Chicago vs Houston

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

Chicago and Houston are places in Illinois and Texas respectively. 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 2,300,419 in Houston). Chicago has the higher median household income ($75,134 vs $62,894 in Houston). Chicago has the higher median home value ($315,200 vs $253,400 in Houston).

Population, income & housing

	Chicago	Houston
Population	2,707,648	2,300,419
Median age	35.7 yrs	34.3 yrs
Median household income	$75,134	$62,894
Median home value	$315,200	$253,400
Median gross rent	$1,380	$1,313
Housing units	1,268,199	1,023,112
Homeownership rate	45.5%	42.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.3%	36.0%
Unemployment rate	7.9%	6.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chicago	Houston
Population	2,709,534 → 2,707,648 (-0.1%)	2,310,432 → 2,300,419 (-0.4%)
Median household income	$58,247 → $75,134 (+29.0%)	$52,338 → $62,894 (+20.2%)
Median home value	$258,000 → $315,200 (+22.2%)	$171,800 → $253,400 (+47.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,112 → $1,380 (+24.1%)	$1,041 → $1,313 (+26.1%)

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

Houston

Population

2,310,4322,300,419

Median household income

$52,338$62,894

Median home value

$171,800$253,400

Median gross rent

$1,041$1,313

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chicago	Houston
Under 5	5.6%	6.7%
5 to 17	14.2%	16.9%
18 to 24	9.5%	9.8%
25 to 34	19.6%	17.8%
35 to 44	14.6%	14.5%
45 to 54	11.8%	11.7%
55 to 64	11.1%	10.5%
65 to 74	8.1%	7.3%
75 and over	5.6%	4.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chicago	Houston
White (non-Hispanic)	32.2%	23.6%
Black or African American	28.0%	22.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	7.0%	6.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.7%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	29.6%	44.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chicago	Houston
No high school diploma	13.2%	19.7%
High school graduate	21.3%	21.5%
Some college or associate's	22.2%	22.7%
Bachelor's degree	24.9%	21.3%
Graduate or professional degree	18.4%	14.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chicago	Houston
Drove alone	46.0%	69.7%
Carpooled	7.4%	10.1%
Public transit	19.3%	3.3%
Walked	5.7%	1.9%
Bicycle	1.4%	0.4%
Worked from home	18.3%	11.7%
Other means	2.0%	2.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chicago	Houston
1-unit, detached	25.6%	43.0%
1-unit, attached	3.6%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	28.1%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	16.0%	18.2%
20 or more units	26.5%	26.1%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Chicago	Houston
Poverty rate	16.8%	19.7%
Average household size	2.32	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	33	27
Median year structure built	1952	1981