Rent, home values, family budgets, pay and taxes for the Chicago metro area, county by county.
Across the 14 counties in the metro with their own Zillow home value, the median typical home is worth $341,837. Values changed +4.0% over the past year and +32.4% over five years at the median county. A typical home costs 3.20 years of median family income at the median county.
With 10% down at 7.03%, the average 30-year rate on September 24, 2026, that home costs about $2,700 a month with tax, insurance and mortgage insurance, which takes $115,728 a year of income under the usual 28% guideline. The median family can afford its own county's typical home in none of the 14 counties, against 44.9% of counties nationally. Try it with your own income.
The most expensive counties in the metro are DuPage County, IL ($446,623), Lake County, IL ($401,229) and Kendall County, IL ($399,731); the least expensive are Newton County, IN ($228,131), Lake County, IN ($254,401) and Jasper County, IN ($302,243).
The Economic Policy Institute prices what a modest but adequate standard of living costs in every county. In the median county of the metro, that comes to $53,281 a year for one adult and $117,547 for two adults and two children, of which $19,584 is childcare, against national averages of $47,367 and $101,771. Median family income is $106,110 in the median county.
Prices across Illinois as a whole run exactly the national average and rents 6.1% below the national average, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis's state measure. Median pay across all jobs in the state is $51,960 a year. Illinois's top income tax rate on wages is 4.95%. These are statewide figures, not measured for the metro itself. The metro spans parts of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Compare a salary with another state or work out take-home pay.
| Cook County, IL | $344,339 | +5.3% | $2,322 | $102,297 | $109,645 |
| DeKalb County, IL | $303,352 | +5.4% | $1,421 | $93,970 | $116,484 |
| DuPage County, IL | $446,623 | +4.2% | $2,137 | $136,376 | $134,094 |
| Grundy County, IL | $326,662 | +3.9% | $1,385 | $109,922 | $104,461 |
| Jasper County, IN | $302,243 | +3.5% | — | $95,030 | $104,464 |
| Kane County, IL | $387,210 | +4.5% | $2,102 | $116,477 | $123,476 |
| Kendall County, IL | $399,731 | +2.8% | $2,353 | $119,150 | $120,698 |
| Kenosha County, WI | $339,334 | +6.9% | $1,697 | $100,790 | $124,624 |
| Lake County, IL | $401,229 | +5.9% | $2,242 | $132,828 | $122,206 |
| Lake County, IN | $254,401 | +1.7% | $1,465 | $85,329 | $100,655 |
| McHenry County, IL | $372,372 | +4.4% | $1,994 | $121,624 | $126,699 |
| Newton County, IN | $228,131 | +3.9% | — | $79,235 | $100,149 |
| Porter County, IN | $334,922 | +2.4% | $1,492 | $102,006 | $104,160 |
| Will County, IL | $379,299 | +2.5% | $2,376 | $124,227 | $118,610 |
A dash means the source publishes no figure for that county. Metro membership follows Zillow's own county-to-metro assignment.
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Cost of living · Income tax · Child care costs
Metro areasChicago, IL
Run the numbersTake-home pay in Illinois · What a salary is worth in Illinois · How much rent you can afford · What a car costs in Illinois
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