Charleston vs Mattoon

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

Charleston and Mattoon 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 16,334 in Mattoon). Charleston has the higher median household income ($49,057 vs $47,308 in Mattoon). Charleston has the higher median home value ($133,700 vs $96,000 in Mattoon).

Population, income & housing

	Charleston	Mattoon
Population	17,212	16,334
Median age	28.8 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$49,057	$47,308
Median home value	$133,700	$96,000
Median gross rent	$819	$764
Housing units	8,411	8,762
Homeownership rate	46.7%	56.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.2%	19.5%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	8.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Charleston	Mattoon
Population	20,464 → 17,212 (-15.9%)	17,394 → 16,334 (-6.1%)
Median household income	$40,863 → $49,057 (+20.1%)	$39,852 → $47,308 (+18.7%)
Median home value	$104,900 → $133,700 (+27.5%)	$85,400 → $96,000 (+12.4%)
Median gross rent	$723 → $819 (+13.3%)	$663 → $764 (+15.2%)

Charleston

Population

20,46417,212

Median household income

$40,863$49,057

Median home value

$104,900$133,700

Median gross rent

$723$819

Mattoon

Population

17,39416,334

Median household income

$39,852$47,308

Median home value

$85,400$96,000

Median gross rent

$663$764

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Charleston	Mattoon
Under 5	4.2%	5.4%
5 to 17	7.9%	15.6%
18 to 24	32.6%	8.2%
25 to 34	13.5%	12.0%
35 to 44	8.4%	14.0%
45 to 54	8.6%	11.7%
55 to 64	10.6%	13.0%
65 to 74	6.8%	11.3%
75 and over	7.3%	8.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Charleston	Mattoon
White (non-Hispanic)	82.6%	90.6%
Black or African American	7.7%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	2.0%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.3%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	4.8%	3.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Charleston	Mattoon
No high school diploma	7.6%	10.4%
High school graduate	26.8%	36.2%
Some college or associate's	31.4%	33.9%
Bachelor's degree	18.2%	12.3%
Graduate or professional degree	16.0%	7.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Charleston	Mattoon
Drove alone	69.7%	79.2%
Carpooled	7.9%	13.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	11.2%	1.2%
Bicycle	1.3%	1.3%
Worked from home	9.1%	3.6%
Other means	0.8%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Charleston	Mattoon
1-unit, detached	52.5%	69.3%
1-unit, attached	3.3%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	12.0%	10.5%
5 to 19 units	17.7%	8.9%
20 or more units	11.4%	7.0%
Mobile home & other	3.2%	2.5%

Poverty & households

	Charleston	Mattoon
Poverty rate	25.3%	21.0%
Average household size	1.93	2.03
Mean commute (minutes)	15	18
Median year structure built	1978	1956