Illinois Rental Market Tendencies in 2025
Illinois is the sixth-most populous state within the U.S., principally due to Chicago, the third-largest metro space within the nation. Nevertheless, this listing will concentrate on the 5 greatest rental markets in Illinois outdoors of Chicago—from school city Champaign within the south to Rockford within the north, and in every single place in between.
Illinois has a various and resilient economic system anchored by industries like manufacturing, agriculture, finance, healthcare, and logistics. The state advantages from its central location as a nationwide transportation hub. Whereas the state has confronted challenges, similar to fiscal pressures and deindustrialization, current investments in infrastructure, expertise, and workforce improvement are serving to Illinois to revitalize its economic system and appeal to new enterprise.
One pattern to concentrate on in Illinois is inhabitants loss. The state has skilled constant web outmigration since 2015, significantly in small cities and rural areas, a pattern that solely accelerated in the course of the pandemic. The explanations attributed to this pattern are complicated and contentious, with opposing factions pointing to excessive taxes or underfunded infrastructure, whereas others reference the state’s growing older inhabitants, the decline in manufacturing, and “mind drain.”
If you happen to’re trying to increase your actual property portfolio or property administration providers inside Illinois, this publish will information you thru evaluating 5 up-and-coming actual property markets there. We’ll share rental market statistics for every metropolis, together with stock development, hire development, emptiness charges, cap charges, and property worth appreciation. We’ll additionally spotlight financial and demographic developments in every market.
High 5 Rental Markets in Illinois for 2025
With out additional ado, listed here are 5 Illinois rental markets the place our analysis signifies development alternatives lie in 2025.
Market #1: Bloomington, IL
170,441 residents dwell within the Bloomington metro space, which it shares with Regular, its “twin metropolis.” Bloomington is positioned roughly two and a half hours from each Chicago and St. Louis, and is taken into account a transportation hub inside central Illinois as a result of variety of interstates that move by way of the world.
Insurance coverage firm State Farm has been based mostly in Bloomington for greater than a century, and it stays town’s high employer to this present day, adopted by fellow insurance coverage firm Nation Monetary. Two universities—Illinois Wesleyan College and Illinois State College—are positioned within the Bloomington–Regular metro space as properly. Different high employers in Bloomington embody Carle Bromenn Medical Heart, OSF St. Joseph Medical Heart, town and county governments, and the native college districts.
Bloomington gives residents and guests a variety of cultural alternatives. The Bloomington Heart for the Performing Arts is a superb place to catch a live performance or theatrical manufacturing, whereas the Miller Park Zoo is a family-friendly vacation spot for each training and leisure. Historic sights positioned within the metropolis embody the McLean County Museum of Historical past, in addition to Davis Mansion, a web site providing a glimpse into the lifetime of a previous Supreme Courtroom Justice. Bloomington residents can even get pleasure from strolling, jogging, and biking on the Structure Path, which winds by way of town’s parks and neighborhoods. As well as, a variety of golf programs and nation golf equipment are positioned throughout the metro space.
Bloomington ranked in place #18 on Buildium’s listing of up-and-coming actual property markets in 2025 because of its sturdy hire development, emptiness fee, cap fee, and property worth appreciation all through 2023 and 2024. One pattern to look at, as with different Illinois cities, is inhabitants and job loss: Bloomington’s resident base and employment development have each trended barely damaging lately. Nevertheless, its affordability makes it interesting for residents and buyers alike, and its sturdy multifamily metrics warrant consideration as properly.
Bloomington, Illinois Rental Market Statistics
- Rental Stock (Q3-’24): 9,797
- Models Added Since Q3-’23: +0
- Asking Lease Development Since Q3-’23: 2.3%
- Asking Lease (Q3-’24): $1,153
- Efficient Lease (Q3-’24): $1,147
- Multifamily Emptiness Charge (Q3-’24): 3.8%
- Multifamily Cap Charge (Q3-’24): 8.3%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Bloomington, Illinois Housing Market Statistics
- Median House Worth (Q3-’24): $243,800
- House Worth Appreciation Since Q3-’23: 0.2%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Bloomington, Illinois Financial Statistics
- Inhabitants Development (2022): -0.4%
- GDP Development (2022): 4.4%
- Job Development (Q3-’24): -0.4%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Lists That Point out Bloomington, Illinois
Market #2: Rockford, IL
334,124 residents name the Rockford metro space house, making it the fifth-most populous metropolis in Illinois total, and the most important metropolis outdoors of the Chicago metro space. Rockford could be discovered alongside the Rock River in northern Illinois, roughly an hour and a half west of Chicago, and an hour and a half south of Madison, WI.
