Golden vs Payson

A side-by-side comparison of Golden and Payson: population, income, housing, and more.

Golden and Payson are places in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Payson has the higher population (1,030 vs 711 in Golden). Payson has the higher median household income ($62,262 vs $55,875 in Golden). Golden has the higher median home value ($125,500 vs $118,000 in Payson).

Population, income & housing

	Golden	Payson
Population	711	1,030
Median age	34.3 yrs	34.9 yrs
Median household income	$55,875	$62,262
Median home value	$125,500	$118,000
Median gross rent	$713	$967
Housing units	334	409
Homeownership rate	77.1%	84.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.3%	19.1%
Unemployment rate	2.8%	1.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Golden	Payson
Population	597 → 711 (+19.1%)	1,107 → 1,030 (-7.0%)
Median household income	$51,000 → $55,875 (+9.6%)	$59,926 → $62,262 (+3.9%)
Median home value	$82,700 → $125,500 (+51.8%)	$95,100 → $118,000 (+24.1%)
Median gross rent	$467 → $713 (+52.7%)	$595 → $967 (+62.5%)

Golden

Population

597711

Median household income

$51,000$55,875

Median home value

$82,700$125,500

Median gross rent

$467$713

Payson

Population

1,1071,030

Median household income

$59,926$62,262

Median home value

$95,100$118,000

Median gross rent

$595$967

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Golden	Payson
Under 5	10.8%	8.1%
5 to 17	14.8%	21.7%
18 to 24	8.9%	6.7%
25 to 34	16.6%	13.6%
35 to 44	7.6%	10.7%
45 to 54	7.2%	11.1%
55 to 64	10.7%	14.5%
65 to 74	11.1%	8.6%
75 and over	12.4%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Golden	Payson
White (non-Hispanic)	98.6%	93.8%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	2.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.6%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	1.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Golden	Payson
No high school diploma	9.7%	4.1%
High school graduate	27.3%	42.0%
Some college or associate's	34.8%	34.7%
Bachelor's degree	20.8%	14.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	4.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Golden	Payson
Drove alone	91.5%	89.6%
Carpooled	6.2%	3.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	1.3%	5.9%
Other means	0.0%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Golden	Payson
1-unit, detached	91.6%	85.1%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	2.2%
2 to 4 units	5.4%	1.5%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.7%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.4%	10.5%

Poverty & households

	Golden	Payson
Poverty rate	9.1%	10.2%
Average household size	2.29	2.77
Mean commute (minutes)	29	24
Median year structure built	1956	1973