We scanned a random sample of 430 residential properties across Cook County, Illinois, the county that contains Chicago and its surrounding suburbs, and scored each one for visible signs of neglect and disrepair.
Quick answer: In a random sample of 322 scored Cook County homes, 18.6 percent showed at least some visible neglect (95 percent confidence interval 14.8 to 23.2 percent), and the average distress score was 2.19 on a 0 to 5 scale. This is a whole-county figure. It includes Chicago’s suburbs, so it runs lower than the rate inside the city core, which the neighborhood breakdown below makes clear.
Scored July 2026 with our current production vision model. Part of our multi-city distress study.
How much of Cook County shows visible distress?
Out of 322 homes we could assess from street-level imagery, 60 showed at least some visible neglect, a rate of 18.6 percent. Because this is a random sample rather than a full count, the true county-wide rate sits within roughly 14.8 to 23.2 percent at 95 percent confidence. Street-level imagery covered 74.9 percent of the sampled properties.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Homes sampled | 430 |
| Homes scored | 322 |
| Street-level imagery coverage | 74.9% |
| Some visible neglect (2.5 or above) | 18.6% (14.8 to 23.2%) |
| Clear distress (3.5 or above) | 0.3% |
| Average distress score | 2.19 |
Where distress concentrates in Cook County
A county-wide average hides a wide spread. Distress in Cook County is concentrated heavily in the Chicago urban core, in older inner-city neighborhoods, while the outer suburbs run well below the county figure. That is exactly why the whole-county rate above is lower than what you would measure by walking a single distressed neighborhood. A county-wide random sample of a few hundred homes is the right tool for the county headline number, but it spreads too thin to put a precise, trustworthy rate on any one ZIP code. For a block-level read on a specific Chicago neighborhood, the right tool is a targeted scan of that area, which returns an exact count rather than a county-wide average. You can run one yourself in the app in a few minutes.
What the imagery actually found
The scoring model records specific named conditions rather than one opaque number, so the distress can be broken down by what is actually visible.
| Condition | Share of scored homes |
|---|---|
| Overgrown or neglected yard | 24.2% |
| Peeling paint or damaged siding | 26.4% |
| Accumulated debris or trash | 4.0% |
| Roof damage | 3.4% |
| Broken or boarded windows | 6.2% |
| Visible structural damage | 1.6% |
| Reads as abandoned | 0.3% |
The common conditions describe wear rather than crisis. The rarer structural conditions are the ones that separate a genuinely distressed house from a merely tired one, and those are a much shorter and more actionable list.
How we did this
- Sample. A random sample of 430 residential parcels drawn from across Cook County, excluding vacant land and government-owned parcels. This is a sample, not a full census of the county.
- County, not city. These figures describe the entire county, Chicago plus its suburbs. The rate inside the Chicago city core is higher, and affluent outlying areas pull the county-wide average down. The county-wide figure blends both.
- Method. For each property we retrieved street-level imagery aimed at the structure and scored it with our current production vision model against a fixed distress taxonomy derived from our own hand-labeled training set. The model returns named indicators with a severity rating plus a distress score from 0 to 5.
- Thresholds. A score of 3.5 or above is clear distress; 2.5 to 3.5 is visible but milder neglect; below 2.5 is unremarkable.
- Confidence. With 322 scored homes, the county-wide neglect rate carries a 95 percent confidence interval of about plus or minus 5 percentage points. That is reliable for the county as a whole, but too coarse to rank individual neighborhoods, which is why we point you to a targeted neighborhood scan for block-level numbers.
- What is not in here. This scan used street-level imagery alone. It includes no aerial imagery scoring and no tax-delinquency data, both of which our platform can add on request.
- Known error mode. Purely visual scoring can over-call distress where heavy shade or dark facades read as damage. We corroborate a visual-only finding against a second signal before treating any single property as a lead.
Common questions
How many distressed properties are in Cook County, Illinois?
In our July 2026 random sample, 18.6 percent of Cook County homes showed at least some visible neglect and 0.3 percent showed clear distress. Applied across the county’s housing stock, that points to tens of thousands of properties with visible neglect, concentrated heavily in the Chicago core. Only a full scan would give an exact count.
Which Chicago neighborhoods have the most distressed homes?
Distress concentrates in the older inner-city neighborhoods of the Chicago core, and drops off sharply in the outer suburbs. Our county-wide sample gives a reliable figure for the county as a whole, but it is spread too thin to rank individual neighborhoods with confidence. To get an exact, block-level distress read on a specific Chicago neighborhood, run a targeted scan of that area.
How current is this data?
The imagery was scored in July 2026. Street-level imagery is itself often one to three years old, so the condition reflects the most recent available photograph of each property rather than today.
How accurate is it?
Accurate enough to rank and prioritize, not to decide on a single address without looking. The model reliably separates a house in poor condition from one in good repair, and it can over-call in unusual lighting, which is why the output is a ranked list to work through rather than a verdict on any one property.
Can I get the underlying property list?
Yes. A full Cook County scan produces a per-property list with address, owner details, distress score, tier, and the specific conditions found on each home. You can also scan any Chicago neighborhood yourself in the app.
Get the Cook County list
Run your own scan of any Chicago neighborhood, or request a full-county file. Start scanning, or see plans and pricing. For how these numbers were produced across every market we studied, read the full research writeup.