The present rent signal is a Zillow Observed Rent Index of $2,596 for 60661. This is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, rather than a lease quote for a defined unit. The five-digit label is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. In the fully covered Zillow history, the one-year exact same-month rent change was 5.0%, the three-year annualized change was 3.5%, and the five-year annualized change was 4.9%. The series contains 123 monthly observations with 100% coverage. These are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
The longer path supports a growth reading, but it is not a straight line. Monthly rent changes annualize to 3.2% variability, enough that a single current ZORI snapshot should be treated as a useful benchmark rather than a precise unit-level price. Separately, the historical maximum peak-to-trough drawdown reached 12.7%, showing that the index has experienced meaningful declines despite positive multi-year change. Recent one-year growth is above the three-year pace and roughly in line with the five-year pace, so it confirms the broader upward path more than it breaks from it. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs place momentum at 552, balanced history at 875, and stability at 1,918, with lower ranks indicating stronger relative placement; these ranks organize past data rather than predict outcomes.
The source comparison creates an important distinction. The matched Census ZCTA ACS five-year survey reports median gross rent of $2,306, making current ZIP ZORI 12.6% higher. ACS describes occupied renter homes and median gross rent includes selected utilities, so it is not an asking-rent series and should not be substituted for Zillow’s current asking-rent index. The local HUD FMR/SAFMR two-bedroom standard is $2,670, putting ZIP ZORI 2.8% below that administrative benchmark. HUD is a bedroom-specific program standard, not observed asking rent; its role here is to provide a consistent local bedroom ladder rather than a rental comparable.
That HUD ladder scales the ZIP ZORI into modelled monthly estimates of $2,158 for a studio, $2,304 for one bedroom, $2,596 for two bedrooms, $3,345 for three bedrooms, and $3,870 for four bedrooms. These are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents, because they use the local HUD bedroom relationships to allocate one blended ZIP index. The arithmetic 30% required-income screen implies $103,840 in annual income for the current ZORI. Against ACS median household income of $125,741, the ZIP-level asking-rent-to-income screen is 24.8%. This is not advice or an applicant qualification rule: household median income is not renter income, does not describe a particular household, and cannot establish affordability for a particular unit.
Housing composition helps explain why a blended index needs careful interpretation. The ACS ZCTA has 8,202 housing units and a 5.0% vacancy rate. Of occupied homes, 5,717 are renter occupied, or 73.4%, while 2,071 are owner occupied. Large multifamily structures account for 7,602 units, compared with 389 single-family units, so apartment-oriented stock dominates this statistical area. ACS also estimates that 1,962 renter households, or 34.3%, pay at least 30% of income toward gross rent. Survey margins of error and the inclusion of utilities matter here, and neither the vacancy figure nor the burden share proves anything about availability, condition, or cost for a specific residence.
Wider Zillow asking-rent context is $2,409 for Chicago city, $2,336 for Cook County, and $2,275 for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI metro. Each is a broader geographic context, not a substitute for the direct ZIP observation. The ZIP index therefore sits above the city, county, and metro asking-rent context, while the separate ACS city and county gross-rent measures are materially lower than the ZIP’s ACS median gross rent. Chicago city and Cook County also show higher ACS renter-burden shares than this ZCTA. Those comparisons identify a relatively higher-rent ZIP screen, but they do not establish why the difference exists or whether any particular building matches the ZIP average.
Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation supplies a separate for-sale-market signal. Median sold price was $414,906, down 1.2% year over year. Redfin recorded 74 homes sold with a median 46 days on market, while 133 active listings and reported inventory of 48 homes describe the available resale environment. Months of supply stood at 2.0. Buyers paid an average 101.8% of list price, and 52.8% of sales closed above list, both sale-to-list signals within the resale universe only. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by median sold price produces a 7.5% cross-source screening ratio, not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield. The price decline challenges an uncomplicated reading of rent growth, although the short supply and sale-to-list results indicate active ZIP resale conditions rather than rental transactions.
