Unemployment rate
4.4%
-0.8 pp vs Aug
+0.2 pp vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro)
Chicago metro economy by the numbers
The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan area is shown here through Cook County, DuPage County, Lake County, Will County and Kane County: Chicago, Naperville, Elgin, Aurora, Joliet, Evanston, Schaumburg and Waukegan. These are the official monthly and quarterly numbers for the metro's jobs, housing, wages and prices, each one dated and linked to its source, updated the day the agency publishes.
Unemployment rate
4.4%
Sep 2026 · +0.2 pp from a year earlier
Next metro jobs releaseDec 2, 202610:00 ETFull calendar →
Unemployment
4.4%
Sep 2026 · +0.2 pp y/y
Payrolls y/y
-0.0%
Sep 2026 · -0.3 pp y/y
House prices y/y
6.2%
Q2 2026 · -0.2 pp y/y
Listing price
$389,450
Sep 2026 · +4.6% y/y
Weekly wages
$1,646
Q1 2026 · +3.8% y/y
CPI y/y
4.5%
Sep 2026 · +1.4 pp y/y
Jobs
Civilian labor force
4,922,539
+0.3% vs Aug
-1.8% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro)
Nonfarm payroll employment
4,745.1K
-0.1% vs Aug
-0.0% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · seasonally adjusted · BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro)
Payroll employment, year over year
-0.0%
-0.1 pp vs Aug
-0.3 pp vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · seasonally adjusted · BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro)
Housing
Housing units authorized by building permits
1,126
-46.4% vs Aug
-14.9% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (metro)
FHFA house price index (all transactions), Chicago-Naperville-Evanston division
296.2
+3.0% vs Q1
+6.2% vs Q2 2025
Q2 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · FHFA All-Transactions House Price Index (Chicago-Naperville-Evanston metropolitan division)
House prices, year over year
6.2%
+0.5 pp vs Q1
-0.2 pp vs Q2 2025
Q2 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · FHFA All-Transactions House Price Index (Chicago-Naperville-Evanston metropolitan division)
Median listing price
$389,450
-1.4% vs Aug
+4.6% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro)
Active listings
15,929
+5.3% vs Aug
-5.3% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro)
Median days on market
36
unchanged vs Aug
-5.3% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro)
Wages
Average weekly wages, all covered employment
$1,646
+1.3% vs Q4
+3.8% vs Q1 2025
Q1 2026 · seasonally adjusted · BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (metro)
Prices
Consumer prices, Midwest region, year over year
4.5%
+0.6 pp vs Aug
+1.4 pp vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · BLS Consumer Price Index, Midwest region, all items
Unemployment by county
| County | Rate | Year ago | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cook County | 4.7% | 4.3% | +0.4 pp |
| DuPage County | 3.8% | 3.5% | +0.3 pp |
| Lake County | 3.6% | 4.4% | -0.8 pp |
| Will County | 4.2% | 3.9% | +0.3 pp |
| Kane County | 3.6% | 4.4% | -0.8 pp |
Sep 2026, not seasonally adjusted. Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics.
Why Chicago
Chicago is the third-largest metro economy in the country and the national freight hub; its payroll growth and house prices have trailed the Sunbelt for a decade, which makes its series a useful control. FHFA publishes house prices by division; the Chicago-Naperville-Evanston division is shown. The Midwest region CPI stands in for prices; the BLS Chicago index is monthly and will replace it.
Questions readers ask
- What is the unemployment rate in Chicago?
- The Chicago metro unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Local Area Unemployment Statistics figure for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan statistical area, not seasonally adjusted, published about six weeks after the month ends. The headline at the top of this page is the latest print; the county table shows how Cook County, DuPage County, Lake County, Will County and Kane County compare.
- How many jobs does the Chicago metro have?
- Nonfarm payroll employment counts jobs on employer payrolls in the metro, in thousands, seasonally adjusted, from the BLS Current Employment Statistics survey. The year-over-year line shows whether hiring is accelerating or slowing; it is the cleanest single read on the local labor market.
- Are Chicago home prices going up or down?
- Two measures are shown. The FHFA house price index tracks repeat sales of the same homes each quarter, so it measures price change rather than the mix of what sold. The Realtor.com median listing price is the monthly asking price of homes on the market; with active listings and days on market it shows how the market feels to a buyer today.
