Faro Labs / Markets / Naperville, IL
Naperville real estate investment market
What a typical rental in Naperville, Illinois costs, rents for, and returns: underwritten by Faro's own engine, not a scraped summary.
Returns assume 20% down at 6.75% over 30 years, 7% vacancy, and standard operating costs: Faro's default assumptions, the same ones every report starts from. Home value and rent trends as of 2026-05-31.
Appreciation market
A typical Naperville rental runs $2,399 short each month at market rent, so the case for buying rests on values rising: they moved 4.0% over the last year. That is a bet on the market rather than on the building, and it needs reserves deep enough to fund the shortfall.
The price a deal actually works at
Faro models five price points for Naperville, from a weak buy to a strong one. The market-rate deal is $626,747; a good buy is $564,072 and a great one $501,398 roughly 20% below market value. Those are the bars a specific listing gets measured against when you run it.
How Naperville compares
Of the 210 markets Faro publishes, Naperville is the 44th most expensive to buy into: 58% above the median covered market, and the 179th strongest on rent-to-price. Within Illinois it's the 1st priciest of 4 markets we cover. On the last year of home-value change it ranks 14th.
To break even at the default financing, a typical Naperville property would need about $5,111 a month in rent: $2,962 more than the $2,149 the market currently supports.
What each tier costs in Naperville
Faro models five price points per market. A listing gets measured against these bars, not against a national average.
| Tier | Purchase price | Market rent | vs. market rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weak buy | $689,422 | $2,042/mo | +10% |
| Fair buy | $658,084 | $2,106/mo | +5% |
| Market rate | $626,747 | $2,149/mo | — |
| Good buy | $564,072 | $2,256/mo | -10% |
| Great buy | $501,398 | $2,364/mo | -20% |
A typical Naperville deal, underwritten
The market-rate property above, run through the same engine every Faro report uses.
| Purchase price | $626,747 |
|---|---|
| Monthly rent | $2,149 |
| Cash required (20% down + 3% closing) | $144,152 |
| Net operating income | $10,233/yr |
| Monthly cash flow | -$2,399 |
| Cap rate | 1.6% |
| Cash-on-cash return | −20.0% |
| DSCR | 0.26 |
What it would take to break even
A typical Naperville property would need about $5,111 a month to cover itself at the default financing: 138% above the $2,149 the market currently supports. That gap is the honest size of the problem: it isn't closed by trimming an expense line, it's closed by buying meaningfully below market, putting more down, or finding a property that rents well above its market's median.
Where it sits in Illinois
Faro covers 4 Illinois markets, and Naperville is the 1th priciest of them at $626,747. Within a single state the tax and insurance environment is broadly shared, so the differences between these markets come down to price, rent, and pace, which makes them the most useful comparison set on this page. The nearby markets listed below are the rest of that set.
Naperville investor questions
Is Naperville a good place to buy rental property?
A typical Naperville rental at $626,747 renting for $2,149 a month returns 1.6% on a cap-rate basis and runs short by $2,399 a month at 20% down. Individual deals vary far more than markets do, which is the whole reason to underwrite a specific address.
Can you cash-flow a rental in Naperville?
Not at the market's own price and rent. A typical property runs $2,399 short each month. It would need about $5,111 in rent to break even. Deals that work here are bought below market rather than at it, which is what the price ladder above is for.
Are Naperville home prices still rising?
Values rose 4.0% over the last year across 4 covered ZIP codes. Faro underwrites deals on cash flow and treats appreciation as upside rather than a plan, so a rising market improves a deal that already works: it doesn't rescue one that doesn't.
Are rents going up in Naperville?
Rents moved up 4.4% over the last year, measured across 4 ZIP codes. The typical market-rate rental sits at $2,149 a month.
Other Illinois markets
Run the numbers yourself
A market average is not a deal.
Paste a real Naperville listing and Faro underwrites that specific property from its own comps, with a target price you can actually offer.
Estimates for analysis and educational use only: not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Verify every number independently before making a purchase decision.