Sycamore, Illinois.
Typical home $317,584 (+3.9% in a year), asking rent $1,811 . Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$908 (+120%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $11,949 +4%
- $305,635$317,584 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $79,975 +34%
- $237,609$317,584 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Sycamore$1,667
- Illinois$1,553
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Sycamore, IL rose 3.9% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Sycamore, DeKalb County, Illinois
Sycamore is a city of 18,577 people in DeKalb County. Half its households earn more than $84,120 a year and half less, against $70,724 across DeKalb County; 8% of its people live below the poverty line. 72% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 28% are rented. Unemployment in DeKalb County was 3.7% in August 2026, and the county had 0.6% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Sycamore is a small city where most homes are lived in by their owners, and where incomes run higher than across DeKalb County. Residents are somewhat younger than in many towns, and a good share of adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold, with a fair amount of snow, and summers are warm.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, professional and business services, and shops also providing a lot of jobs. Some of the largest workplaces in Sycamore are the Sycamore school district, The Suter Company, which prepares fresh cut vegetables, and Hy-Vee, the supermarket. Unemployment in DeKalb County is lower than it was a year ago, and the commute is moderate for most people.
Things to do. The Midwest Museum of Natural History and the East Branch South Branch Kishwaukee River are both in or beside town. A short drive away are the Egyptian Theatre in DeKalb and Ellwood House, a museum. For a longer outing, the Illinois Railway Museum is a longer drive away.
Report a mistake
- 7,401households
- 46%of adults have a degree
- 8%below the poverty line
- 26 mintypical commute
- 13%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. DeKalb County had 36,506 jobs in 2025, 0.6% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 28° and lows near 13°; warmest in July, with highs near 83° and lows near 63°. About 33 inches of snow and 37 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the De Kalb weather station, 7 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Sycamore
- Sycamore CUSD 427School district583FTE
- The Suter CompanyVegetables, cut or peeled, fresh, manufacturing391
- Seymour of SycamoreIndustrial product finishes and coatings manufacturing181
- Hy-VeeSupermarkets and other grocery except convenience stores170
- Northwestern Illinois Assn SchoolsSchool district154FTE
- Menards"home centers"149
- Jewel Food StoresSupermarkets and other grocery stores141
- Opportunity HouseJob counseling, vocational rehabilitation or habilitation132
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 21 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,003 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Strong windrelatively high in parts of SycamoreRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Sycamore’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on DeKalb County and the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI metro.
Sycamore home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Sycamore$317,584
- Illinois$295,943
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Sycamore listings, and the typical home goes pending in 13 days — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Sycamore31.71%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Sycamore13
- United States24
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Sycamore63
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Sycamore23
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Sycamore$304,516
- United States$371,407
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
- Sycamore99.92%
Zip codes with a Sycamore address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Sycamore — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.