Places
Established communities, not compromises.
Good public schools, a walkable centre and a train to the city. These are the towns the first fund works in. For each one: the typical home, what it costs a working household each month, and how that changed since 2020.
Towns
Share of a registered nurse's pay ($100,490 a year, Chicago metro median) taken by the payment on each town's typical home, January 2020 and today at the 7% scenario.
- Kenilworth$2,142,373+81% since 2020Gap $5,746 a month
- Winnetka$1,940,311+78% since 2020Gap $5,125 a month
- Glencoe$1,681,872+84% since 2020Gap $4,587 a month
- Lake Forest$1,248,040+66% since 2020Gap $3,056 a month
- Hinsdale$1,298,279+50% since 2020Gap $2,788 a month
- Wilmette$1,014,121+60% since 2020Gap $2,384 a month
- Western Springs$912,036+53% since 2020Gap $2,006 a month
- Highland Park$807,638+65% since 2020Gap $1,967 a month
- Lake Bluff$666,451+63% since 2020Gap $1,598 a month
- Clarendon Hills$695,190+52% since 2020Gap $1,518 a month
- La Grange$673,589+47% since 2020Gap $1,404 a month
- Elmhurst$642,280+42% since 2020Gap $1,270 a month
- Glen Ellyn$578,698+51% since 2020Gap $1,252 a month
- Park Ridge$597,562+47% since 2020Gap $1,239 a month
- Highwood$500,241+62% since 2020Gap $1,191 a month
- Arlington Heights$495,520+54% since 2020Gap $1,102 a month
- Wheaton$514,751+46% since 2020Gap $1,059 a month
- Evanston$493,385+34% since 2020Gap $869 a month
Typical home: Zillow Home Value Index, 2026-08. Pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro median. Trains: Metra weekday timetables. All sources
Try a household
Two earners, a different job, a different rate. Start from the worked example and change anything.
In Park Ridge, the payment on the typical home takes 48.7% of the pay of an elementary school teacher today, up from 29.7% in January 2020.
- Typical home (2026-08)
- $597,562
- Same home, January 2020
- $407,426
- Payment today at 7.00%
- $3,180
- Payment at the 2020 share of pay
- $1,942
- Monthly gap
- $1,239
- Assistance that closes it
- $186,165
Principal and interest, 20% down, 30-year fixed. Typical home: Zillow Home Value Index. Pay: BLS median wage, Chicago metro, May 2025; January 2020 pay is estimated with the national growth in median full-time earnings (+30.7%). Latest weekly average rate 7.03% (2026-09-24). More on Park Ridge
Sources and method
- Typical home value: Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, city level, retrieved September 28, 2026.
- Pay: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, annual median wage, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan area.
- Household income and ownership: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates (tables B19013 and B25007).
- Trains: Metra weekday inbound timetables to Ogilvie Transportation Center or Chicago Union Station, scheduled minutes.
- Method: principal and interest on the typical home with 20% down on a 30-year fixed loan; 7% scenario today and 3.62% in January 2020. January 2020 pay is today's pay scaled by the national growth in median full-time earnings (+30.7%). Same method as the worked example.