At June 2026, Zillow’s ZIP-level ZORI for 60605 was $2,708 per month, up 5.1% from the same month a year earlier. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, rather than a lease-level rent roll or a utility-inclusive household-cost measure. The current ZIP asking-rent reading exceeded the Chicago city-scope context of $2,409, the Cook County context of $2,336, and the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI metro context of $2,275. The ZIP label also matches a Census ZCTA, but a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP.
The recent asking-rent increase fits rather than breaks the longer historical path. Exact same-month annualized ZORI growth measured 5.1% over one year, 4.0% over three years, and 5.0% over five years. The history has 138 observations with complete coverage, so the comparison is not based on a partial series. Monthly rent changes showed 2.3% annualized variability, which supports more confidence in the current snapshot than a highly erratic series would. Yet the series also recorded an 8.1% maximum drawdown, showing that a relatively steady longer path has still contained meaningful declines. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 455 for momentum, 451 for stability, and 104 for the balanced measure; these are backward-looking discovery measures, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
Source differences matter before treating any rent figure as interchangeable. The matched ACS 2024 five-year ZCTA survey reports median gross rent of $2,464 with a $107 margin of error; it covers occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. That survey median sits 9.9% below current ZORI, a difference consistent with the sources measuring different rental universes and periods. The ZIP asking-rent index is also 1.4% above the local HUD two-bedroom standard. HUD Fair Market Rent or Small Area Fair Market Rent is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard rather than asking rent. Using the local HUD bedroom ladder to scale ZIP ZORI produces modelled estimates—not measured bedroom rents—of $2,252 for a studio, $2,404 for one bedroom, $2,708 for two bedrooms, $3,489 for three bedrooms, and $4,037 for four bedrooms.
The income screen presents a second tension: the current asking-rent index is below a broad household-income benchmark, while many renter households still report housing-cost pressure. ACS median household income in the matched ZCTA was $123,922. Applying a 30% rent-to-income calculation to the current monthly ZORI produces required annual income of $108,320 and an asking-rent-to-income ratio of 26.2%. This is arithmetic, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule. Renters represented 57.7% of occupied homes in the ACS survey, and 44.1% of surveyed renter households reported paying at least 30% of income toward gross rent. That burden measure cannot establish whether any particular unit or household is affordable.
The ACS housing-stock profile is predominantly multifamily and renter oriented, which gives context to the asking-rent index without establishing unit availability. The ZCTA contained 21,126 housing units and had a 7.1% vacancy rate. Large multifamily buildings accounted for 18,893 units, compared with 1,383 single-family units. These counts describe the surveyed stock, not currently marketed rental listings, and vacancy does not prove that a specific apartment is available, priced at ZORI, or suitable for a given household. The concentration of larger multifamily structures also should not be used to infer property condition, lease terms, building amenities, or the experience at any individual address.
For-sale evidence supplies a notable counterpoint to the rent history. Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation reported a $374,915 median sold price, down 9.0% year over year, alongside 173 homes sold and a median 55 days on market. Inventory measured 164 homes, a 16.9% annual decrease, with 2.9 months of supply. Sale-to-list signals were firm in the same resale dataset: the average sale-to-list ratio was 101.8%, 48.3% of sales closed above list, and 36.0% went off market within two weeks. These are for-sale market observations, not rental transactions or rental comparables. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by median sold price is only a cross-source screening ratio, not a cap rate, net return, expected return, property yield, or property-level economic result.
Several limits should remain explicit. ZORI tracks a blended asking-rent index and does not show concessions, effective rent, lease renewal outcomes, or the exact bedroom mix of an available property. ACS estimates are survey-based and apply to the matched statistical ZCTA, while HUD standards serve a separate administrative purpose. Redfin’s resale measures describe transactions and listings in the direct ZIP for-sale market, not operating expenses or rental demand. Concrete property-level checks should include the advertised rent, whether utilities or fees are included, bedroom count, lease length, availability date, concessions, renewal terms, building rules, and the condition and sale history of the specific property under review.
The central decision tension is therefore not a single directional signal. Asking rents have risen on a multi-year basis and sit above the broad city, county, and metro asking-rent contexts, while the direct ZIP resale median declined even as several resale liquidity signals remained comparatively tight. Separately, the median-income screen falls below the stated rent threshold, but the renter burden survey shows that many occupied renter households face higher gross-rent pressure. Those observations can coexist because they come from distinct measures and populations. A careful reader should use the current rent snapshot as a market indicator, then test the actual unit’s quoted terms and costs rather than assuming the ZIP pattern determines the property-level outcome.
