Illinois metro area had 8th biggest cost of living spike in the US, report finds
A metropolitan area in East Central Illinois had the greatest spike in cost of living statewide from 2024 to 2025, according to one recent analysis, and it also landed eighth in the nation for increased cost of living.
Financial website SmartAsset named Champaign-Urbana No. 8 nationally in its March 16 report “Where Cost of Living Increased and Decreased Most – 2026 Study,” with a cost-of-living increase of 6.64% in one year. However, the metro still has a cost of living 2.1% below the national average.
“The cost of living premium in a specific location reflects the relative cost of housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, and other common necessities, compared to the rest of the country,” SmartAsset’s report said.
The analysis compared 236 locations in the U.S. on cost of living changes over a one-year period, using data from the Council for Community and Economic Research on pricing for housing, transportation, utilities, medical costs and more, adjusted for inflation.
The St. Louis Missouri-Illinois metropolitan area ranked 99th in SmartAsset’s analysis, with a 2.85% increase in cost of living. The metro area’s cost of living is 10.5% below the national average, the report found.
Five other Illinois locales also made the list: Rockford ranked 28th, Chicago was 39th, Decatur was 78th, the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island area in Iowa and Illinois ranked 80th and Peoria ranked 126th.
In Champaign, real estate has gotten more expensive recently, with a 2.9% increase in median sale price and a 7.9% increase in median sale price per square foot from February 2025 to February 2026, according to real estate company Redfin.
The Champaign-Urbana real estate market was recently named the “hottest” in Illinois by Florida-based law firm Becker & Poliakoff. Additionally, Champaign County was among only 15 of the state’s 102 counties to see a net gain in residents from 2020 to 2024, although it was a modest increase.
The city of Champaign was named among the “Top 100 Best Places to Live in the US in 2025” by online publication Livability.
Unemployment has seen a slight increase in Champaign recently, from 4.1 to 4.7% in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
Nationally, grocery prices are up 2.4% from February 2025 to February 2026, according to the BLS Consumer Price Index, with a 3.9% increase in restaurant dining prices. Electricity is up 4.8%, medical care services are up 4.1% and transportation costs are up 2.2%. Average gas prices in Illinois have increased by more than $1 per gallon in just one month.
Where is the cost of living increasing the most?
Here’s how the top 15 cities and metro areas with the greatest increases in cost of living from 2024 to 2025 compared, according to SmartAsset:
1. Great Falls, Mont.: 9.78% increase in cost of living
2. Springfield, Mo.: 8.25%
3. Rapid City, S.D.: 7.73%
4. Orange County, Calif.: 7.3%
5. Monroe, La.: 7.14%
6. Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa: 6.8%
7. Augusta-Aiken, Ga.-S.C.: 6.66%
8. Champaign-Urbana: 6.64%
9. Asheville, N.C.: 6.48%
10. Grand Junction, Colo.: 6.29%
11. Philadelphia, Pa.: 6.26%
12. Prescott-Prescott Valley, Ariz.: 6.22%
13. Dalton, Ga.: 6.16%
14. New York (Manhattan), N.Y.: 6.12%
15. Ponca City, Okla.: 6.1%
Some U.S. cities and metro areas saw relief in cost of living from 2024 to 2025. Those with the greatest declines in cost of living included Meridian, Miss., Orlando and Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., Charleston-North Charleston, S.C., and Hutchinson, Kansas, according to SmartAsset.
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