Charleston vs Lerna

A side-by-side comparison of Charleston and Lerna: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Charleston has the higher population (17,212 vs 220 in Lerna). Charleston has the higher median household income ($49,057 vs $48,750 in Lerna). Charleston has the higher median home value ($133,700 vs $80,800 in Lerna).

Population, income & housing

	Charleston	Lerna
Population	17,212	220
Median age	28.8 yrs	30.3 yrs
Median household income	$49,057	$48,750
Median home value	$133,700	$80,800
Median gross rent	$819	$800
Housing units	8,411	127
Homeownership rate	46.7%	71.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.2%	11.2%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	15.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Charleston	Lerna
Population	20,464 → 17,212 (-15.9%)	253 → 220 (-13.0%)
Median household income	$40,863 → $49,057 (+20.1%)	$43,500 → $48,750 (+12.1%)
Median home value	$104,900 → $133,700 (+27.5%)	$66,200 → $80,800 (+22.1%)
Median gross rent	$723 → $819 (+13.3%)	$521 → $800 (+53.6%)

Charleston

Population

20,46417,212

Median household income

$40,863$49,057

Median home value

$104,900$133,700

Median gross rent

$723$819

Lerna

Population

253220

Median household income

$43,500$48,750

Median home value

$66,200$80,800

Median gross rent

$521$800

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Charleston	Lerna
Under 5	4.2%	11.4%
5 to 17	7.9%	10.5%
18 to 24	32.6%	13.2%
25 to 34	13.5%	17.3%
35 to 44	8.4%	5.9%
45 to 54	8.6%	9.1%
55 to 64	10.6%	6.8%
65 to 74	6.8%	15.0%
75 and over	7.3%	10.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Charleston	Lerna
White (non-Hispanic)	82.6%	97.3%
Black or African American	7.7%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.3%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	4.8%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Charleston	Lerna
No high school diploma	7.6%	6.3%
High school graduate	26.8%	50.3%
Some college or associate's	31.4%	32.2%
Bachelor's degree	18.2%	7.0%
Graduate or professional degree	16.0%	4.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Charleston	Lerna
Drove alone	69.7%	89.2%
Carpooled	7.9%	7.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	11.2%	0.0%
Bicycle	1.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.1%	3.6%
Other means	0.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Charleston	Lerna
1-unit, detached	52.5%	81.9%
1-unit, attached	3.3%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	12.0%	1.6%
5 to 19 units	17.7%	0.0%
20 or more units	11.4%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.2%	15.7%

Poverty & households

	Charleston	Lerna
Poverty rate	25.3%	17.0%
Average household size	1.93	2.42
Mean commute (minutes)	15	20
Median year structure built	1978	1961