Markham vs River Forest

A side-by-side comparison of Markham and River Forest: population, income, housing, and more.

Markham and River Forest are places in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

River Forest has the higher population (11,489 vs 11,434 in Markham). River Forest has the higher median household income ($148,711 vs $52,364 in Markham). River Forest has the higher median home value ($676,900 vs $119,500 in Markham).

Population, income & housing

	Markham	River Forest
Population	11,434	11,489
Median age	33.7 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$52,364	$148,711
Median home value	$119,500	$676,900
Median gross rent	$1,689	$1,411
Housing units	4,257	4,494
Homeownership rate	72.0%	89.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.6%	73.4%
Unemployment rate	10.4%	6.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Markham	River Forest
Population	12,493 → 11,434 (-8.5%)	10,970 → 11,489 (+4.7%)
Median household income	$43,011 → $52,364 (+21.7%)	$129,928 → $148,711 (+14.5%)
Median home value	$90,000 → $119,500 (+32.8%)	$596,900 → $676,900 (+13.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,261 → $1,689 (+33.9%)	$1,143 → $1,411 (+23.4%)

Markham

Population

12,49311,434

Median household income

$43,011$52,364

Median home value

$90,000$119,500

Median gross rent

$1,261$1,689

River Forest

Population

10,97011,489

Median household income

$129,928$148,711

Median home value

$596,900$676,900

Median gross rent

$1,143$1,411

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Markham	River Forest
Under 5	7.9%	5.8%
5 to 17	20.0%	18.4%
18 to 24	8.7%	10.7%
25 to 34	15.7%	9.1%
35 to 44	12.0%	11.9%
45 to 54	9.8%	13.7%
55 to 64	11.1%	10.6%
65 to 74	8.5%	11.8%
75 and over	6.3%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Markham	River Forest
White (non-Hispanic)	10.9%	78.3%
Black or African American	70.1%	4.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	6.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.3%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	16.2%	6.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Markham	River Forest
No high school diploma	13.0%	3.3%
High school graduate	35.2%	7.0%
Some college or associate's	36.2%	16.4%
Bachelor's degree	12.6%	29.9%
Graduate or professional degree	3.0%	43.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Markham	River Forest
Drove alone	62.0%	46.5%
Carpooled	15.4%	3.6%
Public transit	7.7%	17.8%
Walked	0.2%	6.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.7%
Worked from home	11.0%	23.8%
Other means	3.6%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Markham	River Forest
1-unit, detached	95.0%	60.8%
1-unit, attached	2.9%	5.5%
2 to 4 units	0.7%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	15.9%
20 or more units	1.5%	12.5%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Markham	River Forest
Poverty rate	18.9%	2.2%
Average household size	3.03	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	34	31
Median year structure built	1963	1945