Blue Island vs Melrose Park

A side-by-side comparison of Blue Island and Melrose Park: population, income, housing, and more.

Blue Island and Melrose Park are places in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Melrose Park has the higher population (24,513 vs 23,416 in Blue Island). Melrose Park has the higher median household income ($64,740 vs $60,965 in Blue Island). Melrose Park has the higher median home value ($265,000 vs $169,800 in Blue Island).

Population, income & housing

	Blue Island	Melrose Park
Population	23,416	24,513
Median age	36.7 yrs	35.0 yrs
Median household income	$60,965	$64,740
Median home value	$169,800	$265,000
Median gross rent	$1,071	$1,194
Housing units	9,340	8,947
Homeownership rate	49.1%	57.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.3%	14.7%
Unemployment rate	11.7%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Blue Island	Melrose Park
Population	22,611 → 23,416 (+3.6%)	25,605 → 24,513 (-4.3%)
Median household income	$48,398 → $60,965 (+26.0%)	$50,870 → $64,740 (+27.3%)
Median home value	$122,700 → $169,800 (+38.4%)	$192,000 → $265,000 (+38.0%)
Median gross rent	$867 → $1,071 (+23.5%)	$995 → $1,194 (+20.0%)

Blue Island

Population

22,61123,416

Median household income

$48,398$60,965

Median home value

$122,700$169,800

Median gross rent

$867$1,071

Melrose Park

Population

25,60524,513

Median household income

$50,870$64,740

Median home value

$192,000$265,000

Median gross rent

$995$1,194

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Blue Island	Melrose Park
Under 5	5.8%	6.6%
5 to 17	17.2%	17.6%
18 to 24	10.9%	11.6%
25 to 34	13.7%	14.2%
35 to 44	13.6%	11.8%
45 to 54	10.9%	14.6%
55 to 64	15.3%	11.5%
65 to 74	8.3%	6.9%
75 and over	4.2%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Blue Island	Melrose Park
White (non-Hispanic)	19.2%	16.8%
Black or African American	35.2%	3.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.1%	0.7%
Hispanic or Latino	43.1%	77.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Blue Island	Melrose Park
No high school diploma	18.2%	29.5%
High school graduate	30.6%	30.9%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	24.9%
Bachelor's degree	11.7%	10.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.6%	4.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Blue Island	Melrose Park
Drove alone	69.4%	74.4%
Carpooled	14.5%	15.1%
Public transit	8.2%	2.2%
Walked	1.2%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.7%	4.9%
Other means	0.6%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Blue Island	Melrose Park
1-unit, detached	44.1%	42.6%
1-unit, attached	3.8%	3.3%
2 to 4 units	17.9%	28.2%
5 to 19 units	24.3%	12.9%
20 or more units	5.4%	6.0%
Mobile home & other	4.5%	6.9%

Poverty & households

	Blue Island	Melrose Park
Poverty rate	16.1%	10.4%
Average household size	2.70	2.93
Mean commute (minutes)	28	28
Median year structure built	1961	1957