The five-digit label 60642 is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and the matched Census ZCTA. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. Zillow ZORI is currently $2,822 per month, a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types rather than a quote for one available home. Its year-over-year increase is 7.4%, placing the latest index well above the City of Chicago context rent of about $2,409, the Cook County context rent of $2,336, and the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI metro context rent of $2,275. Those city, county, and metro figures are wider-geography context values, not ZIP observations or substitutes for a lease comparison.
The rent-history path supports the current upward reading, but it should remain backward-looking rather than predictive. The one-year exact same-month annualized rent change is 7.4%, versus 5.7% over three years and 6.4% over five years. Recent direction therefore confirms, rather than breaks from, the longer growth path. The history has complete coverage across 126 monthly observations through its stated endpoint. Monthly-return variability annualizes to 2.5%, suggesting a comparatively contained pattern around that path, while the largest observed peak-to-trough reversal reached a 7.9% drawdown and shows that declines still occurred. Transparent national discovery ranks place momentum at 106, stability at 780, and the balanced measure at 71 among history-eligible ZIPs, where a lower rank is higher. These measurements describe past index behavior, not a forecast or an investment recommendation.
ACS tells a materially different, but not competing, rent story. The matched ZCTA’s ACS median gross rent is $2,243: a five-year survey measure for occupied renter homes that includes selected utilities. That is 25.8% below Zillow’s current asking-rent index, an expected difference in universe, timing, occupancy status, and utility treatment rather than proof that either source is wrong. ACS reports median household income of $143,175. Applying the arithmetic 30% screen to the current ZORI produces required annual income of $112,880, while the simple asking-rent-to-income calculation is 23.7%. Neither calculation is advice, an applicant qualification rule, or a measure of any household’s actual budget. The ACS burden estimate says 28.7% of renter households pay at least 30% of income toward rent; it cannot establish the burden or affordability of a particular unit.
The bedroom ladder should be read as a modelling device, not as observed ZIP bedroom rents. Scaling the ZIP ZORI by the local HUD ladder produces modelled monthly estimates of $2,346 for a studio, $2,505 for one bedroom, $2,822 for two bedrooms, $3,636 for three bedrooms, and $4,207 for four bedrooms. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard rather than asking rent; its local two-bedroom standard is $2,670. The modelled two-bedroom estimate is therefore 5.7% above that administrative benchmark. The ladder is useful for maintaining local bedroom spacing around the ZORI level, but it does not measure the rent of a specific apartment, identify included utilities, or account for concessions, finishes, lease term, or building-level availability.
Housing composition adds context to the difference between an index and an individual listing. The matched ZCTA contains 12,535 housing units, including 7,803 renter-occupied homes, so renters account for 66.3% of occupied units. Large multifamily structures account for 3,369 units, a meaningful portion of the recorded stock. There are 770 vacant units, equivalent to a 6.1% vacancy rate, and 374 are classified as vacant for rent. Those ACS counts describe a survey-based stock and vacancy snapshot, not real-time available inventory, asking-price competition, or the condition of a particular rental. Vacancy also cannot prove that any individual unit is easy or difficult to lease.
The broader comparisons reinforce the ZIP’s relatively high asking-rent position without making its household profile interchangeable with a larger area. Chicago city context, Cook County context, and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro context each cover different populations, housing inventories, and renter mixes from the matched 60642 ZCTA. Their rent, renter-share, vacancy, income, and burden measures should therefore be used only to frame scale. In particular, the ZIP’s current Zillow asking index, ACS gross-rent survey value, and HUD standard should not be blended into a single “market rent.” Each answers a separate question: current typical asking conditions, past occupied-household payments with selected utilities, and an administrative bedroom benchmark.
Redfin supplies a separate for-sale signal through a direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation, not rental transactions. Its median sold price is $678,347, down 4.5% year over year, despite 148 homes sold and a median 37 days on market. Active listings total 212, up 9.8%, while reported inventory is 70 homes, down 8.1%, and months of supply stand at 1.4. Sale-to-list evidence remains firm: the average sale-to-list ratio is 102.9%, and 56.3% of sales closed above list. This creates a useful tension. The resale price decline challenges a simple reading of uninterrupted market strength from rent history, while tight supply and above-list sale signals support the view that resale liquidity remained active. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by Redfin’s median sold price is a 5.0% cross-source screening ratio only; it does not measure a property’s expenses, financing, taxes, condition, or realized outcome.
