What each window type costs, and why the same house gets very different quotes

Window type moves a Chicago quote less than most homeowners expect, and the two exceptions are expensive. In the national guides read for this site, single-hung, double-hung, casement, slider and picture units sit in overlapping bands: Modernize prices that whole group between $200 and $1,900 per window (updated March 17, 2026). Bay and bow sit outside it, at $1,000 to $7,000 for a bay (Today's Homeowner, September 3, 2025). No source read this session prices any window type in Chicago specifically. The only Chicago figures carrying a named author, a named reviewer and a date cover vinyl double-hung units, at $650 to $1,200 per window installed (Modernize Illinois, Isabella Andersen, reviewed by Catie Bonner, March 18, 2026). All read 2026-08-11. So anchor on that Chicago double-hung band, and read the national type table for the gaps between types rather than for its dollars.

This page sits under the cost hub, which carries the drivers that move a quote more than type does. The standard every figure here is held to is set out on our methodology page.

Every type, side by side, from four national guides

Four guides publish window prices by type. Putting them in one table is more useful than quoting whichever one you land on first, because the disagreement between them is itself the finding. Read down a column and you get one publisher's view of the market. Read across a row and you learn how much confidence any single number deserves.

Window type	Today's Homeowner, Sep 3, 2025	This Old House average, Jun 23, 2026	Modernize, Mar 17, 2026	Bob Vila, Jun 10, 2024
Single-hung	$200 to $400	$397	$200 to $850	Not given
Double-hung	$430 to $915	$495	$429 to $915	$150 to $650
Casement	$500 to $1,000	$560	$597 to $1,273	$150 to $1,000
Slider	Not given	$507	$775 to $1,652	$150 to $800
Picture	$700 to $1,300	$419	$600 to $1,900	$65 to $700
Awning	$430 to $830	$514	Not given	Not given
Bay	$1,000 to $7,000	$791 to $886, bay and bow together	$1,700 to $3,859 or more, bay and bow together	$900 to $7,100
Bow	$2,000 to $4,000	Combined with bay above	Combined with bay above	$1,500 to $6,500

Today's Homeowner: Elisabeth Beauchamp, reviewed by Amy DeYoung, updated September 3, 2025. This Old House: Stephanie Minasian-Koncewicz, updated June 23, 2026, from a November 2025 survey of 1,000 homeowners. Modernize: Catie Bonner, reviewed by Isabella Andersen, updated March 17, 2026. Bob Vila: Katie Flannery and Evelyn Auer, updated June 10, 2024, the only source here from before 2025. All read 2026-08-11.

Read the This Old House column differently from the others

Three of these columns are ranges and one is a set of single averages, and the averages run low against everything else. That is not a mistake to correct by averaging it away. Three sources also publish one blended national average per window, and those are $280 (Bob Vila, June 10, 2024), $477 (This Old House, from its November 2025 survey, page updated June 23, 2026) and $1,047 (Modernize, March 17, 2026). A near-fourfold gap between publishers on the same question almost certainly means some are pricing the unit and some are pricing the installed job. Our reading, stated as a reading: treat the This Old House column as closer to what the window costs and the Modernize and Chicago figures as closer to what the finished job costs. That is inference, not something any of the three states, so do not carry it into a negotiation as fact.

The same types, in wood

Wood earns its own table here rather than a footnote, because Chicago's pre-war housing stock is full of it and because a landmark district specification tends to push an owner back toward it. This Old House publishes a wood-only set built on RSMeans data from Gordian and a 2024 survey of 2,500 homeowners.

Window type, wood	Range	Average
Double-hung	$325 to $950	$637.50
Casement	$410 to $2,450	$1,430
Picture	$640 to $1,750	$1,195
Bay	$1,475 to $5,100	$3,287.50
Awning	$415 to $1,100	Not given
Slider	$570 to $1,575	Not given

This Old House, "How Much Do Wood Replacement Windows Cost?", Stephanie Minasian-Koncewicz, updated April 13, 2026. Read 2026-08-11.

