Chicago vs Palatine

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

Chicago and Palatine 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 66,548 in Palatine). Palatine has the higher median household income ($95,950 vs $75,134 in Chicago). Palatine has the higher median home value ($347,900 vs $315,200 in Chicago).

Population, income & housing

	Chicago	Palatine
Population	2,707,648	66,548
Median age	35.7 yrs	39.6 yrs
Median household income	$75,134	$95,950
Median home value	$315,200	$347,900
Median gross rent	$1,380	$1,467
Housing units	1,268,199	28,170
Homeownership rate	45.5%	67.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.3%	49.8%
Unemployment rate	7.9%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chicago	Palatine
Population	2,709,534 → 2,707,648 (-0.1%)	68,407 → 66,548 (-2.7%)
Median household income	$58,247 → $75,134 (+29.0%)	$80,526 → $95,950 (+19.2%)
Median home value	$258,000 → $315,200 (+22.2%)	$284,400 → $347,900 (+22.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,112 → $1,380 (+24.1%)	$1,200 → $1,467 (+22.3%)

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

Palatine

Population

68,40766,548

Median household income

$80,526$95,950

Median home value

$284,400$347,900

Median gross rent

$1,200$1,467

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chicago	Palatine
Under 5	5.6%	5.7%
5 to 17	14.2%	16.7%
18 to 24	9.5%	7.3%
25 to 34	19.6%	14.4%
35 to 44	14.6%	12.2%
45 to 54	11.8%	13.6%
55 to 64	11.1%	13.9%
65 to 74	8.1%	9.8%
75 and over	5.6%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chicago	Palatine
White (non-Hispanic)	32.2%	59.7%
Black or African American	28.0%	5.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	7.0%	12.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.7%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	29.6%	19.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chicago	Palatine
No high school diploma	13.2%	8.9%
High school graduate	21.3%	17.3%
Some college or associate's	22.2%	24.0%
Bachelor's degree	24.9%	31.2%
Graduate or professional degree	18.4%	18.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chicago	Palatine
Drove alone	46.0%	70.7%
Carpooled	7.4%	5.9%
Public transit	19.3%	2.3%
Walked	5.7%	1.5%
Bicycle	1.4%	0.4%
Worked from home	18.3%	18.0%
Other means	2.0%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chicago	Palatine
1-unit, detached	25.6%	43.4%
1-unit, attached	3.6%	14.7%
2 to 4 units	28.1%	7.3%
5 to 19 units	16.0%	21.4%
20 or more units	26.5%	13.1%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Chicago	Palatine
Poverty rate	16.8%	10.1%
Average household size	2.32	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	33	28
Median year structure built	1952	1977