Rockford’s economic system has revolved round manufacturing because the 1850s, when town was first linked to different cities by rail, enabling firms to ship agricultural equipment and furnishings to different markets. This manufacturing increase continued by way of the mid-Twentieth century, with Rockford being additional linked to different cities by Interstate 90. In 1963, the metro space was chosen by Chrysler (now Stellantis) as the situation for the Belvidere Meeting plant, which stays a serious employer there to this present day.
Like different Rust Belt cities, Rockford was impacted by deindustrialization and inhabitants loss all through the Nineteen Seventies and ‘80s. Town was challenged additional by the Nice Recession, the lack of Amtrak rail service, and a number of flooding occasions within the early twenty first century. In recent times, nonetheless, Rockford has labored laborious to diversify its industrial economic system and restore its downtown neighborhood.
At this time, town is understood for manufacturing fasteners in addition to components for the automotive and aerospace industries, with crops for Collins Aerospace, Woodward Inc., and Stellantis positioned right here. As well as, there are a number of healthcare firms—UW Well being, Mercy Well being, and OSF Healthcare—positioned in Rockford. Different high employers within the space embody Rockford Public Faculty District, UPS, Amazon, and Walmart. A number of greater academic establishments, together with Rockford College and Rock Valley School, will also be discovered right here.
Rockford boasts a variety of cultural sights, together with the Anderson Japanese Gardens, the Discovery Heart Museum, the Burpee Museum of Pure Historical past, Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens, Rockford Artwork Museum, and Coronado Performing Arts Heart. Town additionally has a variety of inexperienced areas the place residents can spend time outside, similar to Sinnissippi Park and Riverwalk, Rock Minimize State Park, and Rockwood Park.
Rockford’s sturdy multifamily hire development, occupancy fee, and cap fee helped it rank in place #31 on Buildium’s listing of up-and-coming actual property markets in 2025, together with its spectacular house worth appreciation. Despite this development, properties stay very reasonably priced in Rockford, creating a chance for buyers to get their foot within the door within the Illinois actual property market. As with different Illinois cities, Rockford’s inhabitants development is trending barely damaging; nonetheless, in contrast to Bloomington, Rockford is seeing optimistic employment development.
Rockford, Illinois Rental Market Statistics
- Rental Stock (Q3-’24): 8.971
- Models Added Since Q3-’23: +0
- Asking Lease Development Since Q3-’23: 5.3%
- Asking Lease (Q3-’24): $1,080
- Efficient Lease (Q3-’24): $1,076
- Multifamily Emptiness Charge (Q3-’24): 4.0%
- Multifamily Cap Charge (Q3-’24): 8.1%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Rockford, Illinois Housing Market Statistics
- Median House Worth (Q3-’24): $201,900
- House Worth Appreciation Since Q3-’23: 11.1%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Rockford, Illinois Financial Statistics
- Inhabitants Development (2022): -0.4%
- GDP Development (2022): 6.1%
- Job Development (Q3-’24): 0.8%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Lists That Point out Rockford, Illinois
Market #3: Champaign, IL
Positioned roughly two hours from Chicago and two and a half hours from St. Louis, the Champaign metro space is house to 237,052 residents. Along with Urbana, its twin metropolis, Champaign has been a university city since 1867, when the College of Illinois was based right here.
Champaign received its begin as a railroad city within the 1850s, with the arrival of Illinois Central Railroad reworking the world right into a regional hub for commerce and agriculture. By the early twentieth century, manufacturing and light-weight trade started to take root. Nevertheless, town confronted the financial headwinds of suburbanization and deindustrialization in the course of the mid-1900s. In response to this financial stagnation and concrete disinvestment, Champaign has devoted many sources to downtown redevelopment and public infrastructure lately. Town has seen a resurgence in downtown exercise, that includes new eating places, housing, and cultural venues.
At this time, a number of Fortune 500 firms have places of work in Champaign, together with IBM, John Deere, Dow Chemical Firm, Caterpillar, and State Farm. As well as, Jimmy John’s is headquartered within the metropolis. Champaign can be a part of a area referred to as the Silicon Prairie, with the College of Illinois’ analysis ecosystem serving to to create an environment conducive to the formation of tech startups, significantly within the software program, agriculture, and clear vitality fields.
UIUC additionally contributes to Champaign’s wealthy cultural panorama. Residents and guests benefit from the College of Illinois Arboretum, Krannert Artwork Museum, Spurlock Museum, Virginia Theatre, Hessel Park, and (in close by Urbana) Meadowbrook Park. Downtown Champaign, as soon as impacted by city disinvestment, is now identified for mixing small-town allure with city vitality. Significantly vibrant within the hotter months, town options sidewalk cafes, avenue festivals, artwork walks, and dwell music.
