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If you guessed that many of Illinois' most expensive places are located around Chicago, you guessed right. The northeast corner of Illinois has a long history of exorbitant home prices, high property taxes, and people who can afford to pay these premium price tags.
Yes, Illinoisans can thank famous mobsters like Al Capone, professional athletes like Michael Jordan, and the CEOs of the state's 36 Fortune 500 companies for driving up the cost in the state's most expensive places. More importantly, you can thank HomeSnacks for creating a list of the most expensive places in Illinois for 2022 so that anyone thinking about moving to The Land of Lincoln will know how to navigate the state's pricey pockets.
Before you head down to our list of Illinois' top ten most expensive places, it's important to note how we calculated our list. First, we looked at the American Community Survey for places with at least 5,000 residents. We then looked at the home to income ratio and the rent to income ratio for each place. This left us with 328 Illinois places that will require you to make at least $63,312/year to offset your cost of living.
So, if you want to know what it's going to take to live in one of the most expensive places in one of the most expensive states in America, take a look below.
Here are the 10 most expensive places to live in Illinois for 2022:
What's the most expensive place to live in Illinois? Well, HomeSnacks crunched the numbers and discovered that Lincolnshire is the most expensive place to live in Illinois.
So hopefully Monmouth (the cheapest place to live in Illinois) can show these guys how to live on a budget in the coming years. Read on for how these places had costs rise faster than inflation.
And if you already knew these places were expensive, check out some more reading about Illinois and the most expensive cities in the country:
The 10 Most Expensive Places To Live In Illinois For 2022
1. Lincolnshire
/10
Population: 7,694
Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 1)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.3x (19th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 47.8x (24th most expensive)
More on Lincolnshire: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Lincolnshire comes in at $130,076 and the median home value is $556,900 for 2022.
2. Lincolnwood
/10
Population: 12,338
Rank Last Year: 4 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.4x (15th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 41.2x (13th most expensive)
More on Lincolnwood: Real Estate | Data
The median income in Lincolnwood comes in at $90,422 and the median home value is $394,900 for 2022.
3. Highwood
/10
Population: 5,293
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 2)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.1x (3rd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 52.8x (38th most expensive)
More on Highwood: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Highwood comes in at $74,875 and the median home value is $383,300 for 2022.
4. Morton Grove
/10
Population: 22,937
Rank Last Year: 6 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 3.7x (37th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 43.1x (16th most expensive)
More on Morton Grove: Real Estate | Data
The median income in Morton Grove comes in at $87,063 and the median home value is $326,100 for 2022.
5. Inverness
/10
Population: 7,959
Rank Last Year: 15 (Up 8)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 3.5x (53rd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 53.0x (43rd most expensive)
More on Inverness: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Inverness comes in at $185,558 and the median home value is $648,200 for 2022.
6. Evanston
/10
Population: 73,979
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 3)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.0x (5th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 57.5x (78th most expensive)
More on Evanston: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Evanston comes in at $82,335 and the median home value is $409,900 for 2022.
7. Northfield
/10
Population: 5,678
Rank Last Year: 29 (Up 20)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.9x (6th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 60.8x (111th most expensive)
More on Northfield: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Northfield comes in at $143,661 and the median home value is $699,600 for 2022.
8. Niles
/10
Population: 29,198
Rank Last Year: 10 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.6x (8th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 56.0x (67th most expensive)
More on Niles: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Niles comes in at $63,490 and the median home value is $289,800 for 2022.
9. Norridge
/10
Population: 14,465
Rank Last Year: 18 (Up 7)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 3.9x (32nd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 53.5x (50th most expensive)
More on Norridge: Real Estate | Data
The median income in Norridge comes in at $78,300 and the median home value is $308,300 for 2022.
10. Elmwood Park
/10
Population: 24,274
Rank Last Year: 13 (Up 1)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.2x (22nd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 53.2x (45th most expensive)
More on Elmwood Park: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Elmwood Park comes in at $63,312 and the median home value is $267,500 for 2022.
Methodology: How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Prairie State For 2022
The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:
- How much do money do I make?
- 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 2016-2020 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 328 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.
Summary: Taking A Chunk Out Of Your Paycheck In Illinois For 2022
Well there you have it, the places in Illinois that have the highest cost of living, with Lincolnshire ranking as the most expensive city in the Prairie State.
