O'Neil Property Group
A southeast DuPage County city of about 22,000 whose motto—“A Nice Place to Live”—holds up: quiet subdivision streets bordered by the 2,500-acre Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve, I-55 on the doorstep, Hinsdale South High School in town, and housing that runs from mid-$200Ks condos to the $1M+ Darien Club.
Darien calls itself “A Nice Place to Live,” and after years of selling homes here I can tell you the motto is accurate rather than aspirational. About 22,000 people live in this corner of southeast DuPage County, bordered by Downers Grove and Westmont to the north, Willowbrook and Burr Ridge to the east, and Woodridge to the west. What sets the address apart from every one of those neighbors is the southern border: the Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve, 2,500 acres of trails and savanna wrapping Argonne National Laboratory. Not many Chicago suburbs end at a forest instead of another suburb.
The city is young by suburban standards—incorporated in 1969 out of the Marion Hills, Brookhaven, Farmingdale, and Hinsbrook subdivisions—and that origin still describes the town: Darien is a city of subdivisions rather than a downtown-and-depot commuter village. Retail and dining concentrate along the 75th Street and Cass Avenue corridors, anchored by Darien Towne Centre and Brookhaven Plaza, and the civic calendar runs through the Darien Park District and the summertime Darien Fest. The quirkiest landmark in town is Castle Eden, a 1903 White House replica that now anchors the Carmelite spiritual center on Cass Avenue. Argonne National Laboratory sits just across the preserve—one of the region’s major employers, effectively next door.
The housing stock is overwhelmingly single-family resale, built from the 1960s through the 1990s, and it covers more price range than people expect. Condo and townhome communities like Woodmere, Bailey Park, Villas of Carriage Green, and the Townhomes of Violet Farm generally trade from the mid $200Ks into the $400Ks. The core detached market—Brookhaven, Marion Hills, Hinsbrook, Tara Hill, and the several Farmingdale subdivisions—mostly runs from the mid $300Ks into the $600Ks. At the top, Sawmill Creek backs up to the forest preserve, and the Darien Club and Carriage Way West carry sales from the high $600Ks past $1.4M. New construction is rare—this is a built-out city with occasional infill—so updated, move-in-ready homes carry a premium.
Darien is not a flashy market and does not try to be one. It is a well-kept, well-located city where the same money buys noticeably more house than it does across the Burr Ridge or Hinsdale lines—and where the forest preserve, the Sportsplex, and the I-55 ramps do the everyday heavy lifting.
Darien has no Metra station of its own—the trade-off for those forest-preserve borders—but the BNSF line’s stations in Westmont, Clarendon Hills, and Downers Grove sit roughly ten minutes north, with service to Chicago Union Station in about 25 to 40 minutes depending on express versus local; the Heritage Corridor stop in Lemont is an alternative south of the preserve. Most Darien commuters drive, and the road access is the real story: I-55 runs along the city’s southern edge with interchanges at Cass Avenue and Lemont Road, I-355 picks up minutes west, and I-294 minutes east. Midway is roughly half an hour up I-55, O’Hare about 40 minutes via I-294, and Pace buses connect to surrounding towns and the BNSF stations.
How the Darien market typically behaves—and where the value sits. For current numbers on any street, call or text Kealan at 630-381-4995.
Darien sales typically land in the mid-to-high $400Ks overall—clearly below neighboring Burr Ridge and Hinsdale for comparable space, and competitive with Downers Grove and Woodridge. That gap is a big part of why buyers land here.
Condos and townhomes from the mid $200Ks, the core detached market through the $300Ks–$600Ks, and the Darien Club and Carriage Way West running from the high $600Ks past $1.4M. One city, most budgets.
Well-priced, updated Darien homes typically go under contract within a few weeks; dated homes and the upper price tiers take longer and negotiate harder. Preparation and accurate pricing decide which half of that range you live in.
Sales here typically close within a point or two of asking, and a meaningful share of well-prepared listings clear it. Pricing off subdivision-level comps—not city-wide averages—is what produces that outcome.
Active listings usually number in the dozens—a few months of supply in a typical season, more balanced than the tightest DuPage towns. Buyers get a little more room to breathe here; sellers still win with preparation.
Darien’s effective property tax rate runs around 2%, with typical bills for a mid-priced home in the $7,000s—slightly below the DuPage County average as a share of value. Always verify the exact bill and exemptions on any specific property.
From the original 1960s subdivisions to estate streets by the forest preserve—the areas our buyers ask about most.
Farmingdale, Farmingdale Village, Ridge, South, Heights, and Terrace cover much of west Darien—established single-family streets that mostly trade from the mid $400Ks into the $600Ks, with attached pockets below that.
See Available Homes →Two of the founding subdivisions Darien incorporated around in 1969—ranches, split-levels, and two-stories that generally run from the $300Ks into the $500Ks, with renovated homes reaching higher. Where many first-time Darien buyers land.
See $300K–$500K Homes →Northern Darien neighborhoods in the blocks around Hinsdale South High School—solid 1960s–1980s housing stock that typically trades through the $400Ks–$600Ks, convenient to both 75th Street retail and the Westmont Metra station.
See Available Homes →South-central Darien favorites—Tara Hill’s established two-stories generally in the $400Ks–$600Ks, and Sawmill Creek’s larger homes backing toward Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve reaching well beyond that. Preserve-adjacent lots are the prize.
