DeKalb vs Sycamore

A side-by-side comparison of DeKalb and Sycamore: population, income, housing, and more.

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

DeKalb has the higher population (40,464 vs 18,243 in Sycamore). Sycamore has the higher median household income ($80,837 vs $46,564 in DeKalb). Sycamore has the higher median home value ($254,200 vs $202,900 in DeKalb).

Population, income & housing

	DeKalb	Sycamore
Population	40,464	18,243
Median age	25.4 yrs	37.6 yrs
Median household income	$46,564	$80,837
Median home value	$202,900	$254,200
Median gross rent	$1,030	$1,062
Housing units	17,003	7,868
Homeownership rate	42.5%	71.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.7%	43.6%
Unemployment rate	10.6%	3.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	DeKalb	Sycamore
Population	42,908 → 40,464 (-5.7%)	17,726 → 18,243 (+2.9%)
Median household income	$45,020 → $46,564 (+3.4%)	$71,698 → $80,837 (+12.7%)
Median home value	$157,900 → $202,900 (+28.5%)	$189,400 → $254,200 (+34.2%)
Median gross rent	$903 → $1,030 (+14.1%)	$963 → $1,062 (+10.3%)

DeKalb

Population

42,90840,464

Median household income

$45,020$46,564

Median home value

$157,900$202,900

Median gross rent

$903$1,030

Sycamore

Population

17,72618,243

Median household income

$71,698$80,837

Median home value

$189,400$254,200

Median gross rent

$963$1,062

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	DeKalb	Sycamore
Under 5	5.0%	4.4%
5 to 17	14.9%	18.1%
18 to 24	29.6%	10.9%
25 to 34	13.3%	12.9%
35 to 44	10.5%	13.4%
45 to 54	8.2%	13.0%
55 to 64	7.7%	12.6%
65 to 74	5.8%	9.0%
75 and over	5.0%	5.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	DeKalb	Sycamore
White (non-Hispanic)	57.5%	85.4%
Black or African American	15.1%	3.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	3.8%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	5.0%	1.0%
Hispanic or Latino	18.4%	9.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	DeKalb	Sycamore
No high school diploma	10.4%	4.1%
High school graduate	23.9%	20.1%
Some college or associate's	30.1%	32.1%
Bachelor's degree	21.4%	25.9%
Graduate or professional degree	14.3%	17.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	DeKalb	Sycamore
Drove alone	74.4%	76.4%
Carpooled	12.3%	5.2%
Public transit	0.8%	1.6%
Walked	6.4%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.2%	1.9%
Worked from home	4.7%	12.7%
Other means	1.1%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	DeKalb	Sycamore
1-unit, detached	40.6%	53.8%
1-unit, attached	8.6%	18.6%
2 to 4 units	8.8%	13.5%
5 to 19 units	28.1%	9.2%
20 or more units	11.8%	2.5%
Mobile home & other	2.2%	2.3%

Poverty & households

	DeKalb	Sycamore
Poverty rate	25.7%	9.5%
Average household size	2.28	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	23	26
Median year structure built	1977	1992