Northbrook vs Wheeling

A side-by-side comparison of Northbrook and Wheeling: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wheeling has the higher population (38,495 vs 34,642 in Northbrook). Northbrook has the higher median household income ($155,321 vs $83,251 in Wheeling). Northbrook has the higher median home value ($644,100 vs $244,600 in Wheeling).

Population, income & housing

	Northbrook	Wheeling
Population	34,642	38,495
Median age	49.2 yrs	39.2 yrs
Median household income	$155,321	$83,251
Median home value	$644,100	$244,600
Median gross rent	$2,334	$1,578
Housing units	14,490	16,055
Homeownership rate	86.6%	61.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	73.1%	40.3%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Northbrook	Wheeling
Population	33,343 → 34,642 (+3.9%)	38,499 → 38,495 (-0.0%)
Median household income	$124,863 → $155,321 (+24.4%)	$68,615 → $83,251 (+21.3%)
Median home value	$534,800 → $644,100 (+20.4%)	$198,700 → $244,600 (+23.1%)
Median gross rent	$2,056 → $2,334 (+13.5%)	$1,265 → $1,578 (+24.7%)

Northbrook

Population

33,34334,642

Median household income

$124,863$155,321

Median home value

$534,800$644,100

Median gross rent

$2,056$2,334

Wheeling

Population

38,49938,495

Median household income

$68,615$83,251

Median home value

$198,700$244,600

Median gross rent

$1,265$1,578

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Northbrook	Wheeling
Under 5	4.8%	5.5%
5 to 17	16.5%	13.9%
18 to 24	5.6%	7.6%
25 to 34	6.6%	16.1%
35 to 44	11.5%	16.0%
45 to 54	14.2%	12.1%
55 to 64	15.3%	12.0%
65 to 74	13.0%	10.0%
75 and over	12.5%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Northbrook	Wheeling
White (non-Hispanic)	73.2%	47.4%
Black or African American	2.7%	2.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.5%
Asian	16.5%	15.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.8%
Two or more races	2.1%	1.7%
Hispanic or Latino	5.3%	32.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Northbrook	Wheeling
No high school diploma	2.7%	12.0%
High school graduate	9.4%	23.1%
Some college or associate's	14.7%	24.7%
Bachelor's degree	33.2%	26.8%
Graduate or professional degree	40.0%	13.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Northbrook	Wheeling
Drove alone	56.9%	70.4%
Carpooled	4.6%	11.8%
Public transit	7.0%	3.9%
Walked	2.2%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.1%
Worked from home	27.4%	11.5%
Other means	1.2%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Northbrook	Wheeling
1-unit, detached	66.5%	27.8%
1-unit, attached	12.0%	15.6%
2 to 4 units	3.3%	13.0%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	19.1%
20 or more units	15.1%	22.2%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	2.3%

Poverty & households

	Northbrook	Wheeling
Poverty rate	4.5%	8.7%
Average household size	2.55	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	28	27
Median year structure built	1975	1980