O'Neil Property Group
Western Kane County horse country—a 527-person village at the crossroads of Plank Road and Burlington Road, platted in 1851 and still surrounded by ranches and cornfields. Home to Central 301’s flagship campuses, one true subdivision, and some of the most genuinely rural acreage left this close to the Fox Valley.
Burlington is one of those Kane County places most people drive through on Plank Road without realizing it’s a town—527 residents at the 2020 Census, spread across nearly seven square miles of village limits that are mostly farmland, horse ranches, and a compact core at the Plank Road and Burlington Road crossroads. It sits roughly halfway between Elgin and Sycamore, about 20 miles north of Aurora, with Pingree Grove and Hampshire a few minutes northeast and Elburn down Route 47 to the south.
The history here runs deep. Andrew Pingree—the same family Pingree Grove is named for—platted the settlement in 1851, a post office followed in 1865, and by 1878 the town supported three cheese factories serving the surrounding dairy farms. The old Illinois Central rail corridor still traces the village’s southern edge. What Burlington never did was suburbanize: while the Randall Road corridor and Route 47 filled in around it, this stayed working farm and horse country with a small downtown core.
Two things surprise buyers. First, for a village this small, Burlington is a school-district hub—Central CUSD 301 is headquartered here, and Central High School, Central Middle School, and Howard B. Thomas Grade School all sit in or beside the village. On school mornings, Burlington’s population effectively multiplies. Second, there’s exactly one true subdivision—Burlington Meadows, built in the 2000s with homes from about 2,000 to 5,100 square feet—and everything else is village-core homes, farmettes, and acreage that trades a handful of times a year, sometimes never reaching the open market.
Who fits here? Buyers who want land, animals, outbuildings, or simply room—while keeping I-90 about ten miles away and a Metra ride within roughly 20 minutes. Families targeting the Central 301 campuses at their doorstep. Who doesn’t: anyone who needs walkable retail, municipal everything, and a wide selection of homes to tour this weekend. Inventory is thin in Burlington, and patience is part of the price.
Plank Road is the spine—a Kane County arterial carrying roughly 8,000 vehicles a day—with Route 47 a few minutes east and US 20 running toward Elgin and Rockford just north. The village puts itself about 10 miles from the Route 47/I-90 interchange and 9 miles from US 20’s I-90 access, and both O’Hare and Rockford airports are within about 42 miles. For the train, most residents drive roughly 20 minutes to Metra’s UP-West line at Elburn or the Milwaukee District West line at Big Timber Road in Elgin—two different lines into the city, which gives commuters here more flexibility than most rural villages get.
Burlington is a thin, land-driven market—a handful of sales a year, ranging from village homes to estate-scale properties. Here’s how to read it as of late summer 2026.
Recent recorded activity runs from land parcels under $100K to a $625K home sale in the three months ending June 2026, with a current Burlington Meadows listing asking $885K. In a market this thin there is no meaningful “median”—every property prices on its land, improvements, and outbuildings.
Only a handful of Burlington transactions record in a typical year, several of them land. Some properties pass privately—neighbor to neighbor, farmer to farmer—without ever reaching the MLS. If you’re waiting for the portal alert, you’re seeing only part of the market.
At any given moment there are roughly zero to five actives in and around the village—often weighted toward vacant land. Aggregator sites also mix in unincorporated Burlington Township and Plato Township properties, so a map-based search is the only honest way to shop here.
Move-in-ready homes have gone pending in under two months recently, while land and specialized horse properties can sit for a year or more—which is why portal “average days on market” figures for Burlington look alarming and mean almost nothing. Read each listing on its own timeline.
Burlington’s effective property tax rate runs about 2.77% with a median bill near $6,323—above the Kane County median rate of roughly 2.49%, largely reflecting the school district levy. Burlington Meadows’ larger homes average closer to $13,000. We pull the actual bill on every parcel.
Burlington Meadows is the village’s only subdivision—roughly 2,000 to 5,100 square-foot homes built in the 2000s east of South Street. Everything else is village-core housing, farmettes, and acreage. That split defines the market: two very different product types, two very different buyer pools.
One subdivision, a historic village core, and miles of horse country—here’s how the Burlington landscape actually breaks down.
The original settlement at Plank Road and Burlington Road—older homes on generous lots around the small downtown, village hall, and the Central 301 campuses. This is the most attainable entry point into Burlington when something lists, which isn’t often.
Search Burlington Homes →The village’s one true subdivision, east of South Street and south of Plank Road—single-family homes from roughly 2,000 to 5,100 square feet built in the 2000s, with a lake park, tennis court, and sidewalks. Recent sales have reached $625K, with a current listing at $885K.
Browse $500K+ Homes →The ranches, farmettes, and acreage properties along Plank Road and the township grid—barns, arenas, pasture, and workshop space on multi-acre parcels. This is the product Burlington is known for, and it’s where the market’s top sales happen.
Browse Acreage →Working farmland and buildable parcels surround the village on every side, and the village itself markets 300+ acres of development-ready ground. Land trades here regularly—some as farmland, some as future homesites. Zoning, drainage tile, and ag assessments all matter.
Browse Land →A few minutes northeast, Pingree Grove and Hampshire carry the area’s new-construction supply and everyday retail. Many buyers cross-shop all three: new build in a subdivision, or established acreage in Burlington. Different products, same commute shed.
Explore Pingree Grove →South on Route 47, Elburn anchors the Metra UP-West line and Campton Hills carries similar estate-and-acreage character with larger housing stock. Worth watching if Burlington inventory stays near zero—the rural feel extends this whole corridor.
