Sturtevant, WI

Sturtevant has had four names, and each one came from the railroad or the factory beside it. Wikipedia's village article says the place began as Parkersville, became Western Union Junction for the rail junction, then Corliss, and was renamed Sturtevant in 1923 when the Massachusetts-based B. F. Sturtevant Company opened a plant.

The junction is the reason the village exists. The same article describes Sturtevant as the crossing point of two Milwaukee Road main lines, the north-south Chicago and Milwaukee line and the east-west Racine and Southwestern line, both now operated by Canadian Pacific's Soo Line subsidiary. Great American Stations dates the Western Union Railroad to 1852, says the town was renamed Corliss in 1901 for the Brown Corliss Engine Company, and dates the Sturtevant purchase of the factory to October 1923. Corliss incorporated as a village on October 28, 1907.

The railroad history is still on display. The Western Union Junction Railroad Museum, established in 1992, shows Milwaukee Road boxcars, a caboose, a Fairmont speeder and signals across from the site of the old depot. Great American Stations adds that the original 1901 Milwaukee Road depot was moved in four pieces on October 25, 2009 to Linwood Park, with Canadian Pacific paying half of the $36,000 cost, after a new Amtrak station opened in 2006.

Sturtevant is a village, an incorporated municipality with its own board and tax line. The Census Bureau's 2024 gazetteer gives it 4.10 square miles of land and no water. The Department of Revenue's 2025 Town, Village and City Taxes report counts 7,067 residents on January 1, 2025, and a full value of $1,121,939,300.

Village Hall is at 2801 89th Street. The village's About page, archived in May 2026 because the live site blocks automated fetches, describes Sturtevant as 10 minutes from the City of Racine, 30 minutes from Milwaukee and an hour from Chicago, with easy access to I-94. Wikipedia lists a village president and a six-member board. Its 2026 budget lists the services the village buys by contract: fire and EMS from South Shore Fire, police from the Racine County Sheriff's Office, plus its assessor, planning, IT and a YMCA recreation program.

The village is surrounded by Mount Pleasant on most sides, and the Sturtevant 53177 ZIP covers much more than the village. I ran addresses through the Census Bureau's geocoder on October 5, 2026. Ives Grove Golf Links and several acreage listings with Sturtevant addresses are in the Village of Yorkville, and Case High School, which serves Sturtevant, is in Mount Pleasant. Coming from Lake County, Illinois, where most towns have their own post office boundary, this is the first thing I would check: the tax bill names the municipality and the school district.

Sturtevant's Amtrak station is the reason most Illinois buyers have heard of it. Great American Stations says the station at 9900 East Exploration Court opened on August 14, 2006, replacing the downtown depot. Wikipedia's station article lists 170 parking spaces, two side platforms and track owned by CPKC, and annual ridership of about 56,000 in fiscal 2025.

The service is the Hiawatha. Amtrak's Hiawatha page describes seven round trips a day between Chicago and Milwaukee, six on Sundays, stopping at Milwaukee's downtown and airport stations, Sturtevant, Glenview and Chicago Union Station. The printed 2026 Hiawatha timetable, valid March 2026 to March 2027, lists seven southbound departures from Sturtevant, with rides to Chicago Union Station of 66 minutes on most trains and 73 to 74 on two, and 29 to 31 minutes north to downtown Milwaukee.

The live data shows fewer trains right now. In Amtrak's schedule data published October 5, 2026, I counted 6 Hiawatha trains in each direction at Sturtevant on weekdays, with rides to Chicago scheduled at 76 minutes (84 on the first morning train) and to Milwaukee at 39 to 41 minutes. Weekends had 5 or 6 each way. That gap usually means a temporary schedule, so check the week you plan to ride. The station also gets one daily Borealis train each way since May 21, 2024, when the Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Paul service began, per the station article.