Here's a look at the most affordable cities in Illinois according to the data:
- Monmouth
- Hillsboro
- Olney
For more Illinois reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Illinois
- Cheapest Places To Live In Illinois
- Most Dangerous Cities In Illinois
- Best Places To Raise A Family In Illinois
- Safest Places In Illinois
- Worst Places To Live In Illinois
Detailed List Of The Most Expensive Cities In Illinois
| Rank | City | ExpensiveScore |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lincolnshire | 19.67 |
| 2 | Lincolnwood | 20.0 |
| 3 | Highwood | 24.67 |
| 4 | Morton Grove | 34.33 |
| 5 | Inverness | 35.33 |
| 6 | Evanston | 37.0 |
| 7 | Northfield | 41.0 |
| 8 | Niles | 47.0 |
| 9 | Norridge | 47.33 |
| 10 | Elmwood Park | 50.0 |
| 11 | Chicago | 50.67 |
| 12 | Skokie | 53.33 |
| 13 | Westmont | 54.67 |
| 14 | North Riverside | 58.67 |
| 15 | Willowbrook | 63.0 |
| 16 | Long Grove | 63.67 |
| 17 | Northbrook | 65.67 |
| 18 | Glenview | 66.0 |
| 19 | Schiller Park | 68.33 |
| 20 | Vernon Hills | 69.33 |
| 21 | Wood Dale | 72.5 |
| 22 | Melrose Park | 73.67 |
| 23 | Prospect Heights | 75.0 |
| 24 | Summit | 80.33 |
| 25 | Gilberts | 81.0 |
| 26 | Hillside | 81.67 |
| 27 | Schaumburg | 82.0 |
| 28 | Pingree Grove | 82.33 |
| 29 | Carbondale | 84.33 |
| 30 | Bloomingdale | 85.67 |
| 31 | Urbana | 86.0 |
| 32 | Addison | 86.67 |
| 33 | Rolling Meadows | 86.83 |
| 34 | Dekalb | 88.0 |
| 35 | Des Plaines | 88.0 |
| 36 | Bensenville | 89.0 |
| 37 | Lombard | 89.67 |
| 38 | Huntley | 91.0 |
| 39 | Lake Barrington | 93.33 |
| 40 | Harwood Heights | 93.33 |
| 41 | Burr Ridge | 94.67 |
| 42 | Forest Park | 96.0 |
| 43 | Bridgeview | 96.33 |
| 44 | Elk Grove Village | 96.67 |
| 45 | Countryside | 98.83 |
| 46 | Berwyn | 99.0 |
| 47 | Justice | 99.0 |
| 48 | Arlington Heights | 99.67 |
| 49 | Downers Grove | 100.67 |
| 50 | Glendale Heights | 100.67 |
| 51 | Mount Prospect | 101.67 |
| 52 | Chicago Ridge | 102.0 |
| 53 | Barrington | 102.0 |
| 54 | Lisle | 102.33 |
| 55 | Woodridge | 103.0 |
| 56 | Champaign | 103.33 |
| 57 | Wheaton | 104.0 |
| 58 | Darien | 104.67 |
| 59 | Palatine | 104.83 |
| 60 | Palos Heights | 105.33 |
| 61 | Oak Park | 106.0 |
| 62 | Crest Hill | 106.67 |
| 63 | Hoffman Estates | 106.83 |
| 64 | Lake Bluff | 107.33 |
| 65 | Palos Hills | 108.0 |
| 66 | Winfield | 109.67 |
| 67 | Hickory Hills | 110.67 |
| 68 | River Forest | 110.67 |
| 69 | Cicero | 111.0 |
| 70 | Park Ridge | 111.33 |
| 71 | Orland Park | 112.67 |
| 72 | Itasca | 112.83 |
| 73 | Winnetka | 113.33 |
| 74 | Westchester | 113.5 |
| 75 | Flossmoor | 113.67 |
| 76 | Lake Forest | 115.33 |
| 77 | Hinsdale | 115.33 |
| 78 | River Grove | 115.83 |
| 79 | Wheeling | 116.0 |
| 80 | Warrenville | 116.67 |
| 81 | Wilmette | 116.67 |
| 82 | Elmhurst | 117.33 |
| 83 | Worth | 118.0 |
| 84 | Lake Zurich | 118.0 |
| 85 | Shorewood | 118.0 |
| 86 | Highland Park | 118.33 |
| 87 | Clarendon Hills | 118.67 |
| 88 | La Grange | 118.67 |
| 89 | Roselle | 121.0 |
| 90 | Oak Lawn | 121.33 |
| 91 | Bartlett | 122.67 |
| 92 | Broadview | 123.0 |
| 93 | Naperville | 123.33 |
| 94 | Posen | 123.33 |
| 95 | Buffalo Grove | 123.33 |
| 96 | Elburn | 123.67 |
| 97 | Villa Park | 124.0 |
| 98 | Spring Grove | 125.0 |
| 99 | Hanover Park | 125.0 |
| 100 | Glen Ellyn | 125.0 |
