?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Buying a home · Illinois

Best cities for buying a home in Illinois

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Buying a home” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on median home price, property tax rate, home price yoy, cost of living index. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

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Top 10 · computed ranking

  1. 1.Calumet City, IL35k residents

    68/100

    median home price: $145,200 · property tax rate: 2.1% · home price yoy: -3.0%

  2. 2.Rock Island, IL36k residents

    66/100

    median home price: $125,900 · property tax rate: 2.1% · home price yoy: +0.8%

  3. 3.Normal, IL54k residents

    62/100

    median home price: $213,600 · property tax rate: 2.1% · home price yoy: +0.1%

  4. 4.Belleville, IL41k residents

    62/100

    median home price: $141,300 · property tax rate: 2.1% · home price yoy: +3.4%

  5. 5.Bloomington, IL79k residents

    61/100

    median home price: $203,300 · property tax rate: 2.1% · home price yoy: +2.5%

  6. 6.Moline, IL42k residents

    61/100

    median home price: $146,300 · property tax rate: 2.1% · home price yoy: +4.7%

  7. 7.Joliet, IL150k residents

    60/100

    median home price: $265,800 · property tax rate: 2.1% · home price yoy: +1.3%

  8. 8.Quincy, IL39k residents

    60/100

    median home price: $153,200 · property tax rate: 2.1% · home price yoy: +4.4%

  9. 9.Romeoville, IL41k residents

    59/100

    median home price: $257,100 · property tax rate: 2.1% · home price yoy: +2.6%

  10. 10.Carpentersville, IL37k residents

    59/100

    median home price: $234,100 · property tax rate: 2.1% · home price yoy: +3.0%

Methodology: each city is scored 0–100 by min–max normalizing every weighted facet across this candidate set (direction-aware), identical math to the tool's “Best fit” tab. A different weighting produces a different order, which is the point: this is a starting shortlist, not a verdict.

Questions & answers
Which city is best for buying a home in Illinois?
Calumet City, IL ranks first with a fit score of 68/100, followed by Rock Island (66) and Normal (62), using the "Buying a home" weighting.
How is this ranking calculated?
Each of the 10 candidate cities (25,000+ residents) is scored 0 to 100 by min-max normalizing the weighted facets, heaviest on median home price, property tax rate, home price yoy, cost of living index, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.