Explore Elburn →Active MLS listings in the Burlington area, updated in real time. Fair warning: in a village this small, a short list—or no results at all—is the normal state. When that’s what you see, the smart move is to have us watch the map and the off-market channels for you.
Burlington is the headquarters town for Central Community Unit School District 301, which serves Burlington, Lily Lake, and portions of Elgin, Campton Hills, St. Charles, and Pingree Grove—about 5,000 students across seven schools. Three campuses sit in or beside the village itself.
The district high school at 44W625 Plato Road, Burlington—around 1,400 students, competing in the Fox Valley Conference. The current building opened in 1991 on the rise locals call Rocket Hill.
The district’s 8th-grade campus in Burlington, alongside the district offices at 275 South Street. Prairie Knolls Middle School in the Elgin portion of the district serves 6th and 7th grades.
Burlington’s neighborhood elementary school, one of four grade schools in the district along with Country Trails, Lily Lake, and Prairie View.
ECC operates a 118-acre campus in Burlington offering law enforcement, firefighter, and EMT training—an unusual higher-education anchor for a village this size.
Note: School and attendance boundaries in rural Kane County do not follow village limits, and they change. Always verify the current school assignment for any specific address directly with the district before you buy—our team confirms this on every Burlington-area showing.
This is the draw. Burlington’s small downtown core is ringed by horse ranches and cornfields, with dark skies and township roads made for riding. If you want pasture, a barn, an arena, or just real distance from your nearest neighbor, this is the product Burlington sells—and it’s getting rarer every year in Kane County.
Minutes west of the village, this 820-acre Kane County preserve protects remnant prairie never broken by plow—35 acres of it a dedicated Illinois Nature Preserve—with hiking, equestrian trails, and picnic shelters. In May 2026 it became home to Kane County’s first bison herd in more than 200 years.
Friday nights at Central High School’s Rocket Hill, district events, and youth sports give Burlington a civic rhythm most 500-person villages don’t have. The Central 301 campuses effectively function as the town’s community centers.
Seasonal farm stands, harvest traffic you learn to plan around, and a dairy-and-cheese heritage that goes back to the 1870s. The agricultural calendar still sets the pace here, and most residents consider that a feature, not a drawback.
Groceries and everyday retail run through Pingree Grove and Hampshire about ten minutes away, with the full Randall Road corridor in Elgin roughly 25 minutes out. Residents do their errands out there and come home to the quiet.
Burlington sits between Metra’s UP-West line at Elburn and the Milwaukee District West line at Big Timber Road in Elgin—each about 20 minutes—plus I-90 access roughly ten miles north. For a rural village, the commuting options are unusually good.
Burlington buyers generally want one of two things: acreage—horse setups, outbuildings, room for equipment—or a larger 2000s-built home in Burlington Meadows with the Central 301 campuses minutes away. Both come with quiet township roads and a commute that still works via I-90 or two Metra lines. Nobody lands here by accident.
Housing costs span more than almost any market I cover—from land parcels under $100K to Burlington Meadows homes that have listed at $885K. The effective property tax rate runs about 2.77% with a median bill near $6,323, though larger newer homes pay roughly double that. Fuel and drive time are the hidden line items of rural life.
Many properties in and around Burlington run on private well and septic—budget for professional inspections on both, because they’re the two most expensive surprises in rural transactions. Heating may be propane rather than natural gas, and internet options genuinely vary parcel to parcel. We verify utilities per address before anyone writes an offer.
Your address will say Burlington 60109—the village has had its own post office since 1865—your groceries will come from Pingree Grove, Hampshire, or the Randall Road corridor, and your school calendar will revolve around Central 301. In exchange: horse country, prairie preserves, and a 527-person village that never gave up its rural identity while Kane County grew up around it.
Our office is at 201 E Veterans Parkway in Yorkville, and we work the Route 47 corridor from Yorkville to Hampshire every week. We know which Burlington parcels have sold quietly, which owners might entertain an offer, and what acreage actually trades for out here.
Horse properties, farmettes, and land deals run on details subdivisions never see: wells and septic, ag assessments, drainage tile, easements, zoning, and the real value of barns and arenas. We handle these transactions across Kane County and bring that checklist to every Burlington showing.
In a village where only a handful of properties list each year, waiting on the MLS is a strategy for missing out. For committed buyers we run map-based searches, watch township parcel activity, and approach owners directly—the way many Burlington sales actually happen.
With a handful of comps and huge variation between them—village homes, Meadows two-stories, horse farms—automated estimates are useless here. We build valuations from parcel-level detail so sellers don’t leave money on the table and buyers don’t overpay.
Professional photography, strategic pricing, targeted marketing, contract negotiation, and closing coordination—the same full stack we bring to every listing, tuned for rural properties where drone photography and land documentation actually move the sale.
Our Google reviews tell the story: responsive communication, local expertise, and results. We earn referrals by delivering a level of service that national platforms and discount brokerages can’t match.
Real results from real clients. Here’s what buyers and sellers say about working with our team.
The process of selling our home with Ryan was as seamless as one could hope for! He was so professional and supportive throughout the entire process.
Working with O’Neil Property Group was hands-down one of the best decisions I’ve made as a first-time investor. Kealan and his team guided me through every step.
Kealan was great to work with and made selling our house easy. We would definitely call O’Neil Property Group again!
Wow what a great experience. Kealan and his team sold my house very quickly and had multiple offers.
Loved working with Kealan to buy our home in Yorkville. Very knowledgeable and got us our dream home in a tough market. Highly recommend.
Kealan executed a perfect home sale and home purchase strategy to meet our expectations. We reached sales price, purchase price, and timing goals.
Whether you’re holding out for horse-country acreage, eyeing Burlington Meadows, or selling a property that portals will never price correctly, our team is ready to help you make the right move.