The line worth carrying away is the casement one. In wood, casement runs $410 to $2,450, a six-fold spread inside a single type from a single source, and its average of $1,430 is more than double the wood double-hung average of $637.50 (This Old House wood guide, Stephanie Minasian-Koncewicz, April 13, 2026, read 2026-08-11). If a landmark district specification is steering you toward wood casements, the type decision and the material decision have stopped being separate decisions. The material page takes that further.

Type by type, and what each one actually asks of a Chicago house

Double-hung, the Chicago default

Two sashes in one frame, both sliding vertically. It is what sits in most Chicago bungalows, two-flats, three-flats and greystones, which makes it the type most local quotes are actually about.

• National: $430 to $915 (Today's Homeowner, September 3, 2025), a $495 average (This Old House, June 23, 2026), $429 to $915 (Modernize, March 17, 2026), $150 to $650 (Bob Vila, June 10, 2024). In wood, $325 to $950, average $637.50 (This Old House wood guide, April 13, 2026).
• Chicago: $650 to $1,200 per window installed for standard vinyl, and $700 to $1,250 for energy-efficient vinyl (Modernize Illinois, March 18, 2026). This is the only Chicago band on this site.
• Why the Chicago band sits above the national ones. Most likely because it prices the installed job rather than the unit, and because the same page prices Chicago above every other Illinois metro it lists. That is our reading of two figures from one publisher, not a claim either page makes.
• What to watch: like-for-like double-hung is the cheapest path through this whole page, and it is also the path that keeps you inside Chicago's no-permit exemption. Both facts point the same way, which is unusual and worth using.

Single-hung, the cheaper sibling nobody asks for by name

Looks like a double-hung. Only the bottom sash moves. Every source that prices it puts it below double-hung: $200 to $400 (Today's Homeowner, September 3, 2025), a $397 average (This Old House, June 23, 2026), $200 to $850 (Modernize, March 17, 2026).

The saving is real and it is not large against a whole-house total, and the trade is one you live with. A fixed top sash cannot tilt in, so on a second or third floor the outside of that upper glass is a ladder job forever. On a Chicago two-flat or three-flat that is a decision about the next 20 years, not about this invoice. It also changes the type of window in the opening, which matters for the permit question further down this page.

Casement

Hinged at the side, cranked outward. National figures: $500 to $1,000 (Today's Homeowner, September 3, 2025), a $560 average (This Old House, June 23, 2026), $597 to $1,273 (Modernize, March 17, 2026), $150 to $1,000 (Bob Vila, June 10, 2024). In wood, $410 to $2,450, average $1,430 (This Old House wood guide, April 13, 2026).

A casement closes by pulling its sash against a compression seal, where a hung window or a slider closes against a sliding one. In a city with a long heating season that difference is the usual argument for the type, and it is an argument about air leakage rather than about glass. What that argument does not tell you is that the crank gear and the hinges are now the part that fails, and that a casement swings out into whatever is on the other side of the wall. On a Chicago lot that can be a gangway, a neighbor's wall three feet away, or a walk. Stand outside the opening before you specify one.

Slider

Horizontal sash sliding past a fixed one. Common in mid-century Chicago blocks, in garden units and in basement openings. This is the type the sources disagree about most sharply: $150 to $800 (Bob Vila, June 10, 2024), a $507 average (This Old House, June 23, 2026), $775 to $1,652 (Modernize, March 17, 2026). In wood, $570 to $1,575 (This Old House wood guide, April 13, 2026). Today's Homeowner does not price it.

Note what that means: Bob Vila's ceiling of $800 sits at Modernize's floor of $775. There is almost no overlap between the two guides on this one type. When a range is that unstable across publishers, it is not a number to plan with, it is a signal that the type covers wildly different products under one word. Ask what the sash weight, the track and the screen actually are before you compare two slider quotes to each other.

Picture

Fixed. Nothing opens. National: $700 to $1,300 (Today's Homeowner, September 3, 2025), a $419 average (This Old House, June 23, 2026), $600 to $1,900 (Modernize, March 17, 2026), $65 to $700 (Bob Vila, June 10, 2024). In wood, $640 to $1,750, average $1,195 (This Old House wood guide, April 13, 2026).