See Larger Homes →Darien’s top tier: the gated-feel Darien Club with estate homes that sell from the $900Ks past $1.4M, and Carriage Way West running from the high $600Ks into the $900Ks. Burr Ridge scale without the Burr Ridge price.
See Luxury Listings →Woodmere, Bailey Park, Villas of Carriage Green, the Townhomes of Violet Farm, and Old Oak carry Darien’s attached market, generally from the mid $200Ks into the $400Ks—the most realistic low-maintenance entry into southeast DuPage.
See Condos & Townhomes →Every active listing in Darien, pulled directly from the MLS. Use the filters to narrow by price, beds, or property type.
Several districts serve Darien, by address. Much of the city feeds Darien District 61, Cass District 63, or Center Cass District 66 for elementary and junior high; for high school, Districts 61 and 63 feed Hinsdale Township District 86—whose Hinsdale South campus sits right in Darien—while District 66 addresses feed Community High School District 99. Which district a given home feeds is a street-by-street question here.
The District 86 campus located in Darien itself, on Clarendon Hills Road—the high school for Darien D61 and Cass D63 addresses.
Darien District 61’s junior high, serving much of central and northern Darien along with parts of neighboring towns.
District 61’s elementary buildings: Mark DeLay for the early grades and Lace School through fifth, feeding Eisenhower Junior High.
Cass District 63 serves southeastern Darien—Concord Elementary into Cass Junior High, then on to Hinsdale South for high school.
Center Cass District 66 serves southwestern Darien addresses, which continue to Community High School District 99 for high school.
The District 99 campus that Center Cass D66 portions of Darien feed, just north in Downers Grove.
Note: District boundaries in Darien do not follow municipal lines, and assignments can differ block to block. Buyers should always verify the school assignment for any specific address directly with the district before writing an offer. Visit Darien District 61 →
2,500 acres of oak savanna, pine groves, and bluffs wrapping Argonne National Laboratory along Darien’s entire southern edge—a 9.5-mile main loop for hiking, trail running, biking, and cross-country skiing, plus Rocky Glen and its namesake waterfall.
The park district’s indoor sports hub on 75th Street: ice rinks with year-round hockey, skating programs and open skate, plus indoor turf for soccer and training through the winter months.
The Darien Park District maintains parks across the city—Darien Community Park’s fields, courts, and playgrounds chief among them—with sports leagues, camps, and seasonal programs running all year.
An 18-hole public course on Darien’s south side with a full practice range and banquet facilities—golf memberships without leaving town, minutes from the Cass Avenue I-55 ramp.
Darien Towne Centre and the 75th Street corridor cover big-box and everyday retail; Brookhaven Plaza adds its namesake marketplace and local dining. Oakbrook Center and downtown Downers Grove are each about 15 minutes away.
The city’s summer festival brings carnival rides, live music, and food back to the parks each year, alongside park district concerts, holiday events, and a civic calendar that punches above the city’s size.
Space, value, and green borders. Darien delivers larger lots and more house per dollar than the towns immediately east and north, with Hinsdale South High School inside the city, the Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve as a permanent southern neighbor, and I-55 access that makes Midway, the tollways, and downtown commutes manageable without a train station in town. Buyers priced out of Burr Ridge, Hinsdale, and Downers Grove routinely find their answer here.
Housing is the lever: sales typically land in the mid-to-high $400Ks overall, from the mid $200Ks for condos and townhomes, through $300Ks–$600Ks for most detached subdivisions, to the high $600Ks–$1.4M+ in Carriage Way West and the Darien Club. Comparable homes a few minutes east routinely cost dramatically more—compare Willowbrook and Westmont to see how the corridor prices.
The effective property tax rate runs around 2% of value—typical bills for a mid-priced home land in the $7,000s, slightly below the DuPage County average as a share of value. Residential SSAs aren’t a typical factor on Darien resales. The due diligence that matters here is school district verification—four feeder districts and two high school districts serve the city, street by street—plus the usual confirmation of the exact bill and exemptions on the specific property.
A quiet, well-run city that leans residential: subdivision streets, good park coverage, and retail corridors rather than a downtown. UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale and Advocate Good Samaritan in Downers Grove are both within about 15 minutes. Weekends default to Waterfall Glen, the Sportsplex, and the surrounding towns’ downtowns—all close enough to borrow. Expect competition for updated homes and preserve-adjacent lots; they are what everyone wants here.
From our Yorkville office we work DuPage, Kane, Kendall, and Will counties daily. We know how Darien prices against Burr Ridge, Willowbrook, Woodridge, and Downers Grove—and when crossing a boundary line is the smarter move for your money.
Darien’s range—mid-$200Ks condos to $1.4M estates—means city-wide averages mislead. We price and negotiate off subdivision-level comps, from Woodmere to the Darien Club, which is where accurate answers live here.
From first condo to forever home, we guide Darien buyers through school district verification, HOA review on attached homes, and competitive offer strategy on the updated listings everyone wants. First-time buyer? Start here.
Professional photography, strategic pricing, targeted marketing, contract negotiation, and closing coordination—the preparation that separates listings that clear asking from listings that sit.
Darien’s attached stock near I-55 and the BNSF corridor leases reliably. We provide rental demand analysis, cash flow projections, and access to on-market and off-market opportunities for investors building in DuPage.
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 buying, selling, or just exploring, our western suburbs team is ready to help you make the right move.
