Key takeaway: A one-bedroom in Uptown rents for about $1,895 to $2,005 a month in fall 2026, studios about $1,350 to $1,500, and the Red Line’s rebuilt Lawrence and Argyle stations reopened in July 2025.
Uptown runs along the lake from Irving Park Road to Foster Avenue, with the Green Mill, the Aragon and the Riviera around Lawrence and Broadway. It has some of the most reasonable rents on the North Side lakefront and a lot of transit. Its typical one-bedroom, about $1,895 a month, runs about $184 below the citywide typical of $2,079 (Zillow, September 2026), the 24th highest of the 92 areas in our neighborhood comparison.
| Typical one-bedroom | $1,895 a month |
| Typical two-bedroom | $2,895 a month |
| Income for your own one-bedroom | About $75,800 a year |
| L lines | Red, Purple |
| Metra | Union Pacific North |
| Part of the city | North Side |
On this page: Rent · Getting around · Groceries · Parking · Taxes and home prices · New housing · Sample budget
Rent by apartment size
| Unit | Zumper (avg., Sep 2026) | RentHop (median, Oct 2026) | RentCafe (avg., Sep 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | $1,350 | $1,500 | $1,426 |
| 1 bedroom | $1,895 | $2,005 | $1,931 |
| 2 bedrooms | $2,895 | $2,610 | n/a |
| 3 bedrooms | $3,885 | $3,479 | n/a |
Source: Zumper Uptown rent research, updated September 29, 2026; RentHop Uptown; RentCafe Uptown, updated September 30, 2026. Sources differ because they track different listings; see why rent reports disagree.
Getting around
- L: Red Line at Wilson, Lawrence and Argyle, with Purple Line express service at Wilson on weekdays. From the City of Chicago’s list of L stops. Lawrence and Argyle reopened rebuilt with elevators on July 20, 2025 (WTTW).
- Metra: Ravenswood station on the Union Pacific North Line, on the western edge at 4800 N. Ravenswood Ave., is Zone 2: $3.75 one way (Metra fares). See Metra fares.
- Buses: #36 Broadway, #151 Sheridan, #22 Clark and #81 Lawrence (both run overnight), #78 Montrose and #92 Foster.
- Express buses: the #146 and #147 run on Lake Shore Drive toward downtown, plus the weekday rush hour #148 and #136.
A 30-day CTA pass is $75 (CTA).
Groceries nearby
| Store | Address |
|---|---|
| Jewel-Osco Sheridan and Montrose | 4355 N. Sheridan Rd. |
| Target Wilson Yard | 4466 N. Broadway |
| ALDI | 4500 N. Broadway |
| Mariano’s Edgewater (just north) | 5201 N. Sheridan Rd. |
| Mariano’s Ravenswood (just west) | 1800 W. Lawrence Ave. |
Source: each store’s own location page or locator, checked October 25, 2026. See our Chicago grocery guide. Trader Joe’s lists a store at 804 W. Montrose Ave. as coming soon (Trader Joe’s), and the company says it will open in 2027 (Block Club Chicago).
Parking
If you will have a car, check your block with the City Clerk’s zone lookup before you sign a lease. Adding a residential permit zone to your City Sticker costs $25 to $35 a year, on top of the $105.18 passenger-car sticker; our parking guide covers guest passes, meters and garages.
The Cubs run remote parking for night and weekend games at the garage at 4650 N. Clarendon, with shuttles to Wrigley Field (46th Ward).
Property taxes and home prices
The median Uptown property tax bill rose 5.48% for tax year 2025, the bills mailed in August 2026 (Sun-Times). Citywide, the median Chicago homeowner bill for tax year 2025, mailed in August 2026, was $4,597, up 3.2% (Cook County Treasurer). Uptown is in Lake View Township, last reassessed in 2024 (Cook County Assessor).
The Assessor’s 2024 report put Uptown median sale prices at $290,000 for a condo, $1,000,000 for a single-family home and $1,008,000 for a two-to-six-unit building (Cook County Assessor, 2024 Chicago report), so condos are by far the lowest-cost way to own here. Properties along Broadway and Sheridan from Irving Park to Foster are in SSA 34, capped at 0.25% of assessed value, with a 2025 levy of $715,805 (Uptown United). For how bills are set and how to appeal, see our property tax guide.
New housing
Several apartment buildings are in the works, including 91 units at 4006 N. Sheridan Rd. and 40 units at 4725 N. Clifton Ave., both permitted in August 2026, and 95 units proposed at 4740 N. Clark St. (Urbanize Chicago).
Uptown cost of living: a sample monthly budget
| Setup | Rent | CTA pass | Income needed at 30% rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your own one-bedroom | $1,895 | $75 | $75,800 |
| Half of a two-bedroom | $1,448 | $75 | $57,920 |
| Your own two-bedroom | $2,895 | $75 | $115,800 |
Source: our calculation from the Zumper averages above (half of $2,895, rounded). Income needed is monthly rent times 12, divided by 0.30. See how much you need to make to live in Chicago for the rest of the budget, and Chicago move-in costs for what you’ll pay up front.
Compare every neighborhood side by side in our Chicago neighborhood cost comparison, or work out your own number with our salary calculator. More North Side neighborhood profiles: Andersonville, DePaul and Sheffield, Edgewater, Lakeview, Lakeview East and Northalsted, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, North Center, North Park, Ravenswood, Rogers Park, Roscoe Village, West Ridge and Wrigleyville.
Costs that apply in every neighborhood: property tax bills, closing costs and condo fees, water, sewer and garbage fees, ComEd and Peoples Gas, CTA fares, parking, average salaries by job and our Chicago cost index.
Sources
- Zumper: Uptown rent
- RentHop: Uptown rent
- RentCafe: Uptown rent
- City of Chicago: list of L stops
- WTTW: rebuilt Red Line stations open
- Metra: Ravenswood station
- Metra fare table
- CTA fares
- City Clerk: City Sticker prices
- City Clerk: residential zone parking
- 46th Ward: Cubs parking
- Sun-Times: 2025 property tax bills
- Cook County Treasurer: tax year 2025 analysis
- Cook County Assessor: Lake View Township values
- Cook County Assessor: 2024 Chicago report
- Uptown United: SSA 34
- Urbanize Chicago: Uptown