Lower West Side By The Numbers: Prices, Buyers, Permits

None of the five market signals in our analysis is active in the Lower West Side, the community area that includes Pilsen. Its median house sold for $523,750 in 2025, up 61 percent from 2019, on 32 sales. Two-to-six-flats are just over half of what sells there, and their median rose 34 percent against 62 percent citywide. The tax rolls show 2,960 two-to-six-flat parcels, 45 more than in 2006.

Drawn from our analyses of county and city records · sales file as updated September 15, 2026 · assembled September 30, 2026

The Lower West Side in the recordsfigure

Median house sale, 2025$325,000 in 2019. 32 sales in 2025.$524K
Median two-to-six-flat sale, 2025$380,000 in 2019. 81 sales in 2025.$510K
Median condominium sale, 2025$308,000 in 2019. 37 sales in 2025.$400K
Market signals activeOf five.0 of 5
Homes bought by companies, 2024–2522.4 percent in 2018–19.19.8%
Bought 2018–22 and resold within two years30 of 845 purchases.3.5%
Assessor valuation as a share of sale price113 sales in 2025. 84 percent with resales set aside.85%
Two-to-six-flats on the tax rolls, 20262,915 in 2006.2,960

What homes sold for

The county recorded sales of 32 houses, 81 two-to-six-flats and 37 condominiums in the Lower West Side in 2025. The median house sold for $325,000 in 2019 and $523,750 in 2025, up 61 percent, 22nd among the 70 community areas with 20 or more house sales in both years. Citywide the median house went from $230,000 to $320,000, up 39 percent. The median two-to-six-flat went from $380,000 to $510,000, up 34 percent, 41st among the 46 community areas with 20 or more two-to-six-flat sales in both years; citywide the rise was 62 percent. The median condominium went from $308,000 to $400,000, up 30 percent, 25th among the 37 community areas with 20 or more condominium sales in both years; citywide the rise was 26 percent. The 2025 medians here rest on 32 house sales and 37 condominium sales, few enough that a handful of sales can move them.

Every area and year, and the rules for which sales are counted: What a Chicago Home Actually Sold For: 245,849 Deeds Since 2018, All 77 Community Areas

None of the five market signals is active

Our gentrification-signals analysis checks five records in every community area for unusually fast change between 2018–19 and 2024–25: house prices, two-to-six-flat prices, the share of homes bought by companies, new-construction permits and new business licenses. In the Lower West Side, none of the five is active. Of the 67 areas scored, three show four signals and 40 show none. A signal is a measurement of change between two periods. It does not describe the people who live in an area or say what happens next.

The five signals in the Lower West Sideactive

House pricesCounts only where the 2019 median house price was below the citywide $230,000. Here it was $325,000.no
Two-to-six-flat pricesThe median two-to-six-flat price was 1.34 times its 2019 level in 2025. The bar is 1.78 times.no
Company buyersCompanies bought 22.4 percent of homes sold in 2018–19 and 19.8 percent in 2024–25, down 2.6 points. The bar is a rise of five points.no
New-construction permitsPermits numbered 80 in 2018–19 and 61 in 2024–25. The bar is 1.5 times the earlier count, with at least eight in the later period.no
New business licensesFirst-time licenses numbered 207 in 2019 and 168 in 2025, down 19 percent. The bar is 15 percent growth, with at least 30 in 2025.no

Why does a 61 percent rise in house prices not count as a signal? The median house here already cost more than the citywide median in 2019, $325,000 against $230,000, and the price signal applies only below it. The rise also rests on 31 sales in 2019 and 32 in 2025. Two-to-six-flat prices rose 1.34 times against the 1.78 needed, and the company share, permits and licenses all fell. Our reading: the one fast-moving figure here is also the thinnest, the house median. The larger market, two-to-six-flats, moved slower than the city’s.

Every area scored, with the thresholds: Where Chicago’s Gentrification Signals Are Active: East Garfield Park, New City and North Lawndale Show Four of Five. Logan Square, Avondale and the Lower West Side Show None.

Who bought

Companies bought 19.8 percent of the 273 homes sold in the Lower West Side in 2024 and 2025, and 22.4 percent of those sold in 2018 and 2019. Citywide the share was 14.2 percent in the later period. A buyer counts as a company when its name on the deed carries a marker such as LLC, Inc. or Corp.; trustees of land trusts are counted as trusts. Of the 845 homes bought here from 2018 through 2022, 30 were sold again by their buyer within two years, 3.5 percent. The citywide rate is 7.1 percent.

