Best places to buy a rental property in Illinois

Ranked by the engine's tracked 5-year appreciation across 32 covered markets in Illinois, snapshot 2026-10-29. Appreciation history is context, not a forecast.

Market	Home value	3y	5y	10y	Active listings
Rockford	$91,878	70.6%	105.1%	335.5%	-
Oswego	$275,156	24.7%	54.2%	97.8%	-
Waukegan	$204,714	43.7%	54.2%	232.6%	-
Arlington Heights	$684,879	27.9%	44.5%	65.9%	-
Saint Charles	$382,035	26.2%	42.9%	88.9%	-
Lake Bluff	$472,459	26.0%	40.5%	52.4%	-
Elgin	$300,442	22.4%	39.5%	112.1%	-
Wheaton	$802,696	30.0%	39.3%	58.5%	-
Dekalb	$263,222	18.5%	38.0%	72.1%	-
North Chicago	$196,124	24.1%	36.1%	235.5%	-

Full list: every tracked market in Illinois with 5-year appreciation data below.

Hoffman Estates - 35.5%
Lanark - 35.0%
Plainfield - 34.7%
Peoria - 34.5%
Libertyville - 34.1%
Romeoville - 33.2%
Montgomery - 33.1%
Orland Park - 32.0%
Aurora - 31.9%
Schaumburg - 31.2%
Lockport - 30.3%
West Chicago - 29.7%
Lake Villa - 29.3%
Frankfort - 27.8%
Springfield - 25.5%
Chicago - 25.3%
Evanston - 12.9%
Rochelle - 12.1%
Moline - 6.7%
Danville - -1.9%
Cahokia Heights - -9.6%

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All figures are engine estimates from the LumosTerra tracked-data snapshot as of 2026-10-29. They are starting points, not recommendations - verify rents, comps and local rules before acting on any of them.

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