Parking is a village business. A March 2025 station write-up gives $10 a visit, good for up to 30 days, after a February 2025 increase, with monthly, six-month and annual passes sold by the village. The station is unstaffed, with a ticket machine and an indoor waiting area. The village's 2026 budget carries $70,000 in parking revenue and $80,000 in Amtrak expense-sharing revenue in its train depot fund, which means the village, not Amtrak, runs the building and lot day to day.

More trains are planned without dates. WisDOT's Chicago-Milwaukee page says planned improvements include 10 round trips a day, and the Hiawatha article) says a $72.8 million federal grant awarded in October 2024 for a freight bypass at Milwaukee's Muskego Yard unlocks an eighth round trip.

For a Lake County, Illinois buyer, the honest read is that the Hiawatha does not stop in Lake County. Glenview is the nearest stop to Vernon Hills. The train helps most if you work in the Loop or in downtown Milwaukee.

Sturtevant is mostly owner-occupied houses on village lots. The Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey counts 1,914 housing units. About 71% (1,351) are detached single-family houses, about 127 are attached single-family homes, and about 321 are in buildings of 5 to 9 units. Of 1,914 occupied homes, 1,568, about 82%, are owner-occupied. The margins of error are wide in a village this size.

The stock comes in two big waves. The survey's median year built is 1979, against 1968 for Racine County. About 365 homes date from the 1960s and 246 from the 1970s. The 2000s were the biggest decade, with about 458 homes, and the 1990s added about 275. Only about 288 predate 1950.

Values sit close to the county's. The survey's median owner-estimated value is $253,800, against $251,400 countywide. Most owner-occupied homes fall between $150,000 and $500,000, and the survey counts only about 43 valued at $500,000 or more.

The Department of Revenue's 2025 equalized values show how commercial the village is. Residential property is $517.3 million, only about 46% of the $1.12 billion total. Commercial property is $502.5 million, about 45%, and manufacturing $99.5 million, about 9%. That business base is large for a 4-square-mile village and matters for taxes and for the plant closures described below.

Zillow's home value index, which tracks a typical mid-tier home, put Sturtevant at $290,940 in August 2026, up 4.6% from $278,199 in August 2025 and 7.3% from $271,071 in August 2024. In the same month Racine County was $318,751, the Village of Mount Pleasant $350,292, Union Grove $341,532 and the City of Racine $222,732.

Sales data depends on the boundary. RealtyTrac put the median sold price for the 53177 ZIP at $281,500 in September 2026, up 1.1% from $278,400 a year earlier. Movoto's market page showed a September 2026 median sold price of $365,000 and 18 days on market, against 32 a year earlier. Movoto's search area reaches beyond the village, so I would treat the RealtyTrac and Zillow figures as closer to the village itself.

Few homes are for sale at once. Movoto's listing page on October 5, 2026 showed 8 listings, from $249,900 to a $2,700,000 tract of 26.31 acres, with a median list price of $365,000. Some of those, on 58th Road, Fox Haven Chase and County Highway H, carry Sturtevant addresses but may be outside the village. Movoto's new-construction results for Sturtevant showed only Mount Pleasant subdivisions.

Sturtevant is not a luxury or lakefront market. Its value is the train, the interstate and a price point below most of the surrounding villages. I would price a home on its street, its era and its distance from the rail lines and the industrial parks.

Sturtevant has one tax rate. Racine County's 2025 mill rate sheet lists $16.126391 per $1,000 of assessed value for the village, with the Racine Unified School District. That is net of the state school levy credit and before the lottery and gaming credit and the first dollar credit.

Assessments track market value closely. The Department of Revenue's 2025 report puts the assessment level at 0.97 and the effective full-value rate at 1.563% after credits. For comparison, the same report gives 1.566% for Mount Pleasant, 1.369% for Union Grove, 1.256% for Yorkville and 2.218% for the City of Racine.

A worked example at Zillow's typical August 2026 value of $290,940. At a 0.97 ratio the assessment would be about $282,200. At $16.126391 per $1,000, the 2025 bill would be about $4,551 before the two credits. The DOR's November 2025 report says the lottery and gaming credit, for a primary residence only, is figured on the first $27,000 of value and averaged $190 statewide for 2025-26.

