Chicago vs Evanston

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

Chicago and Evanston 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 76,552 in Evanston). Evanston has the higher median household income ($95,766 vs $75,134 in Chicago). Evanston has the higher median home value ($472,300 vs $315,200 in Chicago).

Population, income & housing

	Chicago	Evanston
Population	2,707,648	76,552
Median age	35.7 yrs	38.0 yrs
Median household income	$75,134	$95,766
Median home value	$315,200	$472,300
Median gross rent	$1,380	$1,698
Housing units	1,268,199	33,914
Homeownership rate	45.5%	55.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.3%	70.3%
Unemployment rate	7.9%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chicago	Evanston
Population	2,709,534 → 2,707,648 (-0.1%)	74,587 → 76,552 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$58,247 → $75,134 (+29.0%)	$78,904 → $95,766 (+21.4%)
Median home value	$258,000 → $315,200 (+22.2%)	$391,400 → $472,300 (+20.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,112 → $1,380 (+24.1%)	$1,376 → $1,698 (+23.4%)

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

Evanston

Population

74,58776,552

Median household income

$78,904$95,766

Median home value

$391,400$472,300

Median gross rent

$1,376$1,698

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chicago	Evanston
Under 5	5.6%	4.4%
5 to 17	14.2%	13.9%
18 to 24	9.5%	15.5%
25 to 34	19.6%	13.1%
35 to 44	14.6%	11.6%
45 to 54	11.8%	11.5%
55 to 64	11.1%	12.1%
65 to 74	8.1%	10.4%
75 and over	5.6%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chicago	Evanston
White (non-Hispanic)	32.2%	58.4%
Black or African American	28.0%	14.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	7.0%	9.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.7%	5.1%
Hispanic or Latino	29.6%	12.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chicago	Evanston
No high school diploma	13.2%	3.6%
High school graduate	21.3%	10.6%
Some college or associate's	22.2%	15.6%
Bachelor's degree	24.9%	30.1%
Graduate or professional degree	18.4%	40.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chicago	Evanston
Drove alone	46.0%	42.0%
Carpooled	7.4%	4.1%
Public transit	19.3%	13.0%
Walked	5.7%	10.9%
Bicycle	1.4%	3.2%
Worked from home	18.3%	25.5%
Other means	2.0%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chicago	Evanston
1-unit, detached	25.6%	31.9%
1-unit, attached	3.6%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	28.1%	13.7%
5 to 19 units	16.0%	18.9%
20 or more units	26.5%	30.3%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Chicago	Evanston
Poverty rate	16.8%	11.9%
Average household size	2.32	2.21
Mean commute (minutes)	33	29
Median year structure built	1952	1952