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There's a the age old question everyone thinks about when they decide to move to a city in Illinois:
Should I buy a place or rent? Well, we aren't here today to solve that problem for you exactly. We are just assuming you'll do the right thing and a buy a place. And while we are happy to tell you the best place to live in Illinois, this analysis is going to tackle the question of the best place to buy a house as an investor. That is we are going to try and determine the up and coming cities in the Prairie State.
To do that we are going to look at places in Illinois that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average. In every day terms, the "deals". The best deal in Illinois at the moment? That would be Marseilles according to our analysis.
Here's a look at the top ten places to buy a home in Illinois for 2021.
The 10 Best Places To Buy A Home In Illinois For 2021
What's the best place to buy a home in Illinois for 2021? According to our analysis, would the the ideal place to buy a home looking into the future.
The methodology that wen't into this can be a bit complicated, so we'll break it down for you in as much detail as we can below. If you're not worried about finding a deal on good places to live, check out the most expensive places to live in Illinois and, for those of you on a budget, the cheapest places to live in Illinois.
For more Illinois reading, check out:
- Best Counties To Live In Illinois
- Best Places To Raise A Family In Illinois
- Best Places To Retire In Illinois
The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In Illinois For 2021
/10
Population: 5,032
Median Home Price: $108,400
Population Change: -1.1%
Home Price Change: -0.2%
More on Marseilles: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 5,037
Median Home Price: $76,400
Population Change: 0.7%
Home Price Change: 5.4%
More on Robbins: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 5,056
Median Home Price: $108,300
Population Change: -0.6%
Home Price Change: 6.9%
More on Milan: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 5,066
Median Home Price: $99,700
Population Change: 0.6%
Home Price Change: 0.8%
More on Staunton: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 5,082
Median Home Price: $74,800
Population Change: 0.1%
Home Price Change: 12.0%
More on Fairfield: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 5,082
Median Home Price: $163,400
Population Change: -0.8%
Home Price Change: 5.7%
More on Monee: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 5,096
Median Home Price: $123,700
Population Change: 2.9%
Home Price Change: 2.3%
More on Colona: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 5,102
Median Home Price: $62,500
Population Change: -2.4%
Home Price Change: -8.6%
More on Hoopeston: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 5,116
Median Home Price: $178,700
Population Change: -1.1%
Home Price Change: -0.1%
More on Berkeley: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 5,117
Median Home Price: $379,700
Population Change: 0.9%
Home Price Change: -0.3%
More on Lake Barrington: Homes For Sale | Data
How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Illinois for 2021?
We were in real estate for almost five years and have been working on this site for another three. Suffice is to say, we've put a lot of thought into what goes into finding a good place to buy a home.
So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we'd approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in Illinois. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in Illinois with undervalued homes relative to pent up demand.
To do that we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2015-2019 and compared it to the previous vintage (2012-2016). Specifically, we used the following criteria:
- Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
- Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
- Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It's still kinda cheap)
We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still "cheap" for Illinois with the following caveats:
- Home prices had to be within 20% of the state average (Much lower than that and you get to some of the more dangerous places)
- Home prices increased in the last year, and
- Above 5,000 people (Bigger cities have more data points)
So of the 0 cities and towns in Illinois, only 336 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.
We then ranked each place from 1 to 336 for the criteria mentioned above with 1 being the best for that criteria. We averaged the rankings to create a "best place to buy" index with the place having the lowest index being the best. You can download the data here.
Turns out that Marseilles is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Prairie State.
Read on for more on these places.
There You Have It - The Best Places To Purchase A House In Illinois for 2021
There's our analysis of the best places to buy a house in Illinois. And, to be clear, we aren't necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.
In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 0 places in the state.
So if we'd could rent or buy in these cities, we'd definitely buy.
For more Illinois reading, check out:
Chris, you have missed the mark with this article. As a resident of the state of Illinois, I can truly say that this “article” is a joke. Have you actually visited this “Flyover state?” Are you serious? Obviously you are not brave enough or priveledge enough to walk through ANY neighborhood in this diverse and cultured state, where you would experience soo much more than what you pretend to let on. Your limited description is ignorant and shows you haven’t done your research thoroughly. According to your ignorance there are two types of citizens that reside here; “country bumpkins” or city folk is way limited. This article seemed like an high school student’s rushed last minute homework assignment and not anything remotely close to a well thought out, worthwhile sourced material worth mentioning. How about taking an actual trip so you can actuaslly experience the culture and residence before you attempt to give your irrelevant, lackluster advice?