The school levy has a recent referendum in it. Racine Unified voters approved a $190 million operating referendum over five years on April 1, 2025, which WUWM reported at about $35 a year per $100,000 of value.

One tax increment district, TID 4, holds about $206 million of the village's value outside the general levy; the 2026 budget projects $3,477,979 in increment for it this year. When a TID closes, that value returns to the general tax base.

Wisconsin's real estate transfer fee is $0.30 per $100 of value. This is general information, not tax advice; your bill depends on the parcel, your credits and the assessor.

Sturtevant's large commercial base comes from its business parks. Racine County's economic development corporation lists Renaissance Business Park, at 10155 Washington Avenue, at 301 acres with 24.3 available, municipal sewer and water and a TID, about 1.5 miles east of I-94.

2026 was a hard year for the parks. BizTimes reported on March 17, 2026 that UNFI would close its 425,000-square-foot distribution center on Highway H, eliminating 443 jobs, and on March 13 that Cree Lighting would end manufacturing at its Washington Avenue headquarters with 172 layoffs. Racine County Eye noted that the village had put $9.5 million into attracting UNFI in 2012. The former Cree campus, about 642,000 square feet on 30 acres, was listed at $45 million in September 2026, zoned C-1 and I-1 with a 1.8-megawatt rooftop solar array. Earlier, BRP cut 61 jobs at its Science Drive plant in June 2025, per BizTimes.

The parks also hold a college campus. Gateway Technical College's SC Johnson iMET Center is at 2320 Renaissance Boulevard, according to a county EDC event notice from January 2025, and the village's development page lists a Home2 Suites hotel among recent projects.

There is growth too. WisBusiness reported in October 2025 that Grand Appliance planned a 48,000-square-foot, $4.5 million addition with TID 4 support. The village's development page lists a BRP expansion, a Home2 Suites hotel and smaller projects, and its Community Development Authority held a public open house on a village redevelopment plan on March 5, 2026.

The biggest neighbor is Microsoft. WPR reported on June 23, 2026 that Microsoft's first data center on a 315-acre site in Mount Pleasant was fully operational, with a second expected by 2028. Racine County's EDC Microsoft page puts Microsoft's land in Mount Pleasant at 1,575 acres and its planned investment at about $7.3 billion, and WPR reported that Mount Pleasant approved site plans in January 2026 for up to 15 more Microsoft data centers. The village posted the DNR's April 28, 2026 hearing notice on the data centers' air permit changes for the site at 4800 90th Street.

For a homeowner, the closures matter mostly through the tax base. Empty or sold plants can be reassessed, and that shifts the levy. I would watch the Cree campus sale and the UNFI building's next use before assuming next year's bill.

The largest housing project in recent years is on Durand Avenue. The county EDC reported in June 2023 that Sawall's Courtyard at Cobblestone Park would build 228 apartment units in seven buildings plus two retail buildings on Highway 11 north of Fleet Farm, inside TID 4, adding about $30 million in value, with the first building targeted for September 2023.

Roads are the near-term work. The village's 2026 paving page lists drainage repairs along the railroad on 90th Street between Charles Street and Michigan Avenue, with a full closure in April 2026, and rehabilitation of Charles Street and Michigan Avenue. Board agendas in spring 2026 also included TID paving plans and a request that the railroad repair the crossing at 90th Street and Wisconsin Street.

The redevelopment plan is the item to follow. The Community Development Authority's open house notice announced the plan's public session for March 5, 2026 at Village Hall. When it is adopted, its map will show which blocks the village wants to change. Before buying near the rail junction or the older commercial blocks, I would read it.

Sturtevant drinks Lake Michigan water. The Racine Water Utility provides retail water to Racine, Mount Pleasant, Sturtevant, Elmwood Park and North Bay, and its billing page says Sturtevant customers pay public fire protection as a charge on the water bill based on meter size. That is a real difference from the well-and-septic towns to the west.