The decision limit is that no source here identifies the terms or economics of a specific home. Confirm an address’s actual delivery ZIP, bedroom count, unit type, lease duration, utility responsibility, concessions, availability date, and comparable active asking terms before treating the ZORI or modelled ladder as applicable. For any resale comparison, verify property type, condition, transaction timing, list-price changes, and sale terms rather than extending ZIP medians to one asset. Review whether the ACS survey universe matches the question being asked and whether a HUD standard is relevant to the intended administrative use. The evidence gives a structured current snapshot with a stable-growth history and mixed resale signals; does the specific property’s documented rent or sale record fit that snapshot?
","findings":[{"body":"Zillow ZORI for 60642 is $2,822, up 7.4% from the same month a year earlier. That pace exceeds the three-year annualized change of 5.7% and the five-year annualized change of 6.4%, so the latest movement confirms the longer historical direction. These are backward-looking ZIP asking-rent index measurements, not forecasts.","title":"Asking-rent momentum remains above longer-run growth"},{"body":"The ACS median gross rent of $2,243 is below the current Zillow asking-rent index because ACS covers occupied renter homes over a five-year survey period and includes selected utilities. Zillow ZORI instead tracks a typical observed asking-rent index. The gap is informative about source universe differences, but it does not establish that a particular available home is overpriced.","title":"Survey rent and asking rent serve different purposes"},{"body":"Using the current ZORI, the arithmetic income amount at a 30% rent-to-income screen is $112,880, below the ZCTA median household income of $143,175. Yet ACS estimates that 28.7% of renter households are rent burdened at 30% or more. The screen is not advice, underwriting, or a qualification rule, and the burden figure does not describe one household.","title":"Income screen is favorable mechanically, while burden persists"},{"body":"Redfin’s direct ZIP rolling-three-month resale data show a 4.5% year-over-year decline in median sold price, but also 1.4 months of supply, a 102.9% average sale-to-list ratio, and a majority of sales above list. Those signals indicate an active for-sale market while challenging a simple conclusion from rent growth alone. They are not rental comparables.","title":"Resale liquidity is firmer than the price trend alone suggests"}],"risks":["Zillow ZORI is a blended asking-rent index across rental types, so it can differ from the terms, condition, bedroom count, utilities, concessions, and availability of any specific unit being evaluated.","ACS figures are five-year survey estimates for the matched ZCTA and occupied households; their timing and universe differ from current listings, while ZCTA geography is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP.","The bedroom amounts are modelled by scaling ZIP ZORI with a HUD ladder. HUD standards are administrative benchmarks, so the estimates should not be treated as measured bedroom rents or lease quotes.","Redfin resale statistics summarize rolling-three-month ZIP sales, not rental transactions. Median price, supply, and sale-to-list indicators cannot establish operating costs, transaction details, or outcomes for a particular property."],"qa":[{"a":"They measure different universes. Zillow ZORI is a current ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey measure of occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. Differences in timing, occupancy, utilities, and methodology mean the two values should not be treated as interchangeable.","q":"Why is Zillow ZORI higher than the ACS median gross rent?"},{"a":"No. They are modelled monthly estimates created by scaling the ZIP ZORI using the local HUD bedroom ladder. The construction preserves the local HUD spacing across bedroom counts, but it does not observe current listings by bedroom count. Unit size, finishes, utilities, concessions, and lease terms can all produce different actual asking rents.","q":"Are the studio-through-four-bedroom figures actual measured rents?"},{"a":"No. The calculation simply annualizes the current Zillow ZORI and divides it by 30%, producing an arithmetic screening amount. It is not legal, financial, leasing, or applicant-specific advice. Actual qualification can depend on lease terms, documented income, household composition, credit standards, utility obligations, concessions, and other factors not contained in this packet.","q":"Does the 30% required-income calculation determine whether someone qualifies?"},{"a":"Redfin adds a direct ZIP for-sale observation, not rental evidence. The combination of a lower median sold price with short supply and above-list sale signals creates a tension against relying on rent growth alone as a broad market signal. The annualized-rent-to-sale-price figure is only a cross-source screening ratio and does not represent property-level economics.","q":"What does the Redfin resale evidence add to the rental picture?"}],"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 2025Q4 + SAFMR 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