You might well know some folks who live north of the Wisconsin-Illinois border, but work in Illinois.

The housing is much, much cheaper there.

The Journal Standard in Milwaukee ran a story by Lisa Schmelz last month about those coming south to work.

Here’s a McHenry County comparison she found:

”When Robert and Julia Lightbody were looking for their first home, it quickly became clear to this former McHenry County, Ill., couple that their money would go further in Wisconsin.

‘We looked at houses in McHenry County, and for what you can buy in Wisconsin, there’s just no way we were going to buy in Illinois,’

Julia Lightbody, a middle school teacher in Lake Geneva, says of the home they ultimately bought in Genoa City’s Ridgeview subdivision.

“In 2002, the couple paid $140,000 for what was then a 4-year-old, 1,800-square-foot home with three bedrooms and two baths on a 1-acre lot. Although the home had been vacant for a year and was in foreclosure, they say similar homes, on far smaller lots, in McHenry County ranged from $210,000 to $240,000. “

The reporter found “it’s not uncommon for home buyers to see a $50,000 or more price difference in homes separated by a just a few miles and the state line.”

The price gap is narrowing as land prices in Wisconsin rise, the story says.

Still, “Buyers comparing houses in popular Lake and McHenry counties find plenty of townhouses and older ranches for the same price as new houses in the Wisconsin border towns.”

The article quotes Scott Dixon of McHenry’s Dixon Residential Group. He bought 320 acres in Genoa City and developed them into a 280 industrial park and forty acres of multifamily housing, the Ponds of Genoa City.