Gary, IN

Gary is the Indiana steel city on the south shore of Lake Michigan, founded in 1906 by U.S. Steel and named for its chairman, and the Gary Works is still the largest integrated steel mill in North America. The city lost more than half its population after the 1960s and has miles of vacant buildings, but it also has Marquette Park’s beach and the Indiana Dunes National Park on its east edge, and Miller Beach, the lakefront neighborhood that Chicagoans know best, with a South Shore Line stop, a small business district on Lake Street and houses in the dunes. Gary is the Jackson family’s hometown, 25 miles from the Loop.

Where it is

On the map, Gary runs along the lake from Hammond east to Portage, with the mill and the port on the lakefront, the downtown along Broadway south of the tracks, and Miller Beach at the east end along Lake Street and Grand Boulevard. The South Shore Line stops at Gary Metro Center downtown and at Miller, about an hour to Millennium Station. I-90 (the Indiana Toll Road), I-94 and I-65 all pass through, with exits at Broadway and Grant Street, and US 12 and US 20 follow the lake. The Loop is 40 minutes to an hour by car.

What to know if you’re moving here

Gary is the cheapest place to buy anywhere near Chicago, and Miller Beach is a different market from the rest of the city.

• Housing is bungalows and historic homes in the older neighborhoods and dune cottages and newer houses in Miller, with typical prices of roughly $50,000 to $200,000 as a broad editorial estimate as of September 2026, and Miller lakefront houses well above that.
• Parking is driveways and garages; street parking is easy everywhere.
• Public schools are the Gary Community School Corporation, which was under state control from 2017 to 2024, plus charter and Catholic options.
• Indiana’s 1 percent homestead property tax cap applies, and Gary’s tax bills are low in absolute terms.
• Two South Shore Line stops serve the city, and the Miller stop is a walk from Lake Street’s shops.
• The drawback is vacancy and crime in much of the city, and the mill’s air quality on the lakefront; Miller Beach residents and the rest of Gary describe very different daily lives.

What to do if you’re visiting

Miller Beach is the destination, walkable from its South Shore stop, and the Dunes are next door; Lake Street’s small business strip runs from the tracks up toward the beach.

• Marquette Park in Miller Beach has a free beach, a lagoon, an Aquatorium built as a 1921 bathhouse and lake views of the Chicago skyline.
• Rotating shows at the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts change every five or six weeks, and the nonprofit behind the center runs a Sunday farmers market on Lake Street from June through September.
• Coffee in the morning and cocktails at night both come from Tiny’s Coffee Bar, which took over the 1941 Miller Bakery building at 555 S Lake St in 2023.
• Street tacos and a tequila list built on small distilleries are the draw at Estella’s Cantina, and a block away Miller Pizza Company has been making Chicago-style pizza since 1985.
• Breakfast bagels with house spreads come from Clutch Bagels & Spreads at 444 S Lake St, and Indie Indie Bang! Bang! at 625 S Lake St is the gift and apparel boutique for a beach-day souvenir.
• Indiana Dunes National Park’s West Beach, just east of Miller, has dune trails and a swimming beach with a parking fee.