Champaign ranked in place #46 on Buildium’s listing of up-and-coming actual property markets in 2025 because of its sturdy multifamily hire development and reasonably sturdy emptiness charges and cap charges during the last two years. As well as, properties in Champaign are comparatively reasonably priced and have proven sturdy worth appreciation lately, making this one other nice marketplace for buyers to contemplate—significantly with the inhabitants and employment development that this faculty city is seeing compared with different Illinois rental markets.
Champaign, Illinois Rental Market Statistics
- Rental Stock (Q3-’24): 16,525
- Models Added Since Q3-’23: +107
- Asking Lease Development Since Q3-’23: 5.2%
- Asking Lease (Q3-’24): $1,094
- Efficient Lease (Q3-’24): $1,090
- Multifamily Emptiness Charge (Q3-’24): 6.3%
- Multifamily Cap Charge (Q3-’24): 7.6%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Champaign, Illinois Housing Market Statistics
- Median House Worth (Q3-’24): $237,000
- House Worth Appreciation Since Q3-’23: 6.3%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Champaign, Illinois Financial Statistics
- Inhabitants Development (2022): 6.2%
- GDP Development (2022): 7.4%
- Job Development (Q3-’24): 1.7%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Lists That Point out Champaign, Illinois
Market #4: Peoria, IL
Peoria is positioned in central Illinois, a little bit below three hours from Chicago and two and a half hours from St. Louis. This four-time winner of the All-America Metropolis Award has 361,989 residents dwelling in its metro space.
Previous to Prohibition, Peoria’s early economic system was formed by the liquor trade due to its ample corn provide and site alongside the Illinois River. Following its reign as a distilling powerhouse, Peoria reinvented itself as a producing hub. For a lot of the 20 th century, Caterpillar shaped the financial spine of the area, using tens of hundreds of employees there; and although it moved its headquarters to Deerfield in 2017, Caterpillar stays Peoria’s second-highest employer.
As was the case for different Rust Belt cities, Peoria’s economic system needed to modify as deindustrialization and automation decreased manufacturing jobs within the second half of the 20 th century. Since then, Peoria has labored laborious to diversify its economic system. At this time, high employers (in addition to Caterpillar) embody healthcare firms OSF Healthcare and Carle Well being, together with Peoria Public Faculties District 150, Vonachen Providers, and Bradley College.
Peoria can be working laborious to reinforce its livability, together with enhancing housing affordability and high quality, increasing financial alternative, and revitalizing neighborhoods and public infrastructure. Peoria’s funding in downtown enhancements have resulted in an inflow of latest enterprise and foot site visitors to town heart.
Residents and guests to Peoria can get pleasure from a number of cultural sights that replicate town’s industrial heritage and pure magnificence, together with the Peoria Riverfront Museum, Caterpillar Guests Heart, Luthy Botanical Backyard, and Forest Park Nature Heart. Peoria additionally hosts the Coronary heart of Illinois Truthful every summer time, in addition to the famend Annual Artwork Truthful. Sports activities followers can catch a baseball recreation at Dozer Park, whereas households could significantly benefit from the Peoria PlayHouse Youngsters’s Museum and Peoria Zoo. As well as, Peoria’s Grand View Drive was dubbed the “World’s Most Lovely Drive” by President Theodore Roosevelt, providing panoramic views of the Illinois River in addition to historic properties.
Peoria was ranked in place #48 on Buildium’s listing of up-and-coming actual property markets in 2025 due to its sturdy multifamily cap charges, occupancy charges, and property worth appreciation during the last two years. Weighing on Peoria’s rating was its damaging inhabitants development and employment development. Nevertheless, its affordability units it aside—even in a area that tends to have a decrease price of dwelling than a lot of the remainder of the U.S.—and its property worth appreciation and multifamily metrics make it price contemplating for buyers in 2025.
Peoria, Illinois Rental Market Statistics
- Rental Stock (Q3-’24): 12,524
- Models Added Since Q3-’23: +0
- Asking Lease Development Since Q3-’23: 2.8%
- Asking Lease (Q3-’24): $1,025
- Efficient Lease (Q3-’24): $1,021
- Multifamily Emptiness Charge (Q3-’24): 4.3%
- Multifamily Cap Charge (Q3-’24): 8.3%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Peoria, Illinois Housing Market Statistics
- Median House Worth (Q3-’24): $177,100
- House Worth Appreciation Since Q3-’23: 12.4%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Peoria, Illinois Financial Statistics
- Inhabitants Development (2022): -8.8%
- GDP Development (2022): 5.7%
- Job Development (Q3-’24): -1.0%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Lists That Point out Peoria, Illinois
- Rising Housing Markets Index – Winter 2024 (WSJ/Realtor.com): #102
- Rising Housing Markets Index – Spring 2024 (WSJ/Realtor.com): #59
- Finest Actual Property Markets – Small Cities (WalletHub): #132
Market #5: Kankakee, IL
Kankakee has 105,940 residents dwelling in its metro space, making it the smallest metropolis highlighted in our publish on Illinois rental markets. What units it aside is its affordability compared with different Chicago-area metros, with Kankakee being positioned simply an hour south of Chicago.