- Where do these numbers come from?
- Every series is a public federal statistic (BLS, Census Bureau, FHFA) or Realtor.com's monthly housing inventory, retrieved from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED database. Each figure links to its source series. MarketIntelLabs computes the year-over-year changes and writes the fact sheet; nothing on this page is estimated or modelled.
Fact sheet
Every figure above, as one dated sentence each. This is the text our desk writes from; a local newsroom may quote it with attribution to the source named in each line.
- Chicago metro unemployment rate: 4.4% in September 2026, up 0.2 percentage points from 4.2% in September 2025; prior reading 5.2% (August 2026). Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Chicago metro civilian labor force: 4,922,539 in September 2026, down 1.8% from 5,014,053 in September 2025; prior reading 4,909,842 (August 2026). Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Chicago metro nonfarm payroll employment: 4,745.1 thousand in September 2026, down 0.0% from 4,746.4 thousand in September 2025; prior reading 4,750.8 thousand (August 2026). Source: BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro), via FRED; seasonally adjusted.
- Chicago metro payroll employment, year over year: -0.0% in September 2026, down 0.3 percentage points from 0.3% in September 2025; prior reading 0.1% (August 2026). Source: BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro), via FRED; year-over-year change computed by MarketIntelLabs; seasonally adjusted.
- Chicago metro housing units authorized by building permits: 1,126 in September 2026, down 15.0% from 1,324 in September 2025; prior reading 2,100 (August 2026). Source: Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Chicago metro FHFA house price index (all transactions), Chicago-Naperville-Evanston division: 296.2 in Q2 2026, up 6.2% from 278.9 in Q2 2025; prior reading 287.7 (Q1 2026). Source: FHFA All-Transactions House Price Index (Chicago-Naperville-Evanston metropolitan division), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Chicago metro house prices, year over year: 6.2% in Q2 2026, down 0.2 percentage points from 6.4% in Q2 2025; prior reading 5.7% (Q1 2026). Source: FHFA All-Transactions House Price Index (Chicago-Naperville-Evanston metropolitan division), via FRED; year-over-year change computed by MarketIntelLabs; not seasonally adjusted.
- Chicago metro median listing price: $389,450 in September 2026, up 4.6% from $372,288 in September 2025; prior reading $395,000 (August 2026). Source: Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Chicago metro active listings: 15,929 in September 2026, down 5.3% from 16,828 in September 2025; prior reading 15,130 (August 2026). Source: Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Chicago metro median days on market: 36 in September 2026, down 5.3% from 38 in September 2025; prior reading 36 (August 2026). Source: Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Chicago metro average weekly wages, all covered employment: $1,646 in Q1 2026, up 3.8% from $1,586 in Q1 2025; prior reading $1,625 (Q4 2025). Source: BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (metro), via FRED; seasonally adjusted.
- Chicago metro consumer prices, Midwest region, year over year: 4.5% in September 2026, up 1.4 percentage points from 3.1% in September 2025; prior reading 3.9% (August 2026). Source: BLS Consumer Price Index, Midwest region, all items, via FRED; year-over-year change computed by MarketIntelLabs; not seasonally adjusted.
- Cook County unemployment rate: 4.7% in September 2026, up 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier. Source: BLS LAUS (county), not seasonally adjusted.
- DuPage County unemployment rate: 3.8% in September 2026, up 0.3 percentage points from a year earlier. Source: BLS LAUS (county), not seasonally adjusted.
- Lake County unemployment rate: 3.6% in September 2026, down 0.8 percentage points from a year earlier. Source: BLS LAUS (county), not seasonally adjusted.
- Will County unemployment rate: 4.2% in September 2026, up 0.3 percentage points from a year earlier. Source: BLS LAUS (county), not seasonally adjusted.
- Kane County unemployment rate: 3.6% in September 2026, down 0.8 percentage points from a year earlier. Source: BLS LAUS (county), not seasonally adjusted.
Fact sheet id 0610bd66185d · data through Sep 2026
Sources: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro); BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro); Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (metro); FHFA All-Transactions House Price Index (Chicago-Naperville-Evanston metropolitan division); Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro); BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (metro); BLS Consumer Price Index, Midwest region, all items. Official statistics retrieved from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED database; MarketIntelLabs computes the changes shown. Nothing on this page is estimated.
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