All homes and bedroom counts
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Champaign, IL
Champaign merits investigation by income-focused buyers who can tolerate weak migration and active construction; buyers relying on population inflows or quick resale should avoid it.
Median price$242k
Median rent$1,338
Gross yield6.6%
Job growth▲ 0.6%
Composite Market ScoreRank #157 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Champaign, IL?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,338 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 5.58% from a year earlier.
Occupied rental units paying rent
Two-bedroom standard
These figures are not averaged together. Zillow and Realtor describe asking-rent markets, ACS measures rent paid by surveyed households, and HUD publishes administrative bedroom standards.
Exact county schedules
HUD rent benchmarks inside Champaign
Every row keeps its own county FIPS schedule. No county is selected as a metro proxy and no synthetic metro FMR is calculated.
| County | Studio | 1 BR | 2 BR | 3 BR | 4 BR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champaign County, ILFIPS 17019 | $941 | $946 | $1,122 | $1,436 | $1,486 |
| Piatt County, ILFIPS 17147 | $941 | $946 | $1,122 | $1,436 | $1,486 |
| Ford County, ILFIPS 17053 | $694 | $698 | $916 | $1,274 | $1,300 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Champaign merits investigation by income-focused buyers who can tolerate weak migration and active construction; buyers relying on population inflows or quick resale should avoid it. Median asking rent rose 5.58% while the median home value rose 6.01%, and the indicated gross yield is 6.64%. The figures support an income case, but acquisition economics are not clearly improving.
Demand signals conflict. CES employment grew 0.59%, yet tax filings show 5,256 households moved in and 6,514 moved out, leaving net migration of -1,258. Median rent absorbs 24.51% of median household income, suggesting market-level rent capacity, but vacancy and tenant-level income are not published.
New supply is the main underwriting pressure: permits run at 11.79 per thousand residents and stand at 92.3% of the reported benchmark peak. Existing listings offer some buyer leverage, with 19.91% recording price drops. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, so property-level checks matter despite an annual climate loss ratio of 0.1449%.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What are the current acquisition and rent economics?
The median home value is $241,863, median asking rent is $1,338 per month, and indicated gross yield is 6.64%; home value rose 6.01% and rent rose 5.58%.
What do employment and migration indicate about demand?
CES employment grew 0.59%, but 5,256 households moved in and 6,514 moved out, producing net migration of -1,258.
How much supply and resale friction is visible?
The record shows 2,816 permits, or 11.79 per thousand residents, alongside 3.1 months of supply, a median 46 days on market, and price drops on 19.91% of listings.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 6.6%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 5.58%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 14.4%
Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).
Climate Exposure: FEMA NRI
Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.
Put the evidence to work
Test the market, then test the deal
Keep Champaign as the starting point or move into a more specific property and rent check.
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Market pulse
The current market in eight signals
Fast-moving Redfin conditions sit beside the slower fundamentals so a buyer can separate today's negotiating climate from the long-run investment case.
Months of supply3.1 mo.▲ from 2.1 mo. a year ago
Median days on market46 days▲ from 45 days a year ago
Listings with price drops19.9%▼ from 20.4% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio99.1%2026-05-01
Home value growth▲ 6.0%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 5.58%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield6.6%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 0.6%CES · 12m to 2026-06
Release-to-release evidence
What actually changed
This comparison exists because at least one underlying source period advanced. Rebuilding the same data never creates a new observation.
Published score held steady59→59
0 ptsThe published component scores did not move in this release.
Weights were unchanged at metro-2026-07-v2-omb2023, so the movement comes from refreshed evidence and percentile ranks.
The named source periods advanced, but the measured values on this page held steady.
The one chart
Rents versus prices, indexed to 2019
Both series start at 100. The gap between the lines is the investment case, and which line is closing it tells you what kind of market this is.
Reindexed Price vs. Rent Growth
2019 = 100 · annual · 2019–2026
Since 2019, prices are up 44% and rents 44%. Rents running ahead of prices is what lifts yield. ✓ recomputed from series
Composite breakdown
What each component measures
Weights are published, not hidden, and the arithmetic is shown. Five components, each measured as a national percentile across all tracked metros.
Published arithmeticComponent × weight = points
59| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 70 | 30% | 21.00 |
| Rent trend | 80 | 25% | 20.00 |
| Affordability | 50 | 15% | 7.50 |
| Supply pressure | 23 | 15% | 3.45 |
| Climate risk | 49 | 15% | 7.35 |
| Published score | 59 | ||
Champaign, IL scoreRank #157
59Job growth70/100
CES employment growth of 0.59% -> the job signal is positive but modest.