Two of the four price it above double-hung despite it having no moving parts at all, which surprises people. Our reading is that a fixed unit is normally specified large, and glass area carries the price, so the hardware you save is smaller than the glass you add. Treat that as inference from the tables rather than as something a publisher states.

There is a question to settle before you convert an operable window into a fixed one, especially in a bedroom or a basement bedroom. Rescue and escape openings are governed by code, not by preference. This site has not read Chicago's provision on that at source, so we publish no dimension and no rule for it. Ask the Department of Buildings, or ask the contractor to show you the provision they are relying on, before a fixed unit goes into a room anybody sleeps in.

Awning

Hinged at the top, opening outward at the bottom, which lets it stay open in rain. It turns up over kitchen sinks, in bathrooms and in basement openings. Only two of the four guides price it at all: $430 to $830 (Today's Homeowner, September 3, 2025) and a $514 average (This Old House, June 23, 2026). In wood, $415 to $1,100 (This Old House wood guide, April 13, 2026).

The fact that two national guides skip the type is itself information. It is a small share of the replacement market, which means fewer stocked sizes and less competitive pricing on any given block. If a quote treats an awning as a like-for-like swap at the same rate as your double-hungs, ask whether the unit is actually a stocked size.

Bay and bow, the expensive exception

A bay is normally three units set at angles, projecting past the wall. A bow is four or more in a shallow curve. Every source that prices them separately puts them in a different order of magnitude from everything above.

Source and date	Bay	Bow
Today's Homeowner, Sep 3, 2025	$1,000 to $7,000	$2,000 to $4,000
Bob Vila, Jun 10, 2024	$900 to $7,100	$1,500 to $6,500
Modernize, Mar 17, 2026	$1,700 to $3,859 or more, bay and bow together
This Old House, Jun 23, 2026	$791 to $886 average, bay and bow together
This Old House wood guide, Apr 13, 2026	$1,475 to $5,100, average $3,287.50	Not given

All read 2026-08-11.

The This Old House row is the odd one out by a long way. Its bay and bow average sits below its own casement average, which no other source comes close to agreeing with, and we are leaving it in the table rather than quietly dropping it. Our reading is that it is measuring something narrower, probably a unit rather than an installed assembly. If you only remember one thing here: three of four sources put a bay somewhere between roughly $1,000 and $7,000, and that is a spread you cannot budget against without a specification.

The reason a bay is a different order of price is that it is not really a window. It is a small piece of structure. It needs a header carrying the load above it, a roof or head board above and a seat board below, flashing where it meets the wall, and insulation in a projecting cavity that is now exposed on several sides. In Chicago that last part is not cosmetic. A poorly insulated bay seat is a cold floor and a condensation problem for as long as the house stands.

A bay or bow also projects past the exterior wall plane, which raises questions about setbacks, lot lines and the public way that a flat replacement never raises. This site has not read a Chicago provision governing that projection at source, so we do not state one. What we can say is what the city does publish, and it is in the next section.

The type-swap question, and what Chicago's own words say about it

This is the part of a type decision that most cost pages skip, and in Chicago it is the part that can turn an exempt job into a permitted one.

Chicago's list of work that does not require a building permit includes, in a residential building up to four stories above grade, "Repairing or replacing (in-kind) an exterior window or skylight in the existing opening". The city defines in-kind replacement as using new elements "of the same type, size, and shape". Read at chicago.gov, 2026-08-11.

Read those two sentences together and the word "type" is doing real work. A like-for-like double-hung swap is plainly in-kind. A double-hung replaced by a casement, or an operable window replaced by a fixed picture unit, is a change of type in the same opening.

Our plain reading is that a type change is not in-kind, and therefore is not covered by the exemption. We label that as our reading because it is one. We have not read a Department of Buildings determination on the point, and we are not going to promote an interpretation to a rule. What follows from it is practical and cheap to act on: if you are considering a type swap, ask the Department of Buildings whether your job still qualifies, before you order anything. A wrong answer discovered after delivery is expensive in a way that a phone call is not.

Two related pages carry the rest of this. Do I need a permit sets out the full exemption list and what falls outside it, and landmark buildings and districts covers the case where the exemption may not apply at all regardless of type.

