The 13 strongest suburban markets⁠—and the 17 weakest

Crain's uses three data points to measure a market's strength: home sales volume, median prices and time on the market before a house is sold. These lists are based on data for the first six months of 2019. In the strong suburbs, home prices and the median price of homes sold were up in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2018, and the number of days a home spent on the market was down. In weak suburbs, home prices and the median price of homes sold were down in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2018, and the number of days a home spent on the market was up.

Suburbs where fewer than 25 homes sold in either the first half of 2018 or the first half of 2019 were not included in this analysis. The suburbs for which data are available are all towns in Cook, DuPage and Lake counties, and most towns in Will County, Kane, McHenry and other counties are not available from Crain's source.