Sewer and storm water are the village's own. Its utility page describes 30 miles of sewer mains, cleaning of about 20% each year, two lift stations monitored around the clock, and treatment by the City of Racine billed by the gallon.

Trash is weekly. Johns Disposal collects garbage every Thursday and recycling every other week, split east and west of 90th Street, with bulk pickup by appointment up to once a month. The village's yard waste site at the end of 87th Street is open to residents on Saturdays from April 11 to November 21, 2026 and on summer Wednesday evenings, with free compost and mulch.

All of Sturtevant is in the Racine Unified School District, which the Census geocoder confirms for village addresses. Wikipedia's district article notes that Sturtevant was one of seven municipalities that formed the district in 1961, and that a 2015 advisory referendum on leaving it narrowly passed without the village leaving.

Two district schools are in the village. Schulte School, at 8515 Westminster Drive, serves 4-year-old kindergarten through 8th grade per federal school data, and moved into a new building for the 2025-26 school year. The REAL School, a district school for grades 6 through 12, is on Stellar Avenue near the Amtrak station. Wikipedia's village article names Case High School, on Washington Avenue in Mount Pleasant, as the high school for the village.

Racine Unified offers school choice programs, and attendance areas are set by the district. Confirm the assigned schools for a specific address with the district, because I could not retrieve its boundary map.

Sturtevant sits between I-94 and Racine. Highways 11 (Durand Avenue) and 20 (Washington Avenue) run east and west through the area to the interstate, and County H runs north and south.

I ran free-flow routes on the OSRM routing engine, which uses OpenStreetMap roads and no traffic, from Village Hall on October 5, 2026. Treat these as best-case estimates. Vernon Hills is about 40 road miles and 52 minutes. Downtown Chicago is about 66 miles and 84 minutes. O'Hare is about 63 miles and 95 minutes. Downtown Milwaukee is about 28 miles and 39 minutes, and Milwaukee's airport about 22 miles and 30 minutes.

Closer in, downtown Racine is about 7 miles and 17 minutes, Union Grove about 8 miles and 15 minutes, Burlington about 20 miles and 35 minutes, and Lake Geneva about 38 miles and 57 minutes.

For a Lake County, Illinois buyer, Sturtevant is about the same free-flow distance from Vernon Hills as Union Grove, and about 13 minutes closer to downtown Milwaukee.

The Amtrak station is about 3 road miles and 7 minutes from Village Hall by the same router, and the Amtrak section above covers its schedule. For a Loop commute, Hiawatha rides of 66 to 76 minutes plus the short drive put Union Station about an hour and a half away door to door.

Metra is the backup. Kenosha, the north end of the Union Pacific North line, is about 12 road miles and 24 minutes from Village Hall. In Metra's GTFS schedule data for the week of October 12, 2026, it had 10 weekday trains to Ogilvie and 9 back, with rides of 92 to 102 minutes, plus 8 each way on Saturdays and on Sundays. Metra makes more stops in Lake County, Illinois, including Waukegan, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest and Highland Park, which the Hiawatha does not.

Racine's bus system also serves the Sturtevant area, and the Racine-Sturtevant Trail connects by bike to Racine's lakefront trails, described below.

The village's About page says Sturtevant has seven parks, including a dog park, along with youth baseball and summer park and recreation programs run with the YMCA. The parks I could confirm by name are Fireman's Park at 9630 Charles Street; the Off-Broadway Dog Park at 8500 Broadway Street, with separate fenced areas for large and small dogs; East Park, where the 2026 budget funds skate park work; North Park; and South Park off 95th Street.

Trails connect Sturtevant to Racine. TrailLink/) describes the Racine-Sturtevant Trail as a 3.5-mile paved rail-trail from Racine's North Shore Trail to Willow Road in Mount Pleasant, open to bikes, skates, walkers and cross-country skiers. Racine County Eye's trail guide adds the 1.4-mile Racine County Bike Trail at Willow Road and links to the Pike River and Root River pathways.

