At the June 2026 Zillow endpoint, 60634’s ZIP-level Zillow Observed Rent Index, or ZORI, is $1,761 per month, up 6.2% from the same month a year earlier. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, so it is not a lease-by-lease rent roll, a utility-inclusive median, or a quote for a particular available home. This five-digit label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match. A ZCTA is a statistical area drawn for Census tabulation; it is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. That distinction matters before any address-level inference is made from the market label.
That current gain fits a longer upward path, but not a frictionless one. In backward-looking direct Zillow ZIP ZORI observations through the same June endpoint, exact same-month changes were 6.2% over 1 year, 6.5% annualized over 3 years, and 7.8% annualized over 5 years. Recent direction therefore confirms, rather than breaks from, the longer path, although the latest rate is below both multi-year readings. Monthly index returns produced 4.7% annualized variability, which supports the supplied high-variability classification and limits confidence in any one current snapshot. Separately, the largest historical fall from a preceding high was 5.6%, showing that the observed route included retrenchment. Coverage is 98.9% of expected dates. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 140 for momentum, 2,783 for stability, and 1,044 for the balanced measure; lower ranks are stronger. These ranks and returns are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
The asking index should not be substituted for the matched Census figure. In the ACS 2024 five-year survey for the ZCTA, median gross rent is $1,329. ACS is a survey of occupied renter homes, and gross rent includes selected utilities; it is not a current asking-rent series. ZORI stands 32.5% above that ACS median, a difference that can reflect distinct populations, concepts, timing, and utility treatment without identifying an error in either source. HUD adds a third universe: its FY 2026 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent standard is $1,680. HUD FMR or SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent or a lease transaction. Comparing these figures is useful only when those separate scopes remain explicit.
Bedroom detail is available only as a modelled extension of the ZIP index. Scaling ZORI by the local HUD ladder produces modelled monthly ZIP estimates of $1,468 for a studio, $1,562 for one bedroom, $1,761 for two bedrooms, $2,264 for three bedrooms, and $2,621 for four bedrooms. The ladder carries HUD’s bedroom pattern into a blended all-types asking-rent index; it does not observe separate local bedroom samples. Accordingly, these are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents, and they cannot establish the asking price, utility package, condition, or availability of an individual unit. The matching HUD standard is a scaling input, not confirmation that any advertised unit will meet either figure.
An income comparison creates a separate, deliberately mechanical screen. Applying the 30% share to the current index yields required household income of $70,440. Against the ACS ZCTA median household income of $88,533, the index represents 23.9% of that area-wide median. This required-income screen is arithmetic, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule; it neither measures a renter’s income nor determines whether a household can obtain a home. The ACS burden tabulation adds a different household outcome: 3,191 of 6,932 surveyed renter households, or 46.0%, reported gross-rent burdens at or above the threshold. Survey burden is informative about the represented renter population, but it is not proof that a particular unit is affordable, unaffordable, occupied, or burdened.
Housing stock data give context for that household evidence without converting vacancies into listings. The ZCTA contains 29,204 housing units, of which 1,822 are vacant, producing a 6.2% vacancy rate; 214 units fall in the vacant-for-rent category. Renter-occupied homes account for 25.3% of occupied units, with owner occupancy comprising the other tenure. A vacant-for-rent count is a Census status category, not proof that a specific apartment is available now or that its terms resemble ZORI. For wider comparison, the Chicago city-context asking-rent figure is $2,409, the Cook County context figure is $2,336, and the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI metro context figure is $2,275; each is broader in scope and above the local asking index. Chicago city and Cook County also have higher renter shares than this ZCTA, so their tenure mix is context, not a ZIP substitute.
Resale observations introduce a counterweight to any reading based on rent alone. Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP for-sale observation, which describes resale rather than rental transactions, reports a median sold price of $429,903, up 4.6% year over year. It recorded 186 homes sold with a median 53 days on market. Inventory was 130 homes and months of supply stood at 2.1. Sale-to-list signals were firm: the average sale-to-list result was 101.8%, while 58.6% of sales closed above list. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by median sold price is 4.9%, but that is solely a cross-source screening ratio, not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield. Positive resale price change creates a directional match with the current rent measure, while sale-to-list behavior adds a separate for-sale pricing signal; together they challenge a simplistic affordability reading because they coexist with surveyed rent burden. These different universes establish no causal link and say nothing about a property’s rental economics.
