Best Places To Buy A House In Illinois For 2020


Using science and data, we can tell you which places in Illinois have seen home prices rising and people flocking over the past year.

Chris Kolmar, About HomeSnacks
December 27, 2019
Editor’s note: This is not investment advice and we are not financial advisers. Article updated for 2020.

Swipe left for slideshow. Article continues below.

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 Robbins according to our analysis.

Here's a look at the top ten places to buy a home in illinois for 2020:

  1. Robbins (Homes For Sale)
  2. Staunton (Homes For Sale)
  3. Olympia Fields (Homes For Sale)
  4. Centreville (Photos | Homes For Sale)
  5. Lake Barrington (Homes For Sale)
  6. Fairfield (Photos | Homes For Sale)
  7. Milan (Photos | Homes For Sale)
  8. Marseilles (Photos | Homes For Sale)
  9. Monee (Homes For Sale)
  10. Berkeley (Homes For Sale)

What's the best place to buy a home in Illinois for 2020? 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:

The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In Illinois For 2020

1. Robbins

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,003
Median Home Price: $72,500
Population Change: -3.8%
Home Price Change: 5.4%
More on Robbins: Homes For Sale | Data

2. Staunton

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,036
Median Home Price: $98,900
Population Change: 1.5%
Home Price Change: -1.7%
More on Staunton: Homes For Sale | Data

3. Olympia Fields

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 5,055
Median Home Price: $226,700
Population Change: 1.7%
Home Price Change: -0.1%
More on Olympia Fields: Homes For Sale | Data

4. Centreville

Centreville, IL

Source: Flickr User TomGazpacho | CC BY-ND 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 5,059
Median Home Price: $52,800
Population Change: -0.7%
Home Price Change: 10.2%
More on Centreville: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

5. Lake Barrington

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,069
Median Home Price: $381,000
Population Change: 0.4%
Home Price Change: 4.3%
More on Lake Barrington: Homes For Sale | Data

6. Fairfield

Fairfield, IL

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,077
Median Home Price: $66,800
Population Change: 1.7%
Home Price Change: 7.6%
More on Fairfield: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

7. Milan

Milan, IL

Source: Wikipedia User Kepper66 | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,084
Median Home Price: $101,300
Population Change: 0.0%
Home Price Change: 4.4%
More on Milan: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

The village is on the Rock River in northwest Illinois, about 4 miles upstream of its outlet to the Mississippi. The village is the site of the south campsites which comprised the Sauk and Fox village of Saukenuk, once the second-largest Native American inhabitation in North America.

8. Marseilles

Marseilles, IL

Source: Wikipedia User IvoShandor | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,088
Median Home Price: $108,600
Population Change: 0.6%
Home Price Change: 2.5%
More on Marseilles: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

9. Monee

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,124
Median Home Price: $154,600
Population Change: -0.0%
Home Price Change: -0.1%
More on Monee: Homes For Sale | Data

The town's name is a corruption of Mary, there being no R sound in Pottawatamie. Mary was the name of a trader's wife.

10. Berkeley

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,171
Median Home Price: $178,800
Population Change: -0.7%
Home Price Change: 3.9%
More on Berkeley: Homes For Sale | Data

Beginning in 1835 the area that was to become Berkeley was home to farmers, most of German and Dutch ancestry. Settling on farms that ranged from 40 to 160 acres, the Dutch tended to be truck farmers, while the Germans did general farming. This small group of farm families established a one-room school called Sunnyside in 1848. Now housed in a larger and newer building, Sunnyside Elementary School still operates today. A short distance west on St. Charles Road, farmland was donated for what is now known as Old Settler's Cemetery.

How do you determine the best places to buy a home in illinois for 2020?

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.

These Are The 10 Best Places To Retire In Illinois

To do that we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2014-2018 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:

So of the 0 cities and towns in Illinois, only 335 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.

We then ranked each place from 1 to 335 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 Robbins 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 2020

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:

