Updated: August 20, 2026
Arlington Heights houses sold for a median of $588,687 over the past year, with a median property tax bill of $9,581. Condos and townhomes sold at $261,000 with a median $410 monthly assessment. A Metra monthly pass to downtown Chicago runs $110. Taxes are the cost most people underestimate.
Key Takeaways
- Houses sold at a median of $588,687 and condos and townhomes at $261,000 over the 12 months ending August 18, 2026 (ConnectMLS, 935 closed sales).
- The median property tax bill on a house was $9,581, about 1.6% of the sale price. On a condo or townhome it was $3,963.
- Taxes alone run about $798 a month on the median house, before any mortgage, insurance, or maintenance.
- A condo's taxes and assessment together run about $740 a month, which is less than the median house's tax bill by itself.
- Houses sold at a median of $307 per square foot. Condos and townhomes sold at $218.
- A Metra monthly pass to downtown Chicago costs $110 for Zone 1–3 travel (Metra fare table). Confirm before budgeting; Metra proposed an increase in late 2025.
- The Cook County Homeowner Exemption cuts $10,000 off your assessed value, and the north suburbs were reassessed in 2025 (Cook County Assessor).
- 225 units rented over the past year at a median of 23 days on the market, nearly three times as long as a house takes to go under contract here.
Where these numbers come from
Everything about prices and taxes in this article comes from 935 recorded closed sales in Arlington Heights between August 20, 2025 and August 18, 2026, pulled from ConnectMLS, our local MLS. The tax figure attached to each sale is the most recent bill on record at the time it closed.
That matters because most cost-of-living pages are built from national indexes that adjust a generic basket of goods by a regional multiplier. This one is built from what people actually paid, and what the county actually billed them.
Two limits I want to state before you use any of it:
- The tax bills lag. Most are from tax years 2023 and 2024, measured against 2025 and 2026 sale prices. The true current percentage is somewhat higher than the 1.6% below.
- Rent amounts are not included. I can tell you how many units rent, what sizes, and how long they take, because that data is solid. The dollar figures are not in the records I can pull, so I have left them out rather than estimate them.
How much does it cost to buy a home in Arlington Heights?
Houses sold for a median of $588,687. Condos and townhomes sold for a median of $261,000. Those are two separate markets, and averaging them together produces a number that describes nothing.
Houses | Condos and townhomes | |
|---|---|---|
Sales | 556 | 369 |
Median price | $588,687 | $261,000 |
Middle half of sales | $490,000 to $730,000 | $196,000 to $390,000 |
Median price per square foot | $307 | $218 |
Median days to contract | 8 | 13 |
Source: ConnectMLS, Arlington Heights closed sales, August 20, 2025 through August 18, 2026.
The entry points are lower than most published guides suggest. 93 houses sold under $450,000, and 209 of the 369 condos and townhomes sold under $300,000, with 170 under $250,000.
How much are property taxes in Arlington Heights?
The median property tax bill on an Arlington Heights house that sold in the past year was $9,581, or about 1.6% of the sale price. On a condo or townhome, the median bill was $3,963.
Here is what real bills looked like by price range:
Sale price range | Houses sold | Median annual tax bill | Roughly per month |
|---|---|---|---|
Under $450,000 | 93 | $7,400 | $617 |
$450,000 to $600,000 | 200 | $8,944 | $745 |
$600,000 to $800,000 | 171 | $10,873 | $906 |
Source: ConnectMLS, Arlington Heights closed sales, August 20, 2025 through August 18, 2026.
For condos and townhomes, the bill tracks closely with size:
Unit size | Units sold | Median price | Median tax bill | Median monthly assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 bedroom | 82 | $180,000 | $2,785 | $370 |
2 bedroom | 208 | $258,000 | $3,967 | $436 |
3 bedroom | 73 | $390,000 | $6,954 | $362 |
Why two similar houses can have very different bills
This is the part that surprises people, and it is worth understanding before you compare two listings.
Your bill depends on your assessed value, the exemptions applied to the property, and the specific taxing districts your address falls into. Two houses on the same block that sold for nearly the same price can carry bills that differ by thousands of dollars.
The Cook County Homeowner Exemption reduces a property's equalized assessed value by $10,000, and the dollar savings depends on your local tax rate (Cook County Assessor). Senior exemptions reduce it further. That means the tax figure printed on a listing sheet may reflect a longtime owner's exemptions and not the bill you would receive.
There is also a timing issue right now. Arlington Heights sits mostly in Wheeling and Elk Grove Townships, and the north and northwest suburbs were reassessed in 2025 (Cook County Assessor). Those values flow into current bills. Ask whether the number you are looking at predates the reassessment.