The usable conclusion is bounded by the data design. ZORI does not identify unit size, utility treatment, lease term, concessions, or availability; ACS is a survey of occupied homes; HUD is administrative; and Redfin tracks resale activity rather than rentals. Property-level checks should therefore match current asking rents to the actual bedroom count, lease duration, utilities, concessions, and move-in timing, then separately verify resale records, list dates, sale-to-list terms, and the inventory definition used in the sales observation. Those checks determine whether the ZIP-level screens align with a real property without converting historical rent movement, burden, vacancy, or resale signals into proof about that property.
","findings":[{"body":"Current Zillow ZORI is above the matched ACS median gross-rent measure and above broader city, county, and metro Zillow context. Historical one-year growth also exceeds the three-year pace. However, the series has experienced a material historical drawdown, and its monthly variability means the current index is a benchmark with uncertainty rather than a fixed unit-level rent.","title":"Rent trend is positive but not smooth"},{"body":"The bedroom ladder is derived by scaling the blended ZIP ZORI with local HUD bedroom relationships. It is useful for comparing relative studio-through-four-bedroom levels within the ZIP screen, but it is not evidence of measured asking rents for each bedroom category. Actual unit pricing can differ because ZORI is blended across rental types and HUD is an administrative standard.","title":"Bedroom figures are a modelling tool"},{"body":"The ZIP-level 30% income arithmetic screen falls below ACS median household income, yet a substantial share of renter households are estimated to be rent burdened. These measures describe different populations and constructions: median household income is not renter income, while ACS gross rent includes selected utilities. Neither measure can qualify an applicant or determine affordability for a specific home.","title":"Income and burden screens point in different directions"},{"body":"Redfin shows a modest year-over-year decline in ZIP median sold price even as Zillow rent history shows growth. At the same time, short months of supply and above-list sale signals indicate active resale conditions. This is a cross-universe tension, not evidence about rental transaction pricing or property economics, and the rent-price screening ratio should remain only a screening comparison.","title":"Resale activity complicates the rent-only signal"}],"risks":["Zillow ZORI is a blended ZIP asking-rent index, so it can diverge from a specific property because of bedroom mix, lease terms, utility treatment, concessions, timing, and the actual set of available units.","ACS figures are five-year survey estimates for a ZCTA statistical area, not a live rental inventory. Their occupied-home, gross-rent, and household-income definitions can differ materially from current asking-rent conditions.","Redfin observations concern direct ZIP resale transactions and listings, not rental transactions. Sold prices, marketing time, supply, and sale-to-list measures cannot establish rent, operating costs, or economics for an individual home.","Positive multi-year rent history should be read alongside measured variability and the historical maximum drawdown. Neither retrospective growth nor discovery ranks establishes a future rent path or an investment outcome."],"qa":[{"a":"The two figures come 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. The difference does not identify an error or prove that every available home is priced above the ACS median.","q":"Why does Zillow rent exceed the ACS median gross-rent figure?"},{"a":"No. The studio through four-bedroom figures are modelled estimates created by scaling the ZIP-wide Zillow ZORI using the local HUD bedroom ladder. HUD provides an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not observed asking rent. A unit-level comparison requires actual listings with matching bedroom count, lease structure, utility inclusions, and concessions.","q":"Are the bedroom rent estimates observed market rents?"},{"a":"It is arithmetic based on paying 30% of gross income toward the current ZIP ZORI over a year. It is not financial advice, a tenant-screening standard, or an applicant qualification rule. Median household income is a separate ACS statistic and does not reveal the income, expenses, household size, or eligibility of any particular renter.","q":"What does the 30% required-income screen mean?"},{"a":"It simply divides annualized ZIP ZORI by Redfin’s ZIP median sold price, combining an asking-rent index with a resale-price observation. It can flag a cross-source relationship for further review, but it is not a cap rate, property yield, net return, expected return, or estimate of operating performance for a specific property.","q":"How should the Redfin screening ratio be used?"}],"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 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