Most Expensive Places To Live In Illinois For 2020

The 10 Most Expensive Places To Live In Illinois For 2020

1. Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a village in Vernon Township, Lake County, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The village is a northern suburb of Chicago. The population of Lincolnshire was 7,275 at the 2010 census. Lincolnshire was incorporated on August 5, 1957, from the unincorporated Half Day area when land was purchased to build a residential subdivision. The community underwent an aggressive era of expansion from 1983 to the 1990s. The Des Plaines River bisects the village, passing from north to south; Illinois Route 22 also divides the village into two parts, crossing the village from east to west.

The median income in Lincolnshire comes in at $114,826 and the median home value is $509,500 for 2020.

Highwood is a city in Moraine Township, Lake County, Illinois, United States located between Chicago and Kenosha. The city is also located just south of the Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve.

The median income in Highwood comes in at $57,321 and the median home value is $368,400 for 2020.

3. Lincolnwood

Lincolnwood is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 12,590 at the 2010 census.

The median income in Lincolnwood comes in at $93,250 and the median home value is $393,500 for 2020.

4. Evanston

Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north. It had a population of 74,486 as of 2010. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan and is the home of Northwestern University. The boundaries of the city of Evanston are coterminous with those of the former Evanston Township, which was dissolved in 2014 by voters with its functions being absorbed by the city of Evanston.

The median income in Evanston comes in at $77,848 and the median home value is $380,600 for 2020.

5. Morton Grove

Morton Grove is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 23,270, for a growth rate of 3.6% since 2000.

The median income in Morton Grove comes in at $85,476 and the median home value is $308,700 for 2020.

6. Norridge

Norridge is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 14,572 at the 2010 census.

The median income in Norridge comes in at $64,631 and the median home value is $282,200 for 2020.

7. Chicago

Chicago or ), officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7million residents, it is also the most populous city in both the state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States. It is the county seat of Cook County. The Chicago metropolitan area, often referred to as Chicagoland, has nearly 10million people and is the third-largest in the United States. Chicago has often been called a global architecture capital and is considered one of the most important business centers in the world.

The median income in Chicago comes in at $55,198 and the median home value is $246,500 for 2020.

8. Northbrook

Northbrook is an affluent suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States.

The median income in Northbrook comes in at $123,457 and the median home value is $530,900 for 2020.

9. Niles

Niles is a village in Maine and Niles townships, Cook County, Illinois, United States. The 2010 population from the U.S. Census Bureau was 29,803.

The median income in Niles comes in at $60,672 and the median home value is $273,200 for 2020.

10. Westmont

Westmont is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. Westmont is a community of 5.03 square miles in area. Westmont had a 2000 population of 24,554, a partial special census was conducted 2007 resulting in a population of 26,211, and the census of 2010 put the population at 24,685. It is located approximately 18 miles west of the Chicago Loop in the southeastern portion of DuPage County.

The median income in Westmont comes in at $63,309 and the median home value is $299,800 for 2020.

How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Prairie State For 2020

The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:

1. How much do money do I make?
2. How much do I have spend to live there?

You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.

For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it's actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.

With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2014-2018 around incomes and costs. They are:

• Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
• Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
• Median Home Price

We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).

You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Illinois to figure out which is the most expensive.

What you are left with is a "Cost of Living Index" by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.

So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 327 places in Illinois that have more than 5,000 people.

The place with the highest cost of living in Illinois according to the data is Lincolnshire. You can download the data here.