Rent trend80/100
Median asking rent growth of 5.58% and a 6.64% gross yield -> current rent performance is the market's clearest opportunity.
Affordability50/100
Rent at 24.51% of median income and price at 3.69 times income -> the market-level burden appears manageable, but individual tenant capacity is not published.
Supply pressure23/100
Permits total 2,816, equal 11.79 per thousand residents, and stand at 92.3% of the reported benchmark peak -> new-supply competition is a material underwriting risk.
Climate risk49/100
An annual climate loss ratio of 0.1449%, with inland flood as the dominant hazard -> water exposure belongs in property-level due diligence.
The numbers
What this market costs and what it earns
Every derived ratio below recomputes from the same source record used by the article and score.
ZHVI Median Price
$242k
YoY ▲ 6.0%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,338
YoY ▲ 5.58%
Gross Rental Yield
6.6%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,338 × 12 ÷ $241,863
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 0.6%
CES payrolls
Job signal 70/100
Median Household Income
$66k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
24.5%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
3.7x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,122
Market rent 119.3% of FMR
Historical affordability context
Compare aligned 2019 and 2024 asking-rent and nominal household-income endpoints across the direct-overlap metro set.
Independent rent evidence
One market, several legitimate rent benchmarks
These releases observe different homes and different moments. RentMarker keeps them separate: ZORI remains the scoring baseline, while the other sources test how sensitive the market story is to bedroom mix and measurement method.
Monthly benchmark4 of 4 reported values
Zero-based scale$1,338Primary RentMarker baseline
2026-06-30
All homes and bedroom counts
A smoothed metro rent index for observed rentals; it is the primary rent used by RentMarker scores and career ratios.
View source release ↗$946−$392 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
One-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$1,122−$216 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
Two-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$1,043−$295 vs ZORI
ACS 2024 5-year
Occupied rental units paying rent
A five-year survey estimate of contract rent plus applicable tenant-paid utilities; it is not a current asking-rent index.
View source release ↗Take the next step
Keep Champaign as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Direct local rental evidence
Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in Champaign, IL
These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 16580. They are kept separate from Zillow asking rent, Census occupied-home rent and property-level comparables.
Direct recent-lease rent history
Monthly overall-rent index; missing observations are not filled from another geography.
Recent-lease rent$1,2672026-07 · +7.8% year over year
Rental vacancyn/an/a
Time on marketn/an/a
Regional price level
What feels expensive inside Champaign
BEA compares each category with the United States, which equals 100. This is a 2024 price-level comparison—not annual inflation.
BEA Regional Price Parities · 2024US = 100
Occupation wage lens
How asking rent sits against major local occupations
Annualized Zillow asking rent is divided by each BLS annual median wage. This is a screening ratio for one wage, not a household budget or affordability verdict.
Six largest published major groupsannual rent ÷ median wage
Educational Instruction and Library Occupations$62,320 median wage
25.8%
Office and Administrative Support Occupations$46,460 median wage
34.6%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$31,850 median wage
50.4%
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations$83,420 median wage
19.2%
Management Occupations$107,310 median wage
15.0%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$41,970 median wage
38.3%
Supply pipeline
What is being built, and for whom
Permits are the 12-to-24 month early warning. The total matters less than the mix: apartments compete with a rental the day they open.
National supply context
Compare this authorization pipeline with asking-rent growth, jobs and for-sale liquidity across the evidence-complete metro set.
Building permits by structure type
units per year · latest year annualised
2,810 units authorised in 2026, 92% of them in 5+ unit buildings. A meaningful share is apartments, which discount first when they lease up. ✓ recomputed from series
Who is arriving, and who is buying
Demand, and the competition for it
Tax filings say how many households moved and what they earn; mortgage disclosures say how many local purchases went to someone who will not live there. Moves between counties inside this metro are netted out of both flow figures.
Net Household Move
−1,258
5,256 in vs 6,514 out (IRS SOI)
▼ 23.9% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
−$13,188
Arriving $54,829 vs leaving $68,017
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
14.4%
343 of 2,384 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.145% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Cook County · Vermilion County · McLean County · Douglas County · Macon County
✓ 5,256 in − 6,514 out = -1,258 netDirect market links
Where tax-return households moved from and to
These are the largest flows where both counties map to a RentMarker market area. They are a documented subset of the all-US IRS totals above.