Where each type sits relative to double-hung

Since there is no Chicago figure by type, the useful thing the national tables can give you is not a dollar amount but a ratio: how much more or less a type costs than the double-hung you probably already have. The multiples below are our own arithmetic on the midpoints of the published bands in the table above. No publisher printed them. They are here because the ratio survives the unit-versus-installed problem better than the dollars do.

Window type	Today's Homeowner	This Old House	Modernize
Double-hung (the baseline)	1.00x	1.00x	1.00x
Single-hung	0.45x	0.80x	0.78x
Awning	0.94x	1.04x	Not priced
Casement	1.12x	1.13x	1.39x
Slider	Not priced	1.02x	1.81x
Picture	1.49x	0.85x	1.86x
Bay	5.95x	1.60x to 1.79x, with bow	4.14x, with bow
Bow	4.46x	Combined with bay	Combined with bay

Our arithmetic on midpoints of the bands published by Today's Homeowner (September 3, 2025), This Old House (June 23, 2026) and Modernize (March 17, 2026), all read 2026-08-11. Not a published figure from any of them.

What this table is honest about is the size of the disagreement. Three sources put a picture window at 1.49x, 0.85x and 1.86x of a double-hung. They do not even agree on the direction. Only two conclusions survive all three columns: single-hung is cheaper, and bay and bow are in a different league. Everything between those two is close enough that your material, your tier and your glass package will decide your price long before your type does. That is the single most useful thing on this page, and it is the opposite of what a page selling you a type upgrade would tell you.

Why the same house gets three very different quotes

Homeowners usually read a quote spread as three opinions about the same job. It almost never is. Here is what is actually varying, ranked by how often it explains the gap, with what we can attribute against each row.

What differs	How it shows up on the quote	What we can attribute
Unit price against installed price	One quote reads as half of another for the same window	Three national averages: $280 (Bob Vila, Jun 10, 2024), $477 (This Old House, Jun 23, 2026), $1,047 (Modernize, Mar 17, 2026)
The proposed type mix	One keeps a fixed picture unit, another proposes casements in the same wall	The national type tables above. No Chicago figure by type exists from a named author
Tier inside the same material	Same word on the quote, different product entirely	Illinois tiers: basic $575 to $1,000, mid $825 to $1,300, high end $1,250 to $2,700 per window (Modernize Illinois, Mar 18, 2026)
Glass package	A line item you cannot compare unless both quotes name the same thing	Illinois triple-pane upgrade: add $150 to $350 per window (Modernize Illinois, Mar 18, 2026)
Whether the opening changes	Framing and finishing work appear, or do not	Chicago defines in-kind as new elements "of the same type, size, and shape" (chicago.gov, read 2026-08-11)
Condition behind the trim	Usually absent from the quote and present in the change order	Repairing a rotted frame: $250 to $800 (This Old House, Jun 23, 2026). National, not Chicago
Removal and disposal	Sometimes bundled, sometimes a separate line, sometimes missing	Removal and disposal only: $55 to $65 an hour (This Old House, Jun 23, 2026). National, not Chicago
Labour assumed on site	Crew size and days, rarely stated	$40 to $60 per worker per hour, about $100 an hour for a two-worker crew (Today's Homeowner, Sep 3, 2025). National, not Chicago
Access and floor height	Upper floors, tight gangways and alley access cost hours	No attributable Chicago figure. Named as a driver, not priced
Landmark or district requirements	The specification is set before price is discussed	See the landmark page, quoted from the city's adopted guidance

All figures read 2026-08-11.

Notice that only one row in that table is about window type. Type is a real driver and it is not the driver, which is why this page spends as much space on the other nine rows as on the types themselves. The cost hub ranks all 10 drivers in one table, with the source on every figure, under the heading "What actually moves the number".

You may not need a different window type at all

This site is paid a referral fee when a homeowner asks to be matched with a window contractor, which is exactly why it is worth writing down the cases where the cheapest answer is the right one.

