Chicago Heights

The city sits about thirty miles south of the Loop at the historic junction of the Dixie Highway and the Lincoln Highway, which is why it grew as an industrial and transport town in the first place. Prairie State College is here, and there is still manufacturing in and around the municipal boundaries.

County records put the median 2-to-4 unit sale at roughly $25,000 in 2013 and about $173,000 in 2025, up around 593%, or 17.5% a year, on 50 or more sales per window. Those percentages are enormous, and they are enormous partly because the starting point was so low.

At $173,000 for a small apartment building, the yield on paper is better than anywhere else in this batch. That is real and it is why people look here.

Here is the counterweight, stated plainly. Chicago Heights has had sustained population loss, a high vacancy rate, and property taxes that are among the highest effective rates in the county relative to value. That last one catches people: a low purchase price with a high tax bill changes the math completely, and it is the single most common reason south suburban deals underperform their spreadsheets.

I am not talking anyone out of it. I am saying that if you buy here, get the actual tax bill before you close rather than estimating from the purchase price, and have local management lined up. Thirty miles is too far to self-manage.