Category Moving Here

Guides for anyone relocating to Chicago or its suburbs: what homes cost, how buying works here, and the practical questions every move raises. Researched from local data and sources, and updated as the answers change.

Moving Here

Chicago’s Mural Registry Lists 458 Works — and West Town, Uptown, and the Loop Hold 176 of Them

Colorful abstract mural on a brick wall in afternoon light

Chicago's own Mural Registry lists 458 works, and three community areas - West Town, Uptown, and the Loop - hold 176 of them. Install years run 1971 to 2024 with the busiest years in 2017 and 2019, 55 of 77 areas hold at least one, and the registry's own area column disagrees with its own coordinates on nearly half its rows - so every mural here is placed by its coordinates. The registry as recorded, mapped in full.

KCM Desk
August 15, 2026

Moving Here

Cook County’s Late Tax Bills Have a Due Date Now: October 1, 2026 — 61 Days Past the Statutory August 1

Mailboxes on brick two-flat porches in warm morning light

Cook County's second-installment bills now have a due date: October 1, 2026, per the Treasurer's table - 61 days past the statutory August 1 and the mildest of the four late years in the ledger (151, 122, 136, and now 61 days). Every date the county's own, every source linked.

KCM Desk
August 15, 2026

Moving Here

Every Frank Lloyd Wright Building on Chicago’s Landmark Register (2026)

A Prairie-style brick house with deep eaves in warm afternoon light

Chicago’s individual-landmark register credits Frank Lloyd Wright on 11 of its 412 entries — 10 as sole architect, plus the Charnley House’s shared credit — from an 1891 house on Astor Street to a 1917 pair on South Hoyne. All 11, in construction-date order, with the register’s own dates and designations.

KCM Desk
August 10, 2026

Moving Here

The Oldest Buildings on Chicago’s Landmark Register, From 1833 On (2026)

A white 1830s farmhouse with a columned porch among mature trees

The oldest standing building on Chicago’s individual-landmark register is an 1833 farmhouse in Norwood Park — three years older than the Clarke House. The twelve oldest register entries, through a four-way tie at 1869, with the commemorative sites and one stone marker kept apart and every date the register’s own.

KCM Desk
August 10, 2026

Moving Here

Chicago Took 5,012 Vacant-Building Violations Against Financial Institutions to Hearings. Four in Five Ended in “City Non-Suit.”

A boarded-up brick two-flat on a Chicago side street in afternoon light

Chicago’s ledger of vacant-building cases against financial institutions: 5,012 violations across 4,175 hearing dockets, most from the early 2010s — and four in five ended in “City non-suit,” the city ending its own case. $1.53 million assessed at the docket grain the file itself uses, $1.26 million paid. Read in full, with the double-counting trap the file sets explained.

KCM Desk
August 9, 2026

Moving Here

Chicago Has 412 Individual Landmarks. More Than Half Were Designated Under One Mayor.

An ornate Chicago greystone house with a turret on a summer morning

Chicago’s register of individually designated landmarks holds 412 entries, and more than half were designated in one mayor’s 22 years — about 10.4 a year under Richard M. Daley against roughly 6.5 under the next two administrations, with the pace back near Daley-era levels since 2023. Mapped area by area, with the register’s 1990s-built civic monuments included.

KCM Desk
August 9, 2026

Moving Here

Chicago’s Demolition and Asbestos Paperwork, Mapped: 1,253 Notices With Proposed 2026 Starts, Heaviest on the Near North Side, in Lake View, and in the Loop

An excavator and dust-suppression water spray at a Chicago demolition site

Before demolition or asbestos work, Chicago requires a notice of intent — 1,253 carry proposed 2026 starts, heaviest on the Near North Side, in Lake View, and in the Loop. The demolition subset runs a different belt, and the complaint file points somewhere else again. All mapped from CDPH’s own files.

KCM Desk
August 8, 2026

Moving Here

City-Owned Lots in Chicago: Which Community Areas Hold the Most Listed Parcels (2026)

A green vacant lot between brick two-flats on a Chicago block

Chicago’s own inventory listed 12,110 parcels as city-owned on August 3, 2026 — and Englewood holds more than any other community area, with West Englewood second. The top ten, with every count and caveat from the city’s own file.

KCM Desk
August 8, 2026

Moving Here

The Highest and Lowest Values on the Federal Rent Schedule, Across 60 Core Chicago ZIP Codes (FY2026)

Brick apartment buildings on a leafy Chicago street in morning light

The highest two-bedroom value on HUD’s FY2026 rent schedule for Chicago’s core ZIPs is a 14-way tie at $2,670 — the cap’s work. The lowest is $1,290, in 60609. Schedule values by ZIP, from the agency’s own files.

KCM Desk
August 6, 2026

Moving Here

Chicago’s Land Inventory Lists 12,110 Parcels as City-Owned. It Marked 195 Sold Last Year — and Among Sales With Both Dates Recorded, the Median Parcel Had Spent 23 Years in City Hands.

Illustration of a Chicago block with green open lots between brick houses, one lot staked with surveyor flags as two figures plant a sapling

The city's own land inventory: 12,110 parcels marked owned, a fifth of the located ones in Englewood and West Englewood alone. Sales fell from 259 in 2024 to 195 in 2025; just 874 parcels are marked Offered. Among 2023-and-later sales with both dates, the median parcel had been city property for 23.4 years.

KCM Desk
August 4, 2026