Region · Census East North Central division · Midwest
East North Central rental markets
The Great Lakes industrial Midwest. 5 states and 1,013 ranked cities, summarized by the median Overall across those cities.
The honest read
East North Central ranks #6 of 9 U.S. regions for rental investing, with a median Overall of 47.5/100 across its ranked cities, right at the national median. 5 states make up this division. Its strongest factor is gross rental yield: 7.4%, 1st of 9, backed by rent growth (1st).
The biggest drag is job growth: 0.3%, 9th of 9. A region grade is the median of its ranked cities, a screen for where to look, not underwriting. Open any city below for its full shown-math breakdown, or run a specific deal through the cap rate and cash-flow calculators.
Where it ranks, factor by factor
Every value is the median across the 1013 ranked cities in this region. The national rank compares all 9 regions on that one factor; the engine already flips inverted factors (affordability, low unemployment) so a better rank always means a better market. Each factor sits in one of the model’s three categories (Cash Flow, Growth, or Stability); this is a representative summary, and the full thirteen-factor breakdown is on each city’s page. Full methodology.
| Factor | Category | Region value | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross rent yield | Cash Flow | 7.4% | #1 of 9 |
| Rent growth | Growth | 4.7% | #1 of 9 |
| Home value growth | Growth | 5.3% | #2 of 9 |
| Population growth | Growth | 0.2% | #8 of 9 |
| Job growth | Growth | 0.3% | #9 of 9 |
| Price-to-income | Cash Flow | 3.8× | #1 of 9 |
| Unemployment | Stability | 4.4% | #7 of 9 |
| Rental demand | Stability | 38% renters · 5.1% vacancy | two-part measure |
| Income growth | Growth | 4.9% | #6 of 9 |
States in the East North Central division
Ordered by median Overall across each state's ranked cities. A public rank appears only for states that clear the 20-city and 10-county coverage threshold.
Data as of: Zillow ZHVI/ZORI through the latest monthly release · Census ACS 5-yr 2020–2024 · Census PEP July 2025 · BLS LAUS county 2025 annual (11-month average). Generated 2026-10-06. Methodology & limitations · underwrite any specific deal with the free calculators.