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Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
When your office is wherever you open your laptop, the city you live in becomes a financial strategy. We ranked 5 cities in Illinois for remote workers — weighting cost, utilities, and economic strength. Joliet tops the list for 2026: index 91, rent $1,559/mo.
#1 Ranked: Joliet — cost index 91, rent $1,559/mo, income $88,026
Joliet: high income, low cost — a rare combo
Remote-worker scoring: cost index 91, utilities index 97, income $88,026 — maximizing geographic arbitrage
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
When your office is wherever you open your laptop, the city you live in becomes a financial strategy. We ranked 5 cities in Illinois for remote workers — weighting cost, utilities, and economic strength. Joliet tops the list for 2026: index 91, rent $1,559/mo.
At $1,559/month for rent and a cost index of 91, Joliet is pretty much what you'd expect from a mid-size city in this part of the country. Income is $88,026. Standard stuff, really.
Bottom line: Joliet leads this ranking for clear, data-backed reasons — but the "best" city depends on your priorities. You get the picture. Click into any city below to see the full detail page with 12-month trend charts, profession-specific salary data, and a breakdown of all five cost categories. If you're seriously considering a move, use our salary calculator to model your specific income against these numbers.
Joliet earns above the national median ($88,026 vs $80,367) while keeping costs below average (index 91 vs 111). That combination is exceptionally rare — only 40 of 288 cities share it.
Rent in #1-ranked Joliet has increased from $1,496 to $1,559/mo over the past 12 months — a 4% increase. Rising costs may erode its top ranking over time.
Joliet (index 91) and Chicago (index 134) sit 43 points apart on the cost index — proof that Illinois is far from monolithic in affordability.
150,489 residents · Illinois
What does daily life actually cost in Joliet? Start with the 21% rent-to-income ratio — that's the kind of margin that lets people build savings. On the category level, Housing (index 91) is where the real savings show up, while Healthcare (index 98) is the line item most likely to surprise newcomers. Income at $88,026 and homes at $255,981 round out a profile that ranks #1 for clear reasons.
146,120 residents · Illinois
In plain English: Why Rockford ranks #2: the numbers tell a clear story. At 67 on the cost index, residents save roughly 44% less than the typical American. Rent sits at $1,151/month while the median household pulls in $53,328/year. The Housing category is particularly strong at 67, though Healthcare (93) lags behind. Home prices average $172,610 — $294,760 below the national median.
150,245 residents · Illinois
Why Naperville ranks #3: the numbers tell a clear story. At 126 on the cost index, residents spend roughly 15% more than the typical American. Rent sits at $2,157/month while the median household pulls in $150,937/year. The Healthcare category is particularly strong at 105, though Housing (126) lags behind. Home prices average $594,498 — $127,128 above the national median.
113,310 residents · Illinois
So, Elgin. Cost index of 101, rent at $1,736/month. It's lower than the national average. Median income is $88,316, which is above average. That alone makes it worth considering.
2,664,452 residents · Illinois
In plain English: What does daily life actually cost in Chicago? Start with the 37% rent-to-income ratio — stretched, especially for single earners. On the category level, Healthcare (index 107) is where the real savings show up, while Housing (index 134) is the line item most likely to surprise newcomers. Income at $75,134 — which, honestly, is lower than you'd expect here — and homes at $312,457 round out a profile that ranks #5 for clear reasons.
Our persona scoring model weights cost, income, rent, healthcare, taxes, and city size based on what matters most to remote workers. Each factor scores 10-25 points out of a 100-point composite. The guide ranks every tracked city in Illinois by this personalized metric. All data is sourced from federal agencies and verified research institutions. Cost of living indices are normalized to 100 (national median) using Zillow rent as the primary signal, with sub-category adjustments derived from regional BLS price data. Rankings are updated monthly as new data is released.
Joliet ranks #1 in Illinois for this analysis with a cost index of 91 and median income of $88,026.
Joliet scores highest for remote workers due to its below-average cost of living, median rent of $1,559/mo, and above-average median income of $88,026.
Our cost of living index uses real Zillow rent data as the foundation, indexed to 100 (national median). Sub-categories (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare) are derived from the overall index with regional adjustments. Data is updated monthly.
Joliet (ranked #1) has a cost index of 91 and rent of $1,559/mo, while Chicago (ranked #5) has a cost index of 134 and rent of $2,292/mo — a 43-point difference in cost of living.
City data is refreshed monthly from Census Bureau population estimates, Zillow rent and home price indices, BLS salary data, and Tax Foundation tax rates. Last updated: 2026.
The median 1-bedroom rent in Joliet is $1,559/month as of 2026, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index. This is $336 below the national median of $1,895/month.
The median home price in Joliet is $255,981, which is 2.9× the local median income. That's within the standard 3.5× affordability rule for most local earners. The national median home price is $467,370.
Illinois has a 4.95% state income tax rate. Combined state and local sales tax averages 8.83%, and the effective property tax rate is 1.73%.
This ranking was generated using data current as of early 2026. Population and income data comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (5-year estimates). Rent and home price data is from Zillow's monthly releases. Tax rates are from the Tax Foundation's 2025 edition. Rankings are refreshed monthly.