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Community Overview

Twenty-five miles north of the Chicago Loop, the City of Highland Park is nestled along beautiful Lake Michigan for nearly five miles, in the heart of the North Shore. Residents will tell you that it’s more than living in the heart; it’s living with heart that creates one of the largest, most vibrant, progressive towns north of Chicago. Residents, businesses, and visitors enjoy our friendly neighborhood shops, nine distinctive business districts, diverse restaurants and entertainment, parks and an award-winning beach. Ravinia Festival, numerous events, and festivals fill the community with art and culture. Our diverse housing stock, great schools, and services exceed the needs of our multi-generation families, and create a community full of spirit and energy. Metra train stations and Pace bus stops located throughout the City make Highland Park easily accessible. That’s why nearly 30,000 residents and over 900 businesses are proud to call Highland Park home.

Highland Park is a community that is driven by a collective desire to work together to shape our future, starting with fresh thinking and appreciating our city as a place where new ideas and approaches are embraced.

Landscape
Abundant with ravines and wild flowers, the City has enhanced the community's backdrop with a carefully planned approach for reforestation, public flower gardens and preservation of open space. Annually, since 1980, the Arbor Day Foundation has awarded Highland Park their highest national honor, Tree City USA. Highland Park's neighborhoods are filled with the perfect mix of housing, ranging from historic colonials that date back to the mid-1800s, to award-winning contemporary homes and comfortable downtown condominiums. The City is accessible to one of Chicago's major expressways, Interstate 94, with the Illinois Tollway just minutes away and O'Hare International Airport only 18 miles away. 

At the southern end of the City, on more than 36 acres of beautifully landscaped and wooded land, lies Ravinia Festival - Highland Park's world-class summer venue of the performing arts. The festival has been attracting lovers of music and dance from throughout Chicagoland and the world since 1899.