The library is Racine Public Library on 7th Street in Racine, whose card page includes Sturtevant in its service area. Golf is close: Ives Grove Golf Links, Racine County's 27-hole course, is about 4 miles west on Washington Avenue in Yorkville.

The village calendar is modest. The About page lists Music in the Park on June 17 and July 15, 2026, and a village ordinance in 2026 created a community events committee to plan more.

Sturtevant is a railroad junction first, and anyone buying here should plan for trains. Wikipedia's village article describes two former Milwaukee Road main lines crossing in the village, the north-south line between Chicago and Milwaukee and the east-west line toward Burlington, both now run by Canadian Pacific's successor, CPKC, as freight lines. The north-south line also carries every Hiawatha and Borealis train.

The passenger count alone is meaningful. The station article counts 14 scheduled passenger arrivals a day, six Hiawatha trains each way plus one Borealis pair, before any freight. The Hiawatha article) puts the route's fiscal 2025 ridership at 631,990, down 5% from the year before, and the planned eighth and later round trips would add more.

Crossings are a recurring village issue. Board agendas in early 2026 included a resolution under state law asking the railroad to repair the public crossing at 90th Street and Wisconsin Street, and the 2026 paving program repaired drainage along the tracks on 90th Street. Those are the kinds of items that close a street for a week.

My advice is simple. Visit a house near the tracks at rush hour and again at night, listen for horns at the nearest crossing, and ask the seller how often trains block the roads they use. Coming from Lake County, Illinois, where many buyers know the Metra and freight lines through Libertyville and Mundelein, this is the same check with a busier junction.

Buyers looking at Sturtevant usually compare it with its neighbors, and the public numbers make the differences concrete.

On price, Zillow's August 2026 index put Sturtevant at $290,940, against $222,732 for the City of Racine, $341,532 for Union Grove, $350,292 for Mount Pleasant and $542,069 for Yorkville. Sturtevant sits between Racine and the newer suburbs around it.

On taxes, the Department of Revenue's 2025 effective rates were 1.563% for Sturtevant, 1.566% for Mount Pleasant, 2.218% for the City of Racine, 1.369% for Union Grove and 1.256% for Yorkville. Sturtevant and Mount Pleasant are nearly identical, and both are far below the city.

On schools, Sturtevant, Mount Pleasant and Racine share the Racine Unified district. Union Grove and Yorkville are in small K-8 districts, feeding Union Grove High.

On utilities, Sturtevant, Racine and most of Mount Pleasant are on Lake Michigan water and public sewer. Most of Yorkville is on wells and septic, and Union Grove runs its own village water utility.

On transit, Sturtevant is the only one of the five with a passenger station inside its borders.

The short version: Sturtevant trades a higher tax rate and the Racine Unified district for the train, Lake Michigan water and lower prices than its suburban neighbors. The Union Grove guide and the Yorkville guide cover the two western options in detail.

Sturtevant closed its own police department on November 16, 2025, and the Racine County Sheriff's Office took over police service, WISN reported. Fox6 reported that the village budgeted more than $551,000 in savings from the change. Fire and EMS come from South Shore Fire Department Station 9, at the Village Hall address and staffed around the clock. I don't characterize the safety of any town or neighborhood. If you want the data, ask the Sheriff's Office, or look up any agency on the FBI's Crime Data Explorer.

The Hiawatha reaches Chicago Union Station in about 66 to 76 minutes, I-94 is minutes away, Vernon Hills is about 52 minutes in free flow, and the typical home was $290,940 in August 2026, below most of the surrounding villages. Water comes from Lake Michigan and sewer is public.

The trade-offs are specific. The 2025 tax rate of about $16.13 per $1,000 of assessed value is higher than in Union Grove or Yorkville. Two large employers announced closures in March 2026, and the village's tax base leans heavily on commercial property. Freight and passenger trains run through the junction, and the industrial parks and a large data center campus are close by. There is no lakefront and no estate market.

The one thing I would never skip here is the boundary check. A Sturtevant 53177 address can be in Mount Pleasant or Yorkville, with different taxes and schools.