Section 8 Housing in Illinois
104,726 active Housing Choice Vouchers across 8 markets. Rent limits, housing authorities, waitlist status, and voucher rights for every metro in Illinois.
Detailed Illinois county guides
- Cook County Section 8 guide: CHA or HACC, why every voucher list is closed, and HACC’s 2026 payment standards for all 135 suburban ZIPs.
- Lake County, IL Section 8 guide: the 2026 payment standards that LCHA, Waukegan and North Chicago share by ZIP, and why all three voucher lists are closed.
Voucher-friendly listings in Illinois
21 listings
$1,475/mo2 bed · 1 bath5005 West Chicago Ave
Austin, Chicago, IL 60651
$2,300/mo4 bed · 1.5 bath6404 S. Saint Lawrence
Woodlawn, Chicago, IL 60637
$2,800/mo3 bed · 1.5 bath10021 S Western Ave
Beverly, Chicago, IL 60643
$1,845/mo3 bed · 1 bath6425 N Richmond St
Peterson Park, Chicago, IL 60645
$2,249/mo3 bed · 1 bath4917 S Calumet Ave
Grand Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60615
$1,300/mo2 bed · 1 bath7749 S Yates Blvd
South Shore, Chicago, IL 60649
Can a landlord refuse Section 8 in Illinois?
Illinois has source-of-income protections for covered housing in Illinois. Coverage, property exemptions and current court decisions matter; a voucher refusal may be unlawful. Check the source and coverage notes below or ask the civil-rights agency or legal aid about the property.
Illinois Human Rights Act, 775 ILCS 5/1-103(O-5), 5/3-102 (HB 2775, P.A. 102-896)
Source of income is a protected class statewide and IDHR says landlords may apply minimum-income standards only to the tenant's share of rent. File a charge with IDHR. Coverage exceptions: Some owner-occupied and other housing arrangements have exceptions. Ask IDHR to confirm coverage for the property; exceptions to one rule do not necessarily permit discriminatory advertising.
View statute →Informational only, not legal advice. Laws change, so verify current status before acting on a rejection or making a leasing decision.
Local voucher discrimination laws in Illinois
Illinois protects voucher holders statewide. These cities and counties also have their own ordinance, which can add a local agency to complain to.
Source: PRRAC, Appendix B: State, Local, and Federal Laws Barring Source of Income Discrimination (updated March 2026), plus the ordinances linked above. Informational only, not legal advice.
Landlord and investor tools for Illinois
RentalCalcsFree calculators and guides from RentalCalcs, built by the VoucherMatch team, for landlords deciding whether to accept vouchers.
- Section 8 rent analyzerHUD rent benchmarks and modeled comparisons for Illinois ZIP codes. Confirm adopted amounts with the agency.
- Compare HUD benchmarks with market rent in IllinoisExplore modeled ZIP comparisons; these do not establish an approved rent or agency payment.
- Average rent in IllinoisMarket rent versus HUD fair market rent by city and bedroom count.
- How Section 8 rent is calculatedFair market rent, payment standards and rent reasonableness, step by step.
- Section 8 landlord math for 2026What the payment standard changes mean for cash flow this year.
Illinois metro guides
In-depth, source-cited guides: waitlist status, voucher-friendly neighborhoods, and who to call if you are turned away.
All Section 8 markets in Illinois
Sorted by active voucher count. Each metro page has HUD Fair Market Rent by bedroom, the housing authorities that administer vouchers there, and waitlist status.
Chicago, IL
Metropolitan Statistical Area · CBSA 16980
89,565 vouchersRockford, IL
Metropolitan Statistical Area · CBSA 40420
3,648 vouchersSpringfield, IL
Metropolitan Statistical Area · CBSA 44100
3,490 vouchersPeoria, IL
Metropolitan Statistical Area · CBSA 37900
2,690 vouchersChampaign, IL
Metropolitan Statistical Area · CBSA 16580
2,430 vouchersDecatur, IL
Metropolitan Statistical Area · CBSA 19500
1,249 vouchersKankakee, IL
Metropolitan Statistical Area · CBSA 28100
871 vouchersBloomington, IL
Metropolitan Statistical Area · CBSA 14010
783 vouchers
Section 8 by county in Illinois
County pages show the local voucher count, housing authorities, and metro rollup. Useful when you are looking at a specific address.
