Chicago, IL

The affordability dashboard for Chicago, IL aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 56 ZIP codes covering 2,680,484 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of D (48/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $77,019, median home value of $348,801, median rent of $1,414 per month, and 41.0% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,781 per month (studio $1,480, 1BR $1,581, 3BR $2,294, 4BR $2,653). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $14,473 per year, consuming 19% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are housing, commute, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 8.9% and poverty 17.2% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.