Every year, people from all over the world migrate to the Windy City. Whether its the architecture, cultural diversity, amazing food, or superb arts scene, it’s clear Chicago has a lot going on for it—including a pretty high price tag. 
Fortunately, though, there are some suburbs nearby that are more affordable. Now before you roll your eyes at the word “suburbs,” go ahead and hop off your high horse. These places will save you a ton of money on rent, home prices, and just living in general—plus they’re close to all the action of Chicago. Without further ado, here they are, the 11* Chicago suburbs that will save you money—so you can spend more money playing in Chicago:
1. Monee
2. Midlothian
3. Lake in the Hills
4. Lansing
5. Park Forest
6. Oak Forest
7. Richton Park
8. Tinley Park
9. Steger
10. Round Lake Beach
11. Riverdale
Usually we stick with a list of 10 places, but since there were two ties, we’re giving you 11 for the price of 10. Now that’s affordability. We came up with this list of affordable places by looking at all of Chicago’s largest suburbs in terms of these criteria:
We’ll get into those details later, though. First, let’s take a look at just what makes these suburbs more affordable than the rest.
Monee is a wonderful little spot to call home if you’re looking for a place to raise your family near Chicago—with about half the price tag. Here, it doesn’t matter whether you’re looking to buy a home or rent, because either way, you’re spending only a small portion of your income. As a matter of fact, in Monee, residents typically spend the lowest amount of their income on rent out of anywhere in the area. And here’s something that’s nearly impossible to find in the Chicago area—the overall cost of living is even lower than the Illinois average of 99.
Midlothian may be about three times the size of our first suburb, but it still somehow maintains that small town charm—that overall family-friendly vibe. In other words, if you’re looking for a place to party, this probably isn’t it. If you are, however, looking for a nice, peaceful, and affordable place to get away just outside of Chicago, you’re on the right track. There’s a country club, the beautiful Sun Drop Prairie Reserve, and even a professional minor league baseball team close by. Don’t worry about falling in love with this community and wanting to set down roots—houses here are some of the most affordable in the area.
This community of about 30,000 residents is kind of hard to get an idea of unless you just go ahead and visit. After all, each neighborhood is so distinct, from the Original Section to the Tree Section, that they may as well be their own little villages. But one thing that remains true throughout Lake in the Hills: It’s affordable. Especially for the Chicago area, where the cost of living index is 116. Compared to the rest of the state, Lake in the Hill’s cost of living is a little higher (a 105 versus Illinois’ average of 99), but because residents here make a median income of over $85,000, it’s still pretty reasonable.
Lansing touts itself as “the best of both worlds.” This affordable and a nice community is just close enough to Chicago to be convenient but far enough away to be peaceful. Sure, the cost of living is a little higher than the Illinois average of 99, but remember, the cost of living in Chicago is 116, so 103 is still pretty darn good. It’s a great place to call home, and an even better place to buy one. The median home price here is one of the lowest you’ll find outside of Chicago.
Speaking of affordable places to buy a home—it doesn’t get much better than Park Forest. This diverse community has the third lowest home value in the area, and an even lower overall cost of living that your average place in Illinois. And it’s outside of Chicago! Of course if you’re not up for the commute, there’s plenty to do right in Park Forest itself. From the 2,000 acres of parks and recreation facilities to outdoor swimming pools and playgrounds, Park Forest is a great place to raise your family without breaking the bank.
When most people think Oak Forest, they think “green.” Oak Forest is a perfect place to enjoy a game of golf, a hike, a bike ride, or even a nice War of 1812 re-enactment, if the mood strikes you. It’s a family-friendly city with the charm—and affordability—of a small town. And it’s just a little over 25 miles away from downtown Chicago.
This village in Cook County has the lowest cost of living out of all of the places in our top 11, and the second lowest in our analysis overall. To break that down a little further for you, Richton Park has a particularly low cost of living when it comes to goods and services, groceries, and housing. In fact, the median home price is just $161,500, where the average in Illinois is over $190,000.
There’s a reason we recently ranked Tinley Park as one of the best small cities in America—well, several actually. There’s the fact that it’s safe, that the median household income is a good 45 percent higher than the American average, and of course, that it’s affordable. Plus because residents make such a good income here and have a cost of living index of only 102, just 27 percent of it is typically spent on rent.
Steger may be most famously known as The Home of the World’s Finest Piano, but after reading this, you might know it by a different name: Affordable as All Get Out. Steger’s cost of living is right on point with the American average and much lower than that of Chicago. Moreover, it’s a good place to put down roots and buy a home, with a median home value of just $117,300—an investment that will pay off as housing prices go up.
Going from Chicago to Round Lake Beach is like taking a trip back to a simpler time. It’s a land filled with parks and natural beauty, a library, and family-friendly festivals and events. Perhaps more importantly, though, it’s a place where you can actually afford to settle down. Not only are homes less expensive here, but they’re actually more affordable, since residents make a median income of nearly $60,000.
This community is undergoing a bit of a renaissance at the moment, with a recently redeveloped downtown, and yet it seems the prices haven’t caught up yet. (So you might want to look into moving here before they do!) The cost of living is even lower than the Illinois average of 99—something nearly unheard of in the Chicago area—and the median home price is a good $157,000 less than that of Chicago. That’s a whole other house! Seriously, move here before everyone else does.
So sure, Chicago itself may be expensive, but these 11 suburbs are far from it. In fact, they’re the most affordable places for miles—and if you want the excitement of Chicago without the high price tag, well, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Here’s the part of the post that our fellow numbers nerds will love—our methodology. So here’s the method behind this madness. We start by gathering up all of the places near Chicago with populations of 5,000 people or more. Then, we use sources like the U.S. Census and AreaVibes to gather up information on these places in terms of the following money-saving criteria:
Once we eliminated any places that didn’t have complete data, we were left with a total of 106 places. We ranked all of these places with scores from one to 106 in each of our categories, and then we averaged these out into one overall Big Deal Score for each place. Our lowest scores went to our, in this case, 11 most affordable places. To see more affordable places in the area, feel free to check out the table below. See what we did there? Don’t worry, we’re better at finding homes than we are puns. 
Do you live in the Chicago area? Tell us about your community in the comments below!