- Cook County69,425 vouchers
- Lake County4,943 vouchers
- DuPage County3,360 vouchers
- Winnebago County3,351 vouchers
- Will County2,797 vouchers
- Saint Clair County2,695 vouchers
- Kane County2,663 vouchers
- Sangamon County2,463 vouchers
- Champaign County2,430 vouchers
- Peoria County2,146 vouchers
- Rock Island County1,417 vouchers
- Macon County1,249 vouchers
- Madison County1,223 vouchers
- Menard County1,027 vouchers
- McHenry County1,001 vouchers
- Vermilion County965 vouchers
- Kankakee County871 vouchers
- McLean County783 vouchers
- Jackson County656 vouchers
- La Salle County653 vouchers
- DeKalb County606 vouchers
- Christian County377 vouchers
- Adams County349 vouchers
- Williamson County323 vouchers
- Tazewell County300 vouchers
- Whiteside County299 vouchers
- Boone County297 vouchers
- Knox County285 vouchers
- Marion County282 vouchers
- Fulton County264 vouchers
- Woodford County244 vouchers
- Jersey County199 vouchers
- Kendall County198 vouchers
- Morgan County195 vouchers
- Henry County189 vouchers
- Jefferson County169 vouchers
- Ogle County157 vouchers
- Saline County133 vouchers
- McDonough County125 vouchers
- Richland County125 vouchers
- Shelby County122 vouchers
- Warren County104 vouchers
- Montgomery County93 vouchers
- Edgar County79 vouchers
- Bureau County75 vouchers
- Wayne County73 vouchers
- Franklin County65 vouchers
- Logan County62 vouchers
- Randolph County54 vouchers
- Jo Daviess County44 vouchers
- Lee County42 vouchers
- Mercer County38 vouchers
- Alexander County
- Bond County
- Brown County
- Calhoun County
- Carroll County
- Cass County
- Clark County
- Clay County
- Clinton County
- Coles County
- Crawford County
- Cumberland County
- Dewitt County
- Douglas County
- Edwards County
- Effingham County
- Fayette County
- Ford County
- Gallatin County
- Greene County
- Grundy County
- Hamilton County
- Hancock County
- Hardin County
- Henderson County
- Iroquois County
- Jasper County
- Johnson County
- Lawrence County
- Livingston County
- Macoupin County
- Marshall County
- Mason County
- Massac County
- Monroe County
- Moultrie County
- Perry County
- Piatt County
- Pike County
- Pope County
- Pulaski County
- Putnam County
- Schuyler County
- Scott County
- Stark County
- Stephenson County
- Union County
- Wabash County
- Washington County
- White County
Section 8 in Illinois: common questions
- Can a landlord refuse Section 8 in Illinois?
- Illinois has source-of-income protections for covered housing in Illinois. Coverage, property exemptions and current court decisions matter; a voucher refusal may be unlawful. Check the source and coverage notes below or ask the civil-rights agency or legal aid about the property.
- Which Illinois cities and counties have their own voucher discrimination law?
- Chicago and Cook County have a local source-of-income ordinance on file. The ordinance and its citation are listed on this page.
- How many Section 8 vouchers are there in Illinois?
- HUD data shows about 104,726 Housing Choice Vouchers across the 8 Illinois markets we track, administered by 106 housing authorities statewide.
- How do I apply for Section 8 in Illinois?
- You apply to a local housing authority, not to the state or to HUD. Each of Illinois's housing authorities runs its own waitlist and opens it on its own schedule, and applying is always free. Pick your metro or county on this page to see the housing authorities that serve it and their current waitlist status.
Find Section 8 apartments in Illinois
VoucherMatch connects voucher holders with landlords who accept Section 8, and it is free for renters. The administering housing authority must approve the actual unit, rent and household assistance calculation.