Before you make an offer, pull the actual bill, the assessed value, the exemptions currently applied, and the last three years of history. I break down the local version in how Arlington Heights property taxes are calculated, and the county mechanics in how Cook County property taxes work.
What does a monthly payment actually look like in Arlington Heights?
Start with the costs that do not depend on your mortgage rate, because those are the ones people leave out of the math.
On the median house at $588,687:
- Property taxes: about $798 a month
- Plus homeowners insurance, utilities, and maintenance
- Plus principal and interest on whatever you finance
On the median condo or townhome at $261,000:
- Property taxes: about $330 a month
- Association assessment: about $410 a month
- Combined: about $740 a month
- Plus insurance, some utilities, and principal and interest
Read those two side by side. The median condo's taxes and assessment together come to less than the median house's tax bill by itself. That is before the difference in purchase price, which is roughly $328,000.
That comparison is the single most useful thing in this article if you are weighing whether to stay in a house you own or move to something smaller.
One caution on the assessment. Ask what it covers, when it last increased, and whether the association has reserves set aside for the roof, the parking lot, and the mechanicals. A low assessment with no reserves behind it is a special assessment waiting to happen.
How much does the Metra commute cost from Arlington Heights?
Arlington Heights is in fare Zone 3. For travel between Zone 3 and downtown Chicago, Metra's published fares are:
Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
One-way | $5.50 |
Day pass | $11.00 |
Monthly pass | $110.00 |
Source: Metra fare table, Zone 1–3 travel. The table shows no effective date, and Metra proposed a 13% to 15% fare increase in October 2025. Confirm current pricing before budgeting.
A monthly pass at $110 works out to about $1,320 a year for unlimited rides. Against a daily drive downtown, that is usually the cheaper option once parking is priced in, and it is the cheaper option by a wide margin if it lets a household run one car instead of two.
The ride itself takes 36 to 54 minutes depending on whether you catch an express or an all-stop local. I broke down which trains are which in my pros and cons of living in Arlington Heights.
Two costs this does not include: station parking, which requires a permit or a daily fee and can carry a waitlist, and whatever it costs you to get from Ogilvie to your office. Price both before you decide the commute is affordable.
What does your money buy in Arlington Heights?
Here is what houses in each price range actually delivered, based on what sold:
Price range | Houses sold | Median finished square feet | Median bedrooms | Median build year | Median tax bill |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Under $500,000 | 151 | 1,308 | 3 | 1957 | $7,965 |
$500,000 to $650,000 | 186 | 1,953 | 3 | 1967 | $9,362 |
$650,000 to $850,000 | 142 | 2,413 | 4 | 1969 | $11,081 |
Over $850,000 | 77 | 3,615 | 4 | 1998 | $16,098 |
Source: ConnectMLS, Arlington Heights closed sales, August 20, 2025 through August 18, 2026.
A few things that table makes clear.
Square footage is what you are buying. Moving from the under-$500,000 group to the $650,000 to $850,000 group nearly doubles the finished space, from about 1,308 to 2,413 square feet.
Build year barely moves until the top. The first three groups are all late-1950s to late-1960s housing. Only above $850,000 does the median jump to 1998, and much of that group is recent teardown-and-rebuild construction.
The tax bill scales faster than you might expect. Going from the middle group to the top group roughly doubles the annual tax, adding about $560 a month.
If most of the housing stock in your price range predates 1975, budget for it. Knowing what to inspect before buying matters more here than in a town built in the 1990s.
What is the rental market like in Arlington Heights?
225 units rented in Arlington Heights over the 12 months ending August 19, 2026, at a median of 23 days on the market. Two-bedroom units were nearly half of everything rented.
Unit size | Units rented | Share | Median days on market | Median square feet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 bedroom | 43 | 19% | 18 | 800 |
2 bedroom | 105 | 47% | 28 | 1,200 |
3 bedroom | 61 | 27% | 19 | 1,600 |
4 bedroom | 14 | 6% | 35 | 2,025 |
Source: ConnectMLS, Arlington Heights units rented, off-market August 20, 2025 through August 19, 2026. Median build year 1973.
Here is the part worth knowing, and it runs opposite to everything else in this article.
Renting moves much slower than buying here. A house goes under contract in a median of 8 days. A condo takes 13. A rental takes 23, and only 36% were gone within two weeks.
If you are renting, that means you have room to think. You can see a place twice, sleep on it, and compare it against two others without losing all three. Buyers in this village do not get that, which is why the buying sections above are full of warnings about preparation and the rental section is not.
That gap matters if you are between housing situations. Renting for a year while a divorce settles, or while you figure out where you actually want to land after a relocation, is a legitimate strategy here, and the rental market will not rush you the way the sale market will.