Leading inbound markets
- Chicago, IL828 arriving
- Danville, IL210 arriving
- Bloomington, IL197 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- Chicago, IL1,054 leaving
- Danville, IL222 leaving
- Bloomington, IL169 leaving
The other side
What would make this a bad buy
Generated from the same figures with the instruction to argue against the score, and published unedited. A page that only agrees with itself is an advertisement.
Three ways the case breaks
- Negative tax-filing migration of -1,258 households weakens the demand case, while outgoing movers averaged $68,017 in income versus $54,829 for incoming movers.
- Permits reached 2,816, or 11.79 per thousand residents, while 19.91% of listings recorded price drops, combining leasing-competition risk with resale price resistance.
- Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the metro's annual climate loss ratio is 0.1449%, while property-specific exposure and insurance costs are not published.
Inside this metro area
Move from the market-area average to local evidence
Use the available county and city pages to add local price, rent, housing, migration and hazard context to the market-area view.
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Champaign
Nearest neighbours on price level, income, yield and job growth — not on geography. Every market page gets a different peer set, which is the point.
| Market area | Score | Price | Rent | Yield | Job Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champaign, IL (Target) | 59 | $242k | $1,338 | 6.6% | ▲ 0.6% |
| Waco, TX | 50 | $259k | $1,430 | 6.6% | ▲ 0.7% |
| Joplin, MO | 64 | $229k | $1,315 | 6.9% | ▲ 0.7% |
| Longview, TX | 50 | $222k | $1,214 | 6.6% | ▲ 0.2% |
| Spartanburg, SC | 48 | $281k | $1,500 | 6.4% | ▲ 0.7% |
Provenance
Where every figure came from
“Checked nightly” means every source is re-pulled and re-verified each night. It does not mean every source moves nightly — the release column tells you how fresh each number can possibly be.
| Dataset Source | Method | Release Period | Pulled Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Census ACS 5-year — household income and gross rent | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — historical household income | direct | ACS 2019 and 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — population | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| Apartment List Rent Estimates — recent-lease rent index | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquidity | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancy | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| BEA County Personal Income — income and population | direct | 2024 County Personal Income (released 2026-02-05); history 1969-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BEA Regional Price Parities — metropolitan price levels | direct | 2024 Regional Price Parities (released 2026-02-19); history 2008-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS CES — payroll employment | direct | CES SM current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS LAUS — resident employment | direct | LAUS current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS OEWS — occupation employment and wages | direct | May 2025 OEWS estimates (released 2026-05-15) | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS QCEW — county employment and wages | direct | annual county employment and wages 2021-2025; latest 2025 vs 2024 | 2026-08-02 |
| OMB/BLS delineation — metro geography | direct | OMB July 2023 delineation | 2026-07-30 |
| Census Building Permits Survey — permitted units | direct | BPS through 2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housing | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-29 |
| Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and income | direct | ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA | 2026-08-08 |
| FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratios | modelled | NRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS) | 2026-07-26 |
| FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciation | direct | annual county HPI history 1975-2025; latest 2025 | 2026-08-02 |
| HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy type | direct | HMDA 2024 purchase originations | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD CHAS — renter burden by HAMFI income band | direct | HUD CHAS 2018-2022 ACS 5-year (released 2025-12-23) | 2026-08-03 |
| HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standard | direct | FY2026 FMR | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback | direct | ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD-USPS ZIP-to-county residential-address crosswalk | direct | HUD-USPS 2026Q1 | 2026-08-09 |
| IRS SOI — county migration and mover income | direct | SOI migration 2022-2023 | 2026-07-26 |
| Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage rates | direct | week of 2026-07-30 | 2026-08-06 |
| Census ACS 5-year — effective property tax | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-06 |
| Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventory | direct | county inventory 2026-06 | 2026-07-28 |
| Realtor.com Rental Report — top-50 asking rents | direct | top-50 rental asking rents 2026-05 | 2026-08-05 |
| Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts | direct | metro tracker through 2026-05-01 | 2026-07-26 |
| Redfin Data Center — ZIP resale activity and supply | direct | ZIP rolling 3 months through 2026-06-30; updated 2026-07-03 | 2026-08-12 |
| USDA ERS — Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | direct | USDA ERS 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | 2026-08-02 |
| Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rents | direct | county ZHVI/ZORI 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — metro home values | direct | Metro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — city home values | direct | zillow_zhvi_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — metro market rents | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZORI — city market rents | direct | zillow_zori_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI - metro market rents, not seasonally adjusted | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv | 2026-08-15 |
| Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rents | direct | ZORI ZIP 2026-06 | 2026-08-08 |