Joliet

Joliet is the Will County seat and one of the fastest-growing cities in Illinois, about 150,000 people on the Des Plaines River 40 miles southwest of the Loop, with a downtown built of local limestone around the Rialto Square Theatre, two casinos, the Route 66 Raceway and Chicagoland Speedway, and a long history in steel, stone and the old state prison that Blues Brothers fans know. The city’s older neighborhoods are bungalows and Victorians near downtown; the west side past I-55 is subdivisions from the past 25 years. It is affordable, working-class and busy with logistics jobs.

Where it is

On the map, Joliet sits at the junction of I-55 and I-80, with the downtown on the east bank of the Des Plaines River at Jefferson and Chicago streets. Metra’s Rock Island line and Heritage Corridor both end at Joliet’s Gateway Center downtown, about an hour to LaSalle Street or Union Station, and Amtrak stops there too. Route 30, Route 52 and Route 53 are the main local roads, and Larkin Avenue and Jefferson Street carry most of the traffic. The Loop is 45 minutes to over an hour by car.

What to know if you’re moving here

Joliet is one of the cheapest places to buy in the region, and the west side is where most newcomers land.

• Housing is bungalows and Victorians near downtown and subdivisions on the west side, built from the 1850s on, with typical prices of roughly $150,000 to $500,000 as a broad editorial estimate as of September 2026.
• Parking is driveways and garages, with city lots downtown.
• Public schools are Joliet Public Schools District 86, Joliet Township High School District 204 and Plainfield District 202 on the far west side.
• Will County property taxes apply and run lower than Cook and DuPage for similar houses.
• Two Metra lines end downtown, and the Rock Island express reaches LaSalle Street in about an hour.
• The drawback is truck traffic from the logistics parks along I-80 and a downtown that still empties out at night.

What to do if you’re visiting

Downtown is walkable from the Metra station, and the racetracks, the prison and the west-side steakhouse are a drive.

• On Chicago Street, the Rialto Square Theatre, a 1,966-seat movie palace from 1926, marked its centennial in 2026 with a free May 3 celebration and still books concerts and lobby tours.
• Tours of the Old Joliet Prison on Collins Street, closed since 2002, run through the Joliet Area Historical Museum at 204 Ottawa Street, whose galleries cover Route 66 and the city’s limestone and steel past.
• For a drink, Chicago Street Pub has 21 taps and original live music a block from the Rialto, while Bishops Hill Winery pours in a castle-like former diocese headquarters on Bridge Street.
• Dinner on the Route 66 side of town means Al’s Steak House on West Jefferson Street, open since 1959 for charbroiled steaks and double-baked potatoes.
• From May through September the Joliet Slammers, a Frontier League team co-owned by Bill Murray, play at Duly Health and Care Field downtown.
• Chicagoland Speedway and the Route 66 Raceway on Schweitzer Road host NASCAR, NHRA and other racing events.