• A like-for-like swap is usually the best-value version of this job. It is the cheapest column in every table above, it needs no new framing, and it is the version Chicago's own exemption language describes. A type upgrade has to earn its place against that, and "it looks more modern" is not a cost argument.
• One failed unit is not a whole-house job. Chicago lists, in any building, repairing damage to an existing window and replacing glass in an existing window sash as work needing no building permit, read at chicago.gov 2026-08-11. A single fogged sealed unit or a broken sash is a repair. Pricing it against the tables on this page is how a small problem becomes a five-figure quote. Repair against replace is the page for that decision.
• A storm window is outside this entire page. Chicago lists installing a storm window as work needing no building permit in any building, at any height (chicago.gov, read 2026-08-11). None of the type tables here price that path, and on an older sash it is often the comparison worth running first.
• If your existing bay is structurally sound, ask whether only the sashes need replacing. That is a different and much smaller job than rebuilding a projecting assembly, and the bay figures on this page do not apply to it. Ask the question before you accept a bay quote as the price of the problem.
• If all you want is to know whether a quote is fair, you do not need a form. The tables above and what is actually in a window quote will answer that without anyone calling you.

What to ask, and what we would do

A short sequence, in order, ending in a recommendation. A page that lists considerations and reaches no conclusion has just handed the work back to you.

• Count and name your openings before anybody visits. How many, and what type each one is today. That list is the thing three quotes have to be written against if they are going to be comparable.
• Ask whether each quote is per unit or installed. This is the first question, because it explains more quote spread than every other question combined.
• Ask what type is proposed for each opening, not for the house. A quote that says "12 windows" has hidden the decision this page is about.
• Ask what happens to the opening. If anything other than the same type, size and shape is going back in, your permit answer may have changed as well as your price.
• Price a bay or bow as its own project. Do not let it sit inside a per-window average. At three of four sources it is worth several ordinary windows on its own.
• Settle the landmark question first. In a district the specification arrives before the price does, and it can decide type and material for you.

The recommendation. Keep the types you have unless there is a reason you can state in one sentence that is not about fashion. Put your opening-by-opening list in writing, send the same list to three contractors, and ask each to price it as installed, itemized by opening. Then divide each total by the number of openings and hold the result against the one Chicago band that exists: $650 to $1,200 per window for standard vinyl double-hung (Modernize Illinois, March 18, 2026, read 2026-08-11). If a quote sits above that band, the gap should be explainable by a row in the table above. If nobody can name the row, the gap is not a specification, it is a margin.

Related pages

• Cost by frame material. Vinyl, wood, clad wood, fiberglass, aluminum and composite. In most quotes this decides more of your price than type does.
• The cost hub. All 10 drivers from the table above, ranked against each other in one place, plus the one Chicago figure with a named author and date.
• What is actually in a window quote. Converting to a per-opening number, the line items that hide scope differences, and the questions that surface a change order before it happens.
• Repair against replace. The comparison that decides whether any of this matters for your house.
• Do I need a permit to replace windows in Chicago? The exemption list in full, and what a type change does to it.
• Energy code requirements for replacement windows. The performance floor under whatever type you choose, quoted from the adopting ordinance on chicago.gov, read 2026-08-11.

Sources

All read 2026-08-11. Today's Homeowner window replacement cost guide, Elisabeth Beauchamp, reviewed by Amy DeYoung, updated September 3, 2025. This Old House window replacement cost guide, Stephanie Minasian-Koncewicz, updated June 23, 2026, from a November 2025 survey of 1,000 homeowners. This Old House, "How Much Do Wood Replacement Windows Cost?", Stephanie Minasian-Koncewicz, updated April 13, 2026, citing RSMeans data from Gordian and a 2024 survey of 2,500 homeowners. Modernize national window replacement cost, Catie Bonner, reviewed by Isabella Andersen, updated March 17, 2026. Modernize, "Window Replacement Cost and Pricing in Illinois (2026)", Isabella Andersen, reviewed by Catie Bonner, updated March 18, 2026. Bob Vila window replacement cost guide, Katie Flannery and Evelyn Auer, updated June 10, 2024. City of Chicago, Guide to Building Permits, work not requiring a building permit, exterior. The multiples table is our own arithmetic on published midpoints and is labelled as such. No competitor page, contractor marketing page or search-engine summary informed any figure above.

If you want real quotes to hold against these numbers, the form below passes your details to an independent licensed window contractor working in your part of the city. What that relationship is, and what it is not, is set out on the about page.

