Chicago Heights vs Wilmette

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

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

Wilmette has the higher population (27,550 vs 26,938 in Chicago Heights). Wilmette has the higher median household income ($192,300 vs $57,479 in Chicago Heights). Wilmette has the higher median home value ($802,200 vs $149,900 in Chicago Heights).

Population, income & housing

	Chicago Heights	Wilmette
Population	26,938	27,550
Median age	35.6 yrs	45.7 yrs
Median household income	$57,479	$192,300
Median home value	$149,900	$802,200
Median gross rent	$1,035	$1,968
Housing units	10,799	10,730
Homeownership rate	63.2%	88.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.2%	84.6%
Unemployment rate	12.7%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chicago Heights	Wilmette
Population	29,856 → 26,938 (-9.8%)	27,247 → 27,550 (+1.1%)
Median household income	$50,186 → $57,479 (+14.5%)	$164,681 → $192,300 (+16.8%)
Median home value	$105,900 → $149,900 (+41.5%)	$707,800 → $802,200 (+13.3%)
Median gross rent	$940 → $1,035 (+10.1%)	$1,484 → $1,968 (+32.6%)

Chicago Heights

Population

29,85626,938

Median household income

$50,186$57,479

Median home value

$105,900$149,900

Median gross rent

$940$1,035

Wilmette

Population

27,24727,550

Median household income

$164,681$192,300

Median home value

$707,800$802,200

Median gross rent

$1,484$1,968

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chicago Heights	Wilmette
Under 5	5.3%	5.7%
5 to 17	21.1%	24.3%
18 to 24	11.4%	3.6%
25 to 34	11.0%	4.2%
35 to 44	12.9%	11.0%
45 to 54	13.6%	17.3%
55 to 64	11.7%	13.0%
65 to 74	7.4%	10.8%
75 and over	5.6%	10.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chicago Heights	Wilmette
White (non-Hispanic)	20.3%	78.3%
Black or African American	39.3%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	11.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.8%
Two or more races	1.9%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	37.2%	5.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chicago Heights	Wilmette
No high school diploma	15.1%	1.3%
High school graduate	33.6%	5.2%
Some college or associate's	31.1%	8.9%
Bachelor's degree	14.1%	34.6%
Graduate or professional degree	6.1%	50.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chicago Heights	Wilmette
Drove alone	71.6%	42.8%
Carpooled	13.3%	3.4%
Public transit	5.7%	16.4%
Walked	0.3%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.7%
Worked from home	5.2%	32.0%
Other means	4.0%	2.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chicago Heights	Wilmette
1-unit, detached	69.2%	77.1%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	5.4%
2 to 4 units	16.9%	1.2%
5 to 19 units	4.2%	3.0%
20 or more units	6.1%	12.9%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Chicago Heights	Wilmette
Poverty rate	24.7%	3.4%
Average household size	2.84	2.67
Mean commute (minutes)	32	35
Median year structure built	1958	1956