What's going on in the rural Chicago suburbs

[Kent Phillips]

I'm new to Illinois, specifically Joliet area. I am coming from Austin, TX where they are experiencing a tech boom with lots of growth consistently making Austin one of America's fastest growing cities. Coming here I am surprised to see a lot of growth here too. It appears to be a lot of farms that are being converted into new home developments.  I see this happening a lot in New Lenox and Manhattan. 

My question to the forum is what is driving this growth? Are people fleeing the Chicago area to the more rural suburbs? Is there a specific industry growing in this area or are they all city-commuters?

My follow-up question is what can I do in this real estate market? Are my options the same as most other markets, wholesaling, flipping, renting, etc. or should I look at this differently to get a piece of the new home market?