← All posts · Q1 2026 report · Illinois dashboard

Illinois new construction report — Q1 2026

The bottom line

Illinois's residential permit volume is roughly flat (-9%) quarter-on-quarter — a stable market with steady underlying demand. Operators should focus on builder-relationship depth rather than market-expansion bets in this state for the next quarter.

Top movers this quarter

The Illinois counties with the biggest quarter-on-quarter permit-volume change. Click any county for the full local market dashboard.

1. Winnebago County: 48 permits this quarter (-103 vs 151 prior quarter).
2. Will County: 425 permits this quarter (+75 vs 350 prior quarter).
3. McHenry County: 139 permits this quarter (-62 vs 201 prior quarter).
4. Cook County: 392 permits this quarter (-56 vs 448 prior quarter).
5. Kane County: 344 permits this quarter (-46 vs 390 prior quarter).
6. Champaign County: 35 permits this quarter (-37 vs 72 prior quarter).

Most-active builders

Licensed home builders in Illinois ranked by Q1 2026 permit count. Click any name for the builder's full profile, permit history, and county footprint.

Per-permit builder attribution for Illinois is limited this quarter. Per-permit feeds outside Florida are added quarterly — Illinois will deepen as we add county portals.

What this means for trade operators

If you're an LBM operator, roofing contractor, HVAC company, plumber, concrete crew, or any trade serving Illinois's new single-family construction market, this quarter's data points to a few practical actions:

• If you're not actively quoting the top 6 builders listed above, that's the call list for this week.
• If your service area covers any of the top-mover counties, you have leverage right now — builders there are scaling and looking for capacity.
• If you're considering expansion into Illinois, the Illinois dashboard has all counties scored against the trade you select. Drive-time analysis from your existing yard tells you which counties are reachable today.

This report is automatically refreshed every quarter from Census Bureau Building Permits Survey data plus county public records. The methodology is documented in our Census BPS data explainer.