As of this update there were 40 active rental listings in the village, weighted toward one- and two-bedroom units.
On price: I am not going to give you a median rent, because the rent amounts are not in the records I can pull. Everything above comes from fields that are fully populated. If you want current rent figures for a specific size or building, ask and I will pull them directly.
Is Arlington Heights more expensive than nearby suburbs?
On housing, generally yes compared with several neighbors, though the gap is smaller than reputation suggests and it varies a lot by property type.
The honest answer is that a town-to-town comparison only helps if it compares the same thing. A three-bedroom 1965 split-level in one village and a new four-bedroom build in another are not a comparison, whatever the medians say.
If you are weighing a specific pair, I worked through the numbers for a neighboring village in my cost of living in Mount Prospect guide, and the wider picture on Arlington Heights is in my complete Arlington Heights local guide.
What this article does not cover
I would rather name the gaps than pad the page.
- Rent amounts. The rental section above covers supply, sizes, and how fast units move, all from complete records. The dollar figures are not in the data I can pull, so they are not here. Ask and I will get them for the size you need.
- Utilities, groceries, and insurance. These vary more by household than by town, and I do not have a local source I trust enough to publish. Any national index you find for these is a regional multiplier, not an Arlington Heights measurement.
- Station parking fees and permit waitlists. Confirm directly with the village before you count on a spot.
Which school districts serve Arlington Heights?
Attendance boundaries vary by address and do not follow subdivision names or village borders.
Much of the village is served by Arlington Heights School District 25 for elementary and middle school and Township High School District 214 for high school, with other portions falling in Districts 21, 23, 15, 57, and 59, and parts of the village in High School District 211.
District 25 publishes an address-level boundary map. Confirm the assignment for a specific address with the district before you write an offer, since listing portals and third-party directories go out of date.
How to think about the whole number
Most people shopping in Arlington Heights anchor on the purchase price and then get surprised by the carrying cost. Work it in this order instead:
- Start with the monthly number you are comfortable with, not the price you think you qualify for.
- Subtract the taxes first. On a median house that is roughly $798 a month before anything else.
- Add the assessment if it is a condo or townhome, and ask about reserves.
- Add insurance and a maintenance line. For housing built before 1975, that line is not optional.
- Whatever is left is your mortgage payment. Work backward from there to a price.
That order tends to produce a smaller number than people expect and a much steadier search. It also means the house you find is one you can still afford in year three.
Common questions about the cost of living in Arlington Heights
How much are property taxes in Arlington Heights, IL?
The median tax bill on an Arlington Heights house that sold in the past year was $9,581, about 1.6% of the sale price and roughly $798 a month. Condos and townhomes ran a median of $3,963. Exemptions and the 2025 north suburbs reassessment change individual bills significantly.
What is the median home price in Arlington Heights?
Houses sold for a median of $588,687 and condos and townhomes for a median of $261,000 over the 12 months ending August 18, 2026, across 935 closed sales. The middle half of house sales ran $490,000 to $730,000 (ConnectMLS).
How much is a Metra monthly pass from Arlington Heights?
Arlington Heights is in fare Zone 3. A monthly pass for Zone 1-3 travel to downtown Chicago is $110, a one-way ticket is $5.50, and a day pass is $11.00 (Metra fare table). Metra proposed an increase in October 2025, so confirm current pricing.
Is it cheaper to own a condo or a house in Arlington Heights?
A condo, by a wide margin. The median condo's taxes and assessment together run about $740 a month, less than the median house's $798 tax bill alone, and the purchase price is about $328,000 lower. Reserves and assessment history still need checking.
What does $500,000 buy in Arlington Heights?
Houses that sold under $500,000 had a median of about 1,308 finished square feet, three bedrooms, a median build year of 1957, and a median tax bill of $7,965. Between $500,000 and $650,000, median finished space rises to about 1,953 square feet (ConnectMLS).
How long does it take to rent a place in Arlington Heights?
A median of 23 days, based on 225 units rented in the 12 months ending August 19, 2026. Only 36% were gone within two weeks. Renting moves considerably slower than buying here, where a house goes under contract in a median of 8 days (ConnectMLS).
How much is the price per square foot in Arlington Heights?
Houses sold at a median of $307 per square foot over the past year. Condos and townhomes sold at $218. Both figures come from 935 recorded closed sales between August 20, 2025 and August 18, 2026 (ConnectMLS).
Equal Housing Opportunity. Mari and the Dragonfly Home Team conduct business in accordance with the federal Fair Housing Act and the Illinois Human Rights Act. This article is general information about a local housing market and is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Market data reflects a specific period and will change. Please talk with your own attorney, tax professional, or lender about your situation.
