World Business Chicago tracks indicators from month to month to gauge the strength of several aspects of Chicago’s economy, including employment in major sectors, residential and office real estate data, price and purchasing indexes, freight demand, and auto and truck sales. Note: employment data refers to payroll job estimates for the city of Chicago and is not adjusted for seasonality.

Key trends evident this month include:

• The Chicago (city) economy has expanded by an estimated 18,997 jobs, a 1.6 percent year-over-year improvement since July 2014. The vast majority (88%) of this growth can be attributed to the professional and business services (+9,735) and education and health services (+6,916) sectors.

• Median home sales in Chicago (city) increased by 9.7% since July 2014. In the same time period, the median home price increased by 5.2% from to $271,000 to $285,000. Housing starts are also up by more than 10% YOY.

• Passenger volume for O’Hare and Midway Airports grew by 716,545, an 8.1% increase since July 2014. Concurrently, air cargo tonnage for both airports grew by 11,913 tons, an 8.8% increase since July 2014.

These and other trends are illustrated in this month’s Chicago by the Numbers.