Midwest · Updated October 2026
Illinois in numbers, from the same public data Locustep uses to rank all 50 states: rent, pay, taxes, safety, disaster risk and weather, plus the cities worth a look.
Two-bedroom rent
$1,724/mo
U.S. average $1,759
HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 (40th percentile, population-weighted across the state)
Rent vs. income
24.9%
of median household income for a year of two-bedroom rent
HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 ÷ 2024 ACS 1-year estimates (Census B19013)
State income tax
4.95%
top marginal rate, single filer
State revenue departments, 2026 income tax rates (sources listed per state)
Property tax
1.92%
effective rate on owner-occupied homes
Everyday costs
101.5
index, housing excluded (U.S. = 100)
BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024 (released February 2026), housing and utilities removed
Natural disaster risk
30th
percentile, FEMA expected annual loss (lower is safer)
What to weigh: the 5th heaviest state and local tax bill, the highest property taxes and the 10th highest everyday costs.
Overall, a married couple on the U.S. median household income would pay about 12.7% of it in state and local income, property and sales tax here, the 5th highest of the 50 states.
Average afternoon highs and overnight lows in Chicago (Chicago O'Hare Intl Airport station), NOAA 1991–2020 normals.
| Season | High | Low |
|---|---|---|
| Winter (Dec–Feb) | 35°F | 22°F |
| Spring (Mar–May) | 59°F | 41°F |
| Summer (Jun–Aug) | 82°F | 64°F |
| Fall (Sep–Nov) | 62°F | 46°F |
$2,011/mo two-bedroom · $1,780 one-bedroom (Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL HUD Metro FMR Area)
Chicago is a genuinely great American city — world-class architecture, museums, food and transit, with lakefront summers that make the brutal winters worth it. Housing is cheap for its size, though property taxes and neighbourhood-level violence vary sharply.
$2,011/mo two-bedroom · $1,780 one-bedroom (Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL HUD Metro FMR Area)
Naperville is an affluent western suburb of Chicago with top-rated schools, a riverwalk and a commuter train downtown. Safe, family-focused, expensive by Illinois standards, and thoroughly suburban.
$1,237/mo two-bedroom · $977 one-bedroom (Springfield, IL MSA)
Springfield is Illinois's state capital and Lincoln's town — government employment, a low cost of living and a quiet central-Illinois pace. Flat, affordable, and short on big-city amenities.
$1,212/mo two-bedroom · $961 one-bedroom (Peoria, IL MSA)
Peoria is a Illinois River city long defined by Caterpillar, with a medical school and a low cost of living. It has faced corporate downsizing, and the housing market is among the cheapest in the Midwest.
$1,173/mo two-bedroom · $996 one-bedroom (Champaign-Urbana, IL HUD Metro FMR Area)
Champaign, with neighbouring Urbana, is the University of Illinois's town — a strong engineering and computing pipeline, cheap housing and a young population surrounded by prairie farmland.
$1,172/mo two-bedroom · $896 one-bedroom (Rockford, IL MSA)
Rockford is a northern Illinois manufacturing city with aerospace suppliers and extremely low housing costs. It has struggled economically for decades, and Chicago is roughly ninety minutes away.
$1,287/mo two-bedroom · $996 one-bedroom (Bloomington, IL MSA)
Bloomington-Normal is a pair of central Illinois cities built around State Farm's headquarters and Illinois State University. Stable and affordable, with Rivian manufacturing nearby and flat farmland all around.
$1,091/mo two-bedroom · $857 one-bedroom (Decatur, IL MSA)
Decatur is a central Illinois agribusiness and manufacturing city, home to ADM's North American operations. Very cheap housing, a shrinking population and a modest downtown.
Rents: HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 (40th percentile, population-weighted across the state) (metro areas). City notes: Locustep.
Closest on Locustep’s match factors: cost, housing, taxes, safety, jobs, schools, healthcare, outdoors, disaster risk and climate.
Ranks compare the 50 states. Locustep updates these figures when the agencies publish new data.
Yes. Illinois’s top marginal income-tax rate for a single filer is 4.95% (Illinois tax law, 2026). Counting property and sales tax too, a married couple on the U.S. median household income would pay about 12.7% of income in state and local taxes (Locustep estimate, 2026).
A typical two-bedroom rents for about $1,724 a month and a one-bedroom for about $1,489, using HUD’s FY2027 Fair Market Rents averaged across the state by population. That is $35 less than the U.S. average of $1,759. Rent in the bigger metros can be well above the state figure.
Leaving housing aside, everyday prices (goods and services other than housing) index at 101.5 against a U.S. average of 100 (BEA, 2024), and the median home value indexes at 77.8 against the U.S. median (Census, 2024). Two-bedroom rent takes 24.9% of the state’s median household income of $83,211.
Illinois recorded 289.2 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2024 (FBI), the 22nd lowest rate of the 50 states. Crime varies a lot between and within cities, so check the specific area you’re considering.
The main hazards are tornadoes and severe winter storms. On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Illinois’s expected yearly loss from natural hazards sits at the 30th percentile nationally (lower is safer). Risk differs sharply by county, so look up the county too.
Places people most often weigh include Chicago, Naperville, Springfield, Peoria and Champaign. Each has a different cost, climate and character; Locustep compares their rent, disaster risk, weather and pay side by side.