Carol Stream vs Downers Grove

A side-by-side comparison of Carol Stream and Downers Grove: population, income, housing, and more.

Carol Stream and Downers Grove are places in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Downers Grove has the higher population (49,867 vs 39,427 in Carol Stream). Downers Grove has the higher median household income ($119,649 vs $105,395 in Carol Stream). Downers Grove has the higher median home value ($439,000 vs $308,700 in Carol Stream).

Population, income & housing

	Carol Stream	Downers Grove
Population	39,427	49,867
Median age	39.3 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$105,395	$119,649
Median home value	$308,700	$439,000
Median gross rent	$1,465	$1,589
Housing units	14,786	21,268
Homeownership rate	68.1%	75.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.8%	58.8%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carol Stream	Downers Grove
Population	39,726 → 39,427 (-0.8%)	49,470 → 49,867 (+0.8%)
Median household income	$82,062 → $105,395 (+28.4%)	$94,893 → $119,649 (+26.1%)
Median home value	$247,600 → $308,700 (+24.7%)	$353,100 → $439,000 (+24.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,192 → $1,465 (+22.9%)	$1,315 → $1,589 (+20.8%)

Carol Stream

Population

39,72639,427

Median household income

$82,062$105,395

Median home value

$247,600$308,700

Median gross rent

$1,192$1,465

Downers Grove

Population

49,47049,867

Median household income

$94,893$119,649

Median home value

$353,100$439,000

Median gross rent

$1,315$1,589

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carol Stream	Downers Grove
Under 5	5.5%	5.6%
5 to 17	16.4%	16.2%
18 to 24	8.6%	6.8%
25 to 34	13.1%	11.6%
35 to 44	14.0%	12.6%
45 to 54	11.7%	13.6%
55 to 64	14.7%	13.9%
65 to 74	10.0%	12.0%
75 and over	6.0%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carol Stream	Downers Grove
White (non-Hispanic)	50.5%	82.1%
Black or African American	6.4%	2.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	19.5%	5.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.2%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	18.3%	5.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carol Stream	Downers Grove
No high school diploma	9.7%	3.5%
High school graduate	20.0%	13.7%
Some college or associate's	26.5%	24.1%
Bachelor's degree	30.1%	34.1%
Graduate or professional degree	13.7%	24.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carol Stream	Downers Grove
Drove alone	71.3%	61.9%
Carpooled	10.9%	4.7%
Public transit	2.7%	7.8%
Walked	1.0%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.2%
Worked from home	13.4%	23.2%
Other means	0.6%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carol Stream	Downers Grove
1-unit, detached	48.1%	63.1%
1-unit, attached	17.4%	6.3%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	2.3%
5 to 19 units	19.6%	11.0%
20 or more units	11.1%	16.6%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Carol Stream	Downers Grove
Poverty rate	7.0%	4.9%
Average household size	2.73	2.42
Mean commute (minutes)	29	28
Median year structure built	1984	1974