The buyer names on the deeds, and the resales, are counted here: Who Is Buying Chicago? The Buyer’s Name on 245,849 Deeds: Companies Bought 13 Percent of Homes and 46 Percent of Those Resold Within Two Years

Two-to-six-flats since 2006

The Assessor’s rolls counted 2,915 two-to-six-flat parcels in the Lower West Side in 2006 and 2,960 in 2026. Over the twenty years 164 left the class, and the largest group of those, 54, are now classed as single-family houses. Another 209 parcels joined the class. That makes the Lower West Side one of 25 community areas with more two-to-six-flats than in 2006; the citywide count fell from 127,818 to 119,943.

Every flat parcel of 2006, followed to 2026: Chicago’s Tax Rolls Show 7,875 Fewer Two-to-Six-Flats Than in 2006. Of the 13,049 Parcels That Left the Count, 6,208 Are Now Classed as Single-Family Houses.

Valuations, appeals and mortgages

The Assessor valued the 113 houses and two-to-six-flats sold in the Lower West Side in 2025 at 85 percent of their sale prices, at the median. Citywide the figure is 81 percent. Of those sales, 15 were of a home that had sold within the two years before. With those set aside the figure is 84 percent, against 83 percent citywide. Owners filed 24.0 assessment appeals per 100 houses for tax year 2025, against 17.5 citywide, and 46 percent of those appeals won.

Valuations against sale prices, area by area: Chicago Houses and Two-to-Six-Flats Sold in 2025 Were Valued at 81 Percent of Their Sale Prices. Those Resold Within Two Years, at 60 Percent.

Appeals per 100 houses, mapped: Nearly Half of Lincoln Park’s Houses Appealed Their Property Tax Assessments. On the Southeast Side, About One in 24 Did.

Federal mortgage records show 136 home-purchase loans in the Lower West Side in 2025, and the county file shows 150 sales. The two are separate systems with different coverage and do not match sale for sale. Of the loans, 18 were marked as not for the borrower’s own occupancy.

The lending records and their limits: At Least 1,532 Chicago Homes Sold for $100,000 or Less in 2025. Lenders Wrote 289 Mortgages That Size.

Permits and licenses

The city issued 15 new-construction permits in the Lower West Side in the first half of 2025 and 22 in the first half of 2026. Citywide the counts were 666 and 698. Counted two years at a time, the area had 80 in 2018–19 and 61 in 2024–25. A permit is an approval to build and is not a finished building.

Every permit of the half-year, by area: Chicago Issued 698 New-Construction Permits in the First Half of 2026. Here’s Where They Went.

First-time business licenses numbered 207 in 2019 and 168 in 2025. Citywide they fell from 7,464 to 6,503. The file counts licenses issued and does not show whether a business opened or stayed open.

The citywide count: Chicago Licenses 1,000 Fewer New Businesses a Year Than Before the Pandemic. The Gap Is Downtown.

City services

For requests to 311 created from January 2024 through June 2026, the median time to close in the Lower West Side was: graffiti removal, 0.5 days on 8,825 requests, against 0.7 days citywide; potholes, 6.9 days on 1,174 requests, against 5.1 days citywide; streetlight outages, 1.7 days on 1,375 requests, against 2.5 days citywide; abandoned vehicles, 13.9 days on 1,237 requests, against 11.6 days citywide; rodent complaints, 2.9 days on 1,320 requests, against 3.6 days citywide. A closed request is the city’s record that it closed the request. It does not confirm the repair.

Every request type and area, with the method: Chicago on the Clock: We Timed 793,774 Service Requests

Affordable-rental inventory and the L

The city’s affordable-rental inventory lists 15 developments with 352 units in the Lower West Side, 26th by units among the 66 community areas on the list. The inventory is the city’s own list of developments its programs support. It was last updated December 30, 2024 and is partial by its own description.

Our count of that inventory is in a piece that also covers the state law barring rent control: New York City’s Rent Board Set 2026-27 Stabilized Increases at Zero. Illinois Law Bars Chicago From Controlling Private Rents.

Four L stations stand inside the Lower West Side’s boundary. Average weekday entries in January through May of 2019 and of 2026, with the later figure as a share of the earlier: 18th, on the Pink Line, 1,680 and 1,214 (72 percent); Ashland, on the Orange Line, 1,488 and 1,156 (78 percent); Damen, on the Pink Line, 1,471 and 1,146 (78 percent); Western, on the Pink Line, 1,045 and 818 (78 percent). Systemwide the figure is 62 percent.

Every station against its own 2019 count: Only Two L Stations Are Busier Than Before the Pandemic. Neither Is Downtown.

How this page is built

Every figure on this page is read from the published output of the analysis linked beside it, as those stood on September 30, 2026. Nothing here is measured separately, and each linked analysis states its own sources, periods and limits. The sale prices and buyer shares come from the county’s sales file as updated September 15, 2026. The county is still adding sales dated 2025, and those figures get another reading in January 2027. This page reports what the records show and takes no position on where anyone ought to live.

Assembled by KCM Desk from the analyses linked above. Published September 30, 2026. Human-guided and edited — about this desk. If you spot an error, corrections come first.