Straight answers

Questions Chicago homeowners ask

Which window type is cheapest to replace?

Single-hung, in every national source that prices it: $200 to $400 (Today's Homeowner, September 3, 2025), a $397 average (This Old House, June 23, 2026) and $200 to $850 (Modernize, March 17, 2026). Double-hung is the next step up and is what most Chicago houses already have. The saving is real and it is small against the total job, and a single-hung has only one moving sash, which is the thing to think about before you buy 12 of them for a two-flat or a three-flat with upper-floor windows you have to clean. All read 2026-08-11.

Does a bay window really cost that much more?

Yes, and it is the one type where every source we read agrees on the direction. Today's Homeowner puts a bay at $1,000 to $7,000 and a bow at $2,000 to $4,000 (September 3, 2025). Bob Vila puts a bay at $900 to $7,100 and a bow at $1,500 to $6,500 (June 10, 2024). Modernize prices bay and bow together at $1,700 to $3,859 or more (March 17, 2026). In wood, This Old House reads a bay at $1,475 to $5,100, average $3,287.50 (April 13, 2026). This Old House's general guide is the outlier at a $791 to $886 bay and bow average (June 23, 2026), which sits below its own casement figure and does not match anyone else. All read 2026-08-11.

Can I swap a double-hung for a casement in the same opening?

Physically, usually. As a permit question, do not assume it is the same job. Chicago's list of work not requiring a building permit covers, in a residential building up to four stories, "Repairing or replacing (in-kind) an exterior window or skylight in the existing opening", and the city defines in-kind as using new elements "of the same type, size, and shape". The word type is in that definition. Our plain reading is that changing the type of window is not in-kind, even in an opening you have not touched. We have not read a Department of Buildings determination saying so, so we label that as our reading and not as the city's ruling. Ask the Department of Buildings before you order. Read at chicago.gov 2026-08-11.

Why is a picture window sometimes more expensive than one that opens?

Because you are usually buying more glass, not less hardware. Today's Homeowner reads picture at $700 to $1,300 against double-hung at $430 to $915 (September 3, 2025), and Modernize reads picture at $600 to $1,900 against double-hung at $429 to $915 (March 17, 2026). This Old House disagrees, with a $419 picture average against a $495 double-hung average (June 23, 2026). Our reading of the split is that a fixed unit has no operating hardware but is normally specified large, and glass area is what carries the price. Two of three sources price it above double-hung, so budget for it to be more, not less. All read 2026-08-11.

Is there a Chicago price for casement, slider, bay or awning windows?

No, and we are not going to invent one. The only Chicago figures we found carrying a named author, a named reviewer and a date are for vinyl double-hung units: $650 to $1,200 per window installed, and $700 to $1,250 for an energy-efficient vinyl unit (Modernize, "Window Replacement Cost and Pricing in Illinois (2026)", Isabella Andersen, reviewed by Catie Bonner, March 18, 2026, read 2026-08-11). Everything on this site broken out by window type is national and is labelled national. Two contractor marketing pages did carry Chicago bay, bow, awning and casement numbers. Neither names an author, one carries no date at all, and that one disagrees with itself on the same page, so their numbers are not published here.

Three contractors priced the same house very differently. What happened?

Usually the three quotes are not for the same job. The commonest causes, in the order we see them argued: the quotes count different things (a unit price and an installed price are not comparable, which is why the three national averages we read are $280, $477 and $1,047); the proposed type mix differs, because one salesperson kept your picture window fixed and another proposed casements; the tier inside the material differs, and Illinois tiers alone run $575 to $1,000 basic against $1,250 to $2,700 high end per window (Modernize Illinois, March 18, 2026); and the glass package differs, where triple pane adds $150 to $350 per window in Illinois (same source). Convert each quote to a per-opening number first, then ask which of those four explains the gap.

Do you sell or install windows?

No. We are a marketing service. We publish what Chicago actually requires and what published sources say the work costs, with the author and the date attached, and if you want quotes we pass your details to an independent licensed window contractor working in your part of the city. We are paid a referral fee by that contractor, and it never increases what you pay.