Rent in Illinois is Insanely High Compared to Neighboring States

The numbers frankly don't lie, if you are living in the Midwest and looking to rent not own, Illinois is NOT the place to be...

The new numbers that are coming out of the 2020 Census are absolutely fascinating, one of the numbers that is most shocking to me is the rent in Illinois compared to it's surrounding Midwest neighboring states. So here is what I found...

The average rent in the state of Illinois according to the 2020 Census is approximately $1,020,now lets compare that to the data from the surrounding states. Missouri the average rent is $834 (almost $200 cheaper!), in Iowa the average rent is $808 (over $200 cheaper!), in Wisconsin the average rent is $867, while in Indiana the average rent comes out to $840. All of the states that boarder Illinois have rent just about the same, and you can't make the Chicago argument due to the fact that all of these states (minus Iowa) have major cities in them.

Now to be completely honest I lived in Chicago for 5 plus years and I paid close to $1300 a month in rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in the Lakeview neighborhood of the city, so $1,020 seems like a steal compared to that! BUT since I have lived in Quincy my rent has been $635 a month for a 2 bedroom apartment, which is not located in The District. I have had friends try to convince me for years to move across the river into Missouri for cheaper rent, but when you work in Quincy it makes the commuting from Missouri a tougher pill to swallow. Why do you think the rent in Illinois is so much higher compared to our neighbors?