The limits are material. ZORI does not reveal unit-size mix beyond the modelled ladder, executed lease terms, utility inclusions, concessions, or the condition of a home; ACS cannot refresh an asking-rent quote; and HUD standards do not become local comparables. The resale series likewise cannot disclose operating costs, financing, rent collection, or property-level cash flow. A property-level review should verify the current advertised rent and expiration of concessions, bedroom and bath configuration, interior area, included utilities and recurring fees, lease duration, availability date, condition, furnishings, and direct same-size rental listings. It should also verify the address’s delivery ZIP and ZCTA assignment, then match any sale record on property type, sale date, list-price history, and condition. Does the documented unit package actually resemble the index-based model and the applicable resale observation?
","findings":[{"body":"The Zillow history shows a positive short, medium, and long lookback pattern, while the most recent pace trails the longer run. That alignment supports continuity in the backward-looking series rather than a reversal. Still, high monthly variation and a historical decline mean a single current index deserves less precision than a smooth trend line would imply.","title":"Asking trend has continuity but not smoothness"},{"body":"Zillow, ACS, and HUD answer different rental questions. Zillow captures typical observed asking rents, ACS captures gross rents among occupied renter homes, and HUD sets administrative bedroom standards. The observed gaps therefore should frame measurement scope, utilities, and tenure rather than be treated as interchangeable rent quotes.","title":"Rental sources answer different questions"},{"body":"The income screen lies below the area household-income estimate, yet a substantial share of surveyed renter households report high gross-rent burdens. This coexistence prevents a market-wide arithmetic ratio from being read as a tenant-level conclusion. Vacancy categories likewise summarize area stock and cannot verify current availability, quality, or terms for a given unit.","title":"Area arithmetic and renter outcomes diverge"},{"body":"The resale block reports for-sale behavior: prices, timing, inventory, supply, and sale-to-list outcomes. Its firm signals coexist with rising asking-rent measures, but neither creates a property cash-flow calculation. The annualized-rent-to-sale-price figure is a cross-source screen only; it does not include expenses, financing, or lease execution.","title":"Resale strength is not property economics"}],"risks":["ZORI is a blended asking-rent index rather than a lease-level comp set, so unit mix, concessions, condition, and available inventory can make an individual advertised rent differ materially from the index.","ACS results are ZCTA survey estimates for occupied renter homes, and their gross-rent and burden concepts include household circumstances that cannot establish affordability or payment experience for a specific unit.","HUD bedroom standards support the modelled ladder but are administrative benchmarks, not observations of contemporaneous asking rents; changes in the local unit mix may not be represented by proportional scaling.","Redfin resale data describe completed for-sale activity in a rolling ZIP observation. They do not disclose rental cash flows, operating costs, lease terms, or the economics of any individual property."],"qa":[{"a":"The current figure is Zillow’s ZIP-level observed asking-rent index, described as typical and blended across rental types. It is useful for a market-level asking-rent snapshot, but it is not a signed-lease median, a rent roll, a specific listing quote, or a statement about utilities and concessions.","q":"What does the current rent figure measure?"},{"a":"The ACS measure comes from a matched ZCTA five-year survey of occupied renter households and reports median gross rent including selected utilities. The Zillow series tracks a typical asking-rent index instead. Different source populations, measurement concepts, timing, and treatment of utilities make a gap informative but not an error or a conversion formula.","q":"Why does the ACS rent figure differ from ZORI?"},{"a":"No. The bedroom amounts are modelled ZIP estimates created by scaling the overall Zillow index with the supplied local HUD bedroom ladder. They communicate a proportional size pattern for screening, but they are not measured bedroom rents, verified listings, completed leases, or evidence that a particular layout is available at that amount.","q":"Are the bedroom figures observed rents?"},{"a":"Read them as parallel but non-interchangeable market observations. ZORI follows asking rents, while Redfin follows for-sale outcomes. The rent-to-price calculation merely combines reported aggregates for screening. It omits ownership expenses and actual leases, so it cannot establish a property’s cash flow, investment outcome, or a causal relationship between the series.","q":"How should resale and rent data be read together?"}],"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 Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback","release":"ZIP-CBSA 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