It is an elevated station at Green Bay Road and Central Street, surrounded by a neighborhood of stores, restaurants and multi-story apartment buildings.

Just north of the station, the tracks descend to grade and pass through Wilmette on ground level.

As of 2018, Evanston Central Street is the 27th busiest of Metra's 236 non-downtown stations, with an average of 1,346 weekday boardings.

The station house contains a ticket booth as well as a coffee and pastry shop named "Upstairs Cafe" owned and run by three Evanston women, two of whom are professional bakers.

This is the closest Metra station to Northwestern University's sports complex at Ryan Field.