Like Champaign, the arrival of the Illinois Central Railroad within the mid-nineteenth century was a turning level for Kankakee. By making large-scale agricultural exports potential, the world was remodeled right into a industrial hub, significantly for grains and dairy. Kankakee’s economic system skilled one other increase following World Battle II, with development within the automotive, chemical, and pharmaceutical sectors, amongst others.
Financial headwinds in the course of the Nineteen Eighties and ‘90s led to manufacturing facility closures, inhabitants decline, and concrete disinvestment—developments that also persist in the present day within the type of elevated unemployment and poverty ranges. Nevertheless, current many years have seen efforts to stabilize and diversify Kankakee’s economic system. At this time, main employers in Kankakee embody healthcare firms like Riverside Healthcare and Ascension Saint Mary, in addition to manufacturing firms like CSL Behring, Armstrong World Industries, Nuctor Metal Kankakee, and Van Drunen Farms. Moreover, Kankakee’s proximity to Chicago and main highways have made it a wise location for logistics and warehousing operations.
Residents and guests to Kankakee can study its historical past at sights just like the Kankakee County Museum, French Heritage Museum, Kankakee Railroad Museum, and B. Harley Bradley Home (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). Households can go to Exploration Station, a kids’s museum. Those that get pleasure from out of doors recreation can recognize town’s location alongside the banks of the Kankakee River on the Kankakee Riverfront Path, Kankakee River State Park, Chicken Park, and Perry Farm Park. Downtown revitalization initiatives additionally purpose to draw residents and companies again to Kankakee’s city core, leading to a neighborhood that blends historic allure with trendy facilities similar to outlets, eating places, and leisure venues.
Kankakee’s major draw for buyers is its affordability, enabling sturdy cap charges for multifamily properties within the metropolis, and comparatively sturdy worth appreciation on single-family properties. Emptiness charges are low, with no new properties being constructed throughout the metropolis limits over the earlier 12 months. In consequence, it ranked in place #58 on Buildium’s listing of up-and-coming actual property markets in 2025. Traders and property managers ought to needless to say with unemployment and poverty charges remaining elevated in Kankakee, they might face tenant high quality challenges. As well as, a better crime fee compared with different Illinois rental markets emphasizes the significance of discovering the proper property in the proper neighborhood and hiring an expert to look after it.
Kankakee, Illinois Rental Market Statistics
- Rental Stock (Q3-’24): 1,579
- Models Added Since Q3-’23: +0
- Asking Lease Development Since Q3-’23: 1.3%
- Asking Lease (Q3-’24): $923
- Efficient Lease (Q3-’24): $918
- Multifamily Emptiness Charge (Q3-’24): 3.0%
- Multifamily Cap Charge (Q3-’24): 8.8%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Kankakee, Illinois Housing Market Statistics
- Median House Worth (Q3-’24): $222,200
- House Worth Appreciation Since Q3-’23: 4.6%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Kankakee, Illinois Financial Statistics
- Inhabitants Development (2022): -0.1%
- GDP Development (2022): 3.0%
- Job Development (Q3-’24): 0.2%
Supply: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
Lists That Point out Kankakee, Illinois
- None – that is an under-the-radar decide
How Do We Determine the Finest Rental Markets in Illinois?
We use the next sources to assist us confirm the most effective rental markets within the U.S. throughout 5 completely different classes.
Trade Indicators
Measures of alternative for rental property buyers and property managers:
Housing Indicators
Measures of property costs and hire development:
Financial and Job Market Indicators
Measures of employment development:
Demographic Indicators
Measures of inhabitants development:
- Markets with the best inhabitants development, as measured by the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors
- The fastest-growing actual property markets, as measured by U.S. Information
- The very best locations to dwell, based mostly on analyses of high quality of life and desirability, as measured by U.S. Information
Local weather Indicators
Measures of local weather vulnerability:
60 Up-and-Coming Actual Property Markets in 2025
In Buildium’s annual Up-and-Coming Actual Property Markets listing, we analyzed 175 metro areas throughout the U.S. to find out which cities present promise for rental buyers and property managers within the 12 months forward. Questioning the place else can rental buyers and property managers discover extra development alternatives in 2025? View the total listing of rising markets we’ve recognized throughout the nation.
Learn extra on Trade Analysis
