Carol Stream vs Elmhurst

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

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

Elmhurst has the higher population (45,538 vs 39,427 in Carol Stream). Elmhurst has the higher median household income ($145,374 vs $105,395 in Carol Stream). Elmhurst has the higher median home value ($532,800 vs $308,700 in Carol Stream).

Population, income & housing

	Carol Stream	Elmhurst
Population	39,427	45,538
Median age	39.3 yrs	41.6 yrs
Median household income	$105,395	$145,374
Median home value	$308,700	$532,800
Median gross rent	$1,465	$1,877
Housing units	14,786	17,732
Homeownership rate	68.1%	79.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.8%	63.0%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carol Stream	Elmhurst
Population	39,726 → 39,427 (-0.8%)	46,463 → 45,538 (-2.0%)
Median household income	$82,062 → $105,395 (+28.4%)	$118,609 → $145,374 (+22.6%)
Median home value	$247,600 → $308,700 (+24.7%)	$432,600 → $532,800 (+23.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,192 → $1,465 (+22.9%)	$1,497 → $1,877 (+25.4%)

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

Elmhurst

Population

46,46345,538

Median household income

$118,609$145,374

Median home value

$432,600$532,800

Median gross rent

$1,497$1,877

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carol Stream	Elmhurst
Under 5	5.5%	6.5%
5 to 17	16.4%	18.2%
18 to 24	8.6%	7.2%
25 to 34	13.1%	9.1%
35 to 44	14.0%	13.4%
45 to 54	11.7%	13.0%
55 to 64	14.7%	14.0%
65 to 74	10.0%	10.8%
75 and over	6.0%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carol Stream	Elmhurst
White (non-Hispanic)	50.5%	77.6%
Black or African American	6.4%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	19.5%	6.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.2%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	18.3%	10.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carol Stream	Elmhurst
No high school diploma	9.7%	3.5%
High school graduate	20.0%	12.7%
Some college or associate's	26.5%	20.8%
Bachelor's degree	30.1%	34.4%
Graduate or professional degree	13.7%	28.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carol Stream	Elmhurst
Drove alone	71.3%	61.3%
Carpooled	10.9%	4.1%
Public transit	2.7%	8.2%
Walked	1.0%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	13.4%	23.1%
Other means	0.6%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carol Stream	Elmhurst
1-unit, detached	48.1%	72.9%
1-unit, attached	17.4%	4.0%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	19.6%	4.4%
20 or more units	11.1%	16.5%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Carol Stream	Elmhurst
Poverty rate	7.0%	3.5%
Average household size	2.73	2.62
Mean commute (minutes)	29	28
Median year structure built	1984	1964