","findings":[{"body":"Current ZIP ZORI increased from the same month a year earlier, and the one-, three-, and five-year history measures all show positive annualized change. The complete observation history and comparatively modest monthly variability support use of the current reading as a useful indicator. The recorded maximum drawdown still shows that past rent movements were not uniformly upward, so the index is not a forecast.","title":"Asking-rent trend is positive but not uninterrupted"},{"body":"The studio-through-four-bedroom figures are modelled monthly estimates created by scaling ZIP ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. They are useful for expressing a consistent bedroom pattern around the current asking-rent index. They are not measured asking rents for available units, signed leases, or a demonstrated rent premium for a particular building or bedroom configuration.","title":"Bedroom figures are scaled estimates, not observed rent comps"},{"body":"The ZIP’s direct resale median sold price declined year over year while asking rents rose and the longer ZORI history remained positive. At the same time, the resale dataset showed limited months of supply and sale-to-list measures above parity. This combination does not identify a cause, but it does caution against assuming that rent growth and resale-price movement are moving together.","title":"Resale pricing challenges a simple rent-and-price alignment"},{"body":"The required-income calculation applies a fixed share of income to the current asking-rent index and is only a transparent arithmetic screen. ACS renter burden instead reports the share of surveyed occupied renter households paying a specified share of income toward gross rent, including selected utilities. Neither measure determines affordability, eligibility, or cost burden for an individual household or apartment.","title":"Income arithmetic and renter burden answer different questions"}],"risks":["The Zillow asking-rent index is blended across rental types and does not disclose the actual lease terms, concessions, utility treatment, fees, availability, or bedroom mix attached to any currently advertised unit.","ACS values are five-year survey estimates for occupied renter homes in a matched statistical ZCTA, with sampling uncertainty, and should not be treated as current lease quotes or exact ZIP delivery-area counts.","HUD bedroom standards are administrative benchmarks rather than market asking rents. Scaling ZORI with that ladder creates consistent modelled estimates, but it cannot substitute for current bedroom-specific listings and executed leases.","Redfin resale metrics describe direct ZIP for-sale transactions and listing conditions, not rental operations. Median sold price and the rent-price screening ratio omit financing, taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancies, and property-specific expenses."],"qa":[{"a":"The figures are drawn from different evidence universes. Zillow ZORI is a current typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, while ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey measure for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. Different timing, household occupancy status, utility treatment, and rental composition can produce different values without indicating an error.","q":"Why is the Zillow asking-rent reading higher than the ACS median gross rent?"},{"a":"No. The bedroom figures are modelled estimates derived by scaling the ZIP-level ZORI using the local HUD bedroom ladder. They describe an internally consistent pattern around the asking-rent index, not observed asking rents, lease transactions, available inventory, or a price quote for a particular unit, building, or lease term.","q":"Are the bedroom estimates actual rents for studios through four-bedroom homes?"},{"a":"No. The required-income figure simply annualizes the current asking-rent index and applies a thirty-percent income share. It is an arithmetic comparison, not financial advice, a landlord policy, a tenant-screening standard, or a qualification rule. Actual eligibility can depend on lease terms, fees, income documentation, household composition, and other property-specific factors not provided here.","q":"Does the required-income figure determine whether a renter qualifies?"},{"a":"The Redfin block adds a direct rolling-three-month view of the ZIP for-sale market, including sale prices, transaction volume, marketing time, inventory, supply, and sale-to-list behavior. It can reveal whether resale signals align with or differ from the rent trend, but it does not supply rental comparables, operating costs, tenant demand, or property-level investment performance.","q":"What does the resale evidence add to a rental-focused review?"}],"sources":[{"key":"apartment_list_time_on_market","name":"Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquidity","release":"Apartment List 2026-07","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/category/data-rent-estimates"},{"key":"apartment_list_vacancy","name":"Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancy","release":"Apartment List 2026-07","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/apartment-list-vacancy-index-methodology"},{"key":"census_zcta_facts","name":"Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and income","release":"ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://api.census.gov/data/2024/acs/acs5.html"},{"key":"hud_zip","name":"HUD USPS crosswalk and Small 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