The median monthly gross residential rent in Champaign, IL (the Champaign-Urbana metro area) was $812 in 2017 according to the Census ACS survey.1 Average gross rent in Champaign was $896 in 2017. The median rent more accurately depicts rental rates in the middle of the distribution of rents and is thus preferred in the analysis below. 2018 Champaign median and average rent data will be released in September of 2019.
Data is also available below for Champaign rental vacancy rates, Champaign rent as a percent of median income and the fraction of renters in Champaign.
Median gross rent for Champaign peaked in nominal terms in 2015 at $854 and is now $42 (4.92%) lower. Average gross rent for Champaign peaked in nominal terms in 2015 at $922 and is now $26 (2.82%) lower.
Median gross rent for Champaign peaked in real terms in 2015 at $879 and is now $67 (7.62%) lower. Average gross rent for Champaign peaked in real terms in 2015 at $949 and is now $53 (5.58%) lower.
The rental vacancy rate is the fraction of homes for rent that are not occupied.3 In 2017 the rental vacancy rate for Champaign Illinois was 12.83% according to Census ACS data.
At 12.83%, Champaign residential rental vacancy rate in 2017 is at the highest point since 2005, the beginning of our reporting for this series.
Using median household income data for Champaign, we can calculate the fraction of income the median household would use to pay rent at the median monthly gross rent rate. For Champaign, median monthly gross rent as a fraction of median household income was 19.11% in 2017 according to the ACS.
The fraction of median Champaign household income required to pay median monthly gross rent peaked in 2009 (relative to the 2005 series origin) at 22.08%. Since then it has fallen by 2.97% to 19.11%.
You can calculate the renter fraction in Champaign in at least two ways: by housing units or by population. I've gone with the housing units measure here. This measure looks at the number of renting households in Champaign as a fraction of total Champaign households. In 2017 43.68% of households were renters according to Census ACS data.
At 43.68%, the 2017 household based renter fraction in Champaign was at its highest level. The origin year for the series is 2005.