For Champaign, Zillow’s typical city home value is $241,516 and typical observed monthly market rent is $1,410. Annual ZORI divided by ZHVI implies a 7.0% gross yield before every operating and financing cost. ZHVI is 4.3x ACS median household income, while annualized ZORI is 30.2% of that income. This is a screening frame, not a property return or tenant-affordability finding, because it combines current Zillow market measures with surveyed income.
The city has 41,299 housing units; 56.2% of occupied units are renter-occupied, and citywide housing vacancy is 10.9%. ACS reports a $210,900 median home value for surveyed owner-occupied housing and $1,123 median gross rent, including contract rent plus selected utilities. These occupied-housing medians differ in definition and period from Zillow’s typical city value and observed market rent, so they should not be averaged.
Among city renter households for which burden is computed, 57.0% meet the ACS cost-burden threshold. Single-family structures are 48.5% of all units and large multifamily structures 23.5%; these survey shares do not measure purchasable inventory. Of vacant units, 44.2% are classified as for rent, but that is vacancy-reason context, not proof a rental will lease quickly. Population rose 2.7% between overlapping ACS vintages, not annually, and boundary changes may affect the comparison. Median household income is $56,118; poverty is 25.9% and unemployment 4.8%, descriptive demand constraints rather than causes or tenant-screening results.
At the county scope, Champaign County listings had 44 median days on market and 16.2% with price reductions, while the county property-tax rate was 2.06%. These county inputs frame negotiation and carrying costs but do not measure Champaign city sales or a parcel’s bill. In the broader Champaign, IL metro, supply was 3.1 months, the sale-to-list ratio 99.1%, and jobs grew 0.6%; this metro evidence is not city performance. Freddie Mac’s national rate for a thirty-year mortgage was 6.58%, a national benchmark rather than a borrower quote.
The principal gap is that city aggregates and county, metro and national records have different geographies and denominators. Gross yield omits taxes, insurance, climate exposure, repairs, capital work, utilities, management, turnover, vacancy and debt service. Before acting, verify achievable property rent, leases and concessions; obtain the parcel tax bill, insurance and hazard quotes, and an inspection; review major-system ages, utility responsibility, association or rental restrictions, and comparable listings; then model realistic vacancy, maintenance, management, capital spending and financing terms.