Arlington Heights vs Chicago

A side-by-side comparison of Arlington Heights and Chicago: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Chicago has the higher population (2,707,648 vs 76,220 in Arlington Heights). Arlington Heights has the higher median household income ($118,532 vs $75,134 in Chicago). Arlington Heights has the higher median home value ($403,200 vs $315,200 in Chicago).

Population, income & housing

	Arlington Heights	Chicago
Population	76,220	2,707,648
Median age	42.7 yrs	35.7 yrs
Median household income	$118,532	$75,134
Median home value	$403,200	$315,200
Median gross rent	$1,727	$1,380
Housing units	33,034	1,268,199
Homeownership rate	73.3%	45.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	60.2%	43.3%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	7.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Arlington Heights	Chicago
Population	75,482 → 76,220 (+1.0%)	2,709,534 → 2,707,648 (-0.1%)
Median household income	$96,340 → $118,532 (+23.0%)	$58,247 → $75,134 (+29.0%)
Median home value	$358,300 → $403,200 (+12.5%)	$258,000 → $315,200 (+22.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,368 → $1,727 (+26.2%)	$1,112 → $1,380 (+24.1%)

Arlington Heights

Population

75,48276,220

Median household income

$96,340$118,532

Median home value

$358,300$403,200

Median gross rent

$1,368$1,727

Chicago

Population

2,709,5342,707,648

Median household income

$58,247$75,134

Median home value

$258,000$315,200

Median gross rent

$1,112$1,380

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Arlington Heights	Chicago
Under 5	6.3%	5.6%
5 to 17	17.1%	14.2%
18 to 24	4.9%	9.5%
25 to 34	11.0%	19.6%
35 to 44	13.9%	14.6%
45 to 54	14.3%	11.8%
55 to 64	13.3%	11.1%
65 to 74	10.4%	8.1%
75 and over	8.9%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Arlington Heights	Chicago
White (non-Hispanic)	74.6%	32.2%
Black or African American	2.9%	28.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	9.6%	7.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	9.6%	29.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Arlington Heights	Chicago
No high school diploma	3.8%	13.2%
High school graduate	15.2%	21.3%
Some college or associate's	20.9%	22.2%
Bachelor's degree	34.3%	24.9%
Graduate or professional degree	25.8%	18.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Arlington Heights	Chicago
Drove alone	64.2%	46.0%
Carpooled	6.0%	7.4%
Public transit	4.8%	19.3%
Walked	1.3%	5.7%
Bicycle	0.5%	1.4%
Worked from home	22.5%	18.3%
Other means	0.7%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Arlington Heights	Chicago
1-unit, detached	54.3%	25.6%
1-unit, attached	7.0%	3.6%
2 to 4 units	4.1%	28.1%
5 to 19 units	12.5%	16.0%
20 or more units	22.1%	26.5%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Arlington Heights	Chicago
Poverty rate	6.3%	16.8%
Average household size	2.41	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	28	33
Median year structure built	1973	1952