Detailed List Of The Best Places To Buy A Home In Illinois

City Rank Median Home Price Population Change Home Price Increase
Robbins 1 $72,500 -3.8% 5.4%
Staunton 2 $98,900 1.5% -1.7%
Olympia Fields 3 $226,700 1.7% -0.1%
Centreville 4 $52,800 -0.7% 10.2%
Lake Barrington 5 $381,000 0.4% 4.3%
Fairfield 6 $66,800 1.7% 7.6%
Milan 7 $101,300 0.0% 4.4%
Marseilles 8 $108,600 0.6% 2.5%
Monee 9 $154,600 -0.0% -0.1%
Berkeley 10 $178,800 -0.7% 3.9%
Watseka 11 $79,800 -2.9% -1.4%
Hoopeston 12 $68,400 0.8% 6.7%
Spring Valley 13 $106,500 -0.9% -3.2%
Highwood 14 $368,400 -0.3% 1.7%
Coal City 15 $175,300 -2.6% 1.2%
Pinckneyville 16 $78,600 0.9% 1.6%
Pana 17 $75,000 -1.7% 7.3%
Creve Coeur 18 $81,300 -0.7% -2.3%
Northfield 19 $634,400 1.4% 6.3%
Carlinville 20 $90,200 5.3% 0.7%
Lake Bluff 21 $626,300 -0.7% 3.8%
Willow Springs 22 $324,300 0.3% -4.4%
Pontoon Beach 23 $93,200 -2.7% 4.1%
Spring Grove 24 $308,300 -0.9% 0.7%
Monticello 25 $158,000 1.1% -0.3%
Du Quoin 26 $67,400 -1.0% -2.6%
Elburn 27 $266,500 3.3% 2.5%
Carterville 28 $151,500 1.1% 1.7%
Hampshire 29 $194,400 1.5% -2.3%
Beardstown 30 $64,800 -1.7% -0.8%
Peoria Heights 31 $83,200 -1.0% -3.8%
Wilmington 32 $163,100 1.2% 0.6%
Mount Zion 33 $142,100 -0.1% -0.5%
Countryside 34 $216,600 -0.1% -2.9%
East Alton 35 $80,100 -1.0% -1.6%
Eureka 36 $137,700 5.4% -2.4%
Chillicothe 37 $118,300 -1.3% 0.9%
Lakemoor 38 $185,000 -2.7% 4.2%
Metropolis 39 $73,500 -0.9% -1.1%
Posen 40 $108,600 -2.5% 5.8%
Braidwood 41 $158,400 0.2% 0.8%
Bartonville 42 $111,600 -0.7% 1.5%
Johnsburg 43 $260,300 0.5% 2.7%
Geneseo 44 $144,400 -0.6% 1.3%
Greenville 45 $106,300 -2.1% 4.4%
Stickney 46 $177,400 -0.6% 2.2%
Winthrop Harbor 47 $194,200 -0.6% 3.7%
North Riverside 48 $241,300 -2.2% 10.5%
Hillsboro 49 $80,700 -5.4% 0.9%
Vandalia 50 $81,800 -1.4% -4.8%
Benton 51 $72,700 -1.0% 2.7%
Litchfield 52 $77,300 0.9% 0.5%
Mendota 53 $109,500 0.8% -0.8%
Mount Carmel 54 $78,200 0.1% 2.4%
Salem 55 $75,800 0.8% 5.9%
University Park 56 $117,800 1.1% 2.6%
Clinton 57 $80,900 -1.8% 2.3%
Orland Hills 58 $226,600 -0.6% -0.7%
Pingree Grove 59 $251,300 10.1% 32.5%
Park City 60 $17,700 0.2% -15.7%
Lincolnshire 61 $509,500 1.9% 1.3%
West Dundee 62 $266,700 2.2% 1.2%
Silvis 63 $113,200 -0.4% -0.2%
Robinson 64 $78,800 0.3% 2.7%
Sandwich 65 $170,600 -0.2% 1.9%
Princeton 66 $122,700 -0.5% 5.5%
Rockton 67 $168,100 2.9% 3.6%
Gilberts 68 $255,400 1.4% -0.3%
Inverness 69 $625,100 0.3% 0.5%
Manhattan 70 $225,200 0.6% 2.2%
South Beloit 71 $125,600 -2.2% -0.7%
Broadview 72 $149,300 -0.8% 0.6%
West Frankfort 73 $62,100 0.5% 0.3%
Murphysboro 74 $68,800 -0.0% 2.8%
Maryville 75 $197,000 1.4% 1.1%
Long Grove 76 $657,200 -0.0% 0.5%
Mascoutah 77 $159,300 1.6% -0.4%
Hawthorn Woods 78 $555,400 1.1% 2.4%
Island Lake 79 $169,300 0.1% 6.7%
Round Lake Park 80 $115,900 -1.8% -3.2%
Hillside 81 $160,800 -0.7% 4.0%
Oak Brook 82 $786,500 0.2% 0.2%
Jerseyville 83 $121,500 -0.0% 5.9%
Marengo 84 $155,800 -1.3% 1.6%
Crete 85 $166,000 -0.3% 1.9%
Mahomet 86 $229,700 1.9% 4.0%
Chester 87 $94,000 -2.2% 11.8%
Paris 88 $72,600 -0.3% 0.0%
Calumet Park 89 $110,900 1.3% 0.6%
Harwood Heights 90 $260,000 -0.6% 4.8%
Willowbrook 91 $223,900 -0.3% 2.8%
Manteno 92 $182,600 -1.7% 1.9%
Savoy 93 $224,800 1.2% 4.0%
Clarendon Hills 94 $561,700 0.4% 17.4%
Lake Villa 95 $250,400 -0.2% 4.6%
Glenwood 96 $126,200 -0.5% -0.2%
Olney 97 $83,600 -1.1% 1.7%
Riverside 98 $412,900 -0.3% 4.4%
Rock Falls 99 $75,700 0.1% 0.9%
Glencoe 100 $918,600 -0.0% -2.3%
Download The Entire Illinois Ranking Data

How Is The Area In ?

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

 Buy A House

0 thoughts on “Best Places To Buy A House In Illinois, 2020”

  1. 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?

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *