its Metra station with restaurants, a music venue and a Saturday farmers market; Flossmoor is quieter and wealthier, a village of Tudors and colonials laid out around golf courses, with a small downtown by its own station. Homewood-Flossmoor High School is why families choose either.

Where it is

On the map, Homewood sits along Halsted Street and Ridge Road between Hazel Crest and Flossmoor, from 175th Street south to 187th; Flossmoor continues south to Vollmer Road and east to Western Avenue, with Olympia Fields beyond. Metra Electric stops at Homewood, Flossmoor and Calumet, about 35 to 45 minutes to Millennium Station, and Amtrak stops at Homewood. I-80 and I-294 meet just north of Homewood, with exits at Halsted and Kedzie, and Dixie Highway and Governors Highway are the local roads. The Loop is 35 to 50 minutes by car.

What to know if you’re moving here

Houses here are bigger and cheaper than their North Shore equivalents, and the trade is a longer ride and higher tax rates.

• Housing is Tudors, ranches and newer construction built from the 1900s on, with typical prices of roughly $200,000 to $700,000 as a broad editorial estimate as of September 2026, with Flossmoor at the top.
• Parking is driveways and garages, and the Metra lots are large.
• Public schools are Homewood District 153 and Flossmoor District 161, both feeding Homewood-Flossmoor High School District 233.
• Cook County property tax rates in the south suburbs run higher than in the north and west, so the bill on a $400,000 house is larger than the price suggests.
• Metra Electric runs frequently and the Homewood station has Amtrak service to Champaign, Carbondale and New Orleans.
• The drawback is the tax rate and a retail base that leans on Halsted Street’s chains rather than the downtowns.

What to do if you’re visiting

Downtown Homewood on Ridge Road and Martin Avenue is walkable from the Metra station, Flossmoor’s Sterling Avenue is a two-block stroll from its own stop, and the golf courses and preserves are a short drive.

• On Harwood Avenue, Aurelio’s Pizza is the 1959 original of the south suburban thin-crust chain, in a converted factory.
• Next to the Flossmoor Metra platform, Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery has brewed in a restored 1906 train depot since 1996, and the house Pullman Nut Brown Ale has taken seven Great American Beer Festival medals.
• Across the street at 1050 Sterling Avenue, Dunning’s Market is a deli and specialty grocer under the same owner since 1997, with sandwiches made to order and a weekly Supper Club of prepared dinners.
• On Dixie Highway in Homewood, Maple Tree Inn has served Cajun and Creole cooking and New Orleans cocktails since 1974, and Balagio Ristorante at 17501 Dixie Highway does frutti di mare, chicken Vesuvio and banquets.
• Downtown Homewood’s Bergstein’s NY Delicatessen moved from Chicago Heights to 18064 Martin Avenue in May 2024 and stacks corned beef, pastrami and matzo ball soup the New York way.
• Kids get the Homewood Science Center, a nonprofit founded in 2016 at 18022 Dixie Highway with hands-on STEM exhibits, STEM Saturdays and school field trips.
• Izaak Walton Preserve in Homewood has 250 acres of trails and ponds open to the public.