Ford Heights vs Thornton

A side-by-side comparison of Ford Heights and Thornton: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Thornton has the higher population (1,876 vs 1,587 in Ford Heights). Thornton has the higher median household income ($61,111 vs $34,323 in Ford Heights). Thornton has the higher median home value ($146,600 vs $48,000 in Ford Heights).

Population, income & housing

	Ford Heights	Thornton
Population	1,587	1,876
Median age	41.9 yrs	44.0 yrs
Median household income	$34,323	$61,111
Median home value	$48,000	$146,600
Median gross rent	$924	$1,099
Housing units	888	849
Homeownership rate	43.9%	81.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	8.9%	24.9%
Unemployment rate	11.0%	7.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ford Heights	Thornton
Population	2,736 → 1,587 (-42.0%)	2,545 → 1,876 (-26.3%)
Median household income	$34,167 → $34,323 (+0.5%)	$65,081 → $61,111 (-6.1%)
Median home value	$46,700 → $48,000 (+2.8%)	$106,100 → $146,600 (+38.2%)
Median gross rent	$699 → $924 (+32.2%)	$964 → $1,099 (+14.0%)

Ford Heights

Population

2,7361,587

Median household income

$34,167$34,323

Median home value

$46,700$48,000

Median gross rent

$699$924

Thornton

Population

2,5451,876

Median household income

$65,081$61,111

Median home value

$106,100$146,600

Median gross rent

$964$1,099

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ford Heights	Thornton
Under 5	3.6%	5.7%
5 to 17	18.8%	12.4%
18 to 24	3.5%	8.4%
25 to 34	18.6%	14.4%
35 to 44	7.0%	11.9%
45 to 54	13.1%	12.8%
55 to 64	15.3%	15.8%
65 to 74	8.3%	11.6%
75 and over	11.8%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ford Heights	Thornton
White (non-Hispanic)	1.6%	43.4%
Black or African American	98.4%	35.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	1.0%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	19.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ford Heights	Thornton
No high school diploma	12.5%	7.8%
High school graduate	54.8%	37.3%
Some college or associate's	23.7%	30.0%
Bachelor's degree	8.6%	19.4%
Graduate or professional degree	0.3%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ford Heights	Thornton
Drove alone	66.5%	76.4%
Carpooled	21.7%	15.2%
Public transit	11.8%	2.9%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.0%	5.2%
Other means	0.0%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ford Heights	Thornton
1-unit, detached	73.5%	85.2%
1-unit, attached	14.8%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	8.0%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	2.0%	5.1%
20 or more units	1.7%	3.4%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Ford Heights	Thornton
Poverty rate	40.8%	15.9%
Average household size	2.59	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	28	26
Median year structure built	1965	1957