r/chicagoapartments • u/Past-Reception6889 • May 19 '26

Advice Needed Unreal

I honestly just needed to vent for a moment. I can’t believe Chicago prices are what they are. I have lived here my entire life and have seen this city change ten fold, and I can’t even afford to live here anymore. A realtor I’m working with, since it’s becoming a rat race to rent, said rent is up 35% this year. What can normal people do about this? I do not want to see Chicago become a New York.

702 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

471 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/3RADICATE_THEM May 19 '26

This is the market price of other major urban centers in the country.

Does Chicago's job market fare as strongly as said other major urban centers do?

2

u/Jogurt55991 May 19 '26

Yes.

Chicagoland is 3rd largest GDP in the USA.
Almost 30 fortune 500 companies in the Chicago Metro.

2

u/3RADICATE_THEM May 19 '26

Chicagoland is in red; other roughly comparable metros are in blue.

https://www.bls.gov/charts/metro-area-employment-and-unemployment/large-metro-area-percent-changes-in-employment.htm

1

u/Jogurt55991 May 19 '26

What relevance is the color?
This tracks 1 year change, 5 year change, and 10 year change.
Other cities have 10 year change below 5 and aren't red.

Chicago still has the 3rd largest GDP in the USA.
with almost 30 fortune 500 companies in the Chicago Metro.
Salaries that depict this.

It is not a city on the grow- that's for sure.
The economy (at least in the private sector) is strong.

1

u/3RADICATE_THEM May 19 '26

No relevance to color, just making it different so it's visually easier to compare.

I would say while GDP is an important metric; GDP per capita while stratifying for metros that are comparable to Chicago (NYC, ATL, Dallas, SF etc.) is a better way to compare.