Homes in downtown Wheaton and surrounding neighborhoods are selling in 25 days at nearly full asking price, earning the 60187 ZIP code a spot among the 10 hottest housing markets in the country.

Realtor.com's 2026 Hottest ZIP Codes report, published Aug. 10, ranked Wheaton 10th nationally based on listing data from January through June. The ZIP code covers downtown Wheaton, the Northside neighborhood and parts of the Emerson, Hawthorne and Lowell Schools neighborhoods, putting the Front Street and Hale Street business districts squarely inside the boundaries.

A typical 60187 listing attracted 3.03 times as many online viewers as the U.S. average, and homes sold at just 0.28 percent below asking price. The median listing price hit $575,000, 55.7 percent above the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro median of $369,075.

The demand is local.

What sets Wheaton apart from the other nine ranked ZIP codes: 77 percent of online viewers came from within the Chicago area, the highest local share of any top-10 ZIP. The next-largest out-of-market interest came from Milwaukee-Waukesha, Wisconsin, at just 1.4 percent of views. Quartz reported that local demand alone "proved strong enough to carry a ZIP into the top 10 without the outside attention that lifted several other entries on this year's list."

The report's buyer profile underscores the market's financial strength. Median household income in the ZIP is $129,694, buyers averaged an 18.3 percent down payment (roughly $98,533) and carried a median FICO score of 773. Realtor.com described the market as attracting buyers "looking for suburban tranquility without giving up job access or infrastructure."

Tight inventory is fueling the competition. Across the top-10 hottest ZIP codes, available homes averaged 60.5 percent below pre-pandemic norms, compared with an 11.3 percent shortfall nationally. All 10 ranked ZIPs sit in the Northeast or Midwest for the fourth consecutive year, as new construction in the South and West has eased demand pressure in those regions.

Borrowing costs offered a modest tailwind: the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate held near 6.3 percent through the first half of 2026, down from 6.8 percent a year earlier. With inventory still well below normal levels and local buyer demand concentrated in the 60187 boundaries, competition for homes near downtown Wheaton's commercial corridors shows no sign of cooling heading into fall.