Downers Grove vs Elmhurst

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

Downers Grove and Elmhurst 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 45,538 in Elmhurst). Elmhurst has the higher median household income ($145,374 vs $119,649 in Downers Grove). Elmhurst has the higher median home value ($532,800 vs $439,000 in Downers Grove).

Population, income & housing

	Downers Grove	Elmhurst
Population	49,867	45,538
Median age	42.6 yrs	41.6 yrs
Median household income	$119,649	$145,374
Median home value	$439,000	$532,800
Median gross rent	$1,589	$1,877
Housing units	21,268	17,732
Homeownership rate	75.3%	79.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	58.8%	63.0%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Downers Grove	Elmhurst
Population	49,470 → 49,867 (+0.8%)	46,463 → 45,538 (-2.0%)
Median household income	$94,893 → $119,649 (+26.1%)	$118,609 → $145,374 (+22.6%)
Median home value	$353,100 → $439,000 (+24.3%)	$432,600 → $532,800 (+23.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,315 → $1,589 (+20.8%)	$1,497 → $1,877 (+25.4%)

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

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)

	Downers Grove	Elmhurst
Under 5	5.6%	6.5%
5 to 17	16.2%	18.2%
18 to 24	6.8%	7.2%
25 to 34	11.6%	9.1%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.4%
45 to 54	13.6%	13.0%
55 to 64	13.9%	14.0%
65 to 74	12.0%	10.8%
75 and over	7.7%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Downers Grove	Elmhurst
White (non-Hispanic)	82.1%	77.6%
Black or African American	2.7%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	5.8%	6.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.2%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	5.7%	10.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Downers Grove	Elmhurst
No high school diploma	3.5%	3.5%
High school graduate	13.7%	12.7%
Some college or associate's	24.1%	20.8%
Bachelor's degree	34.1%	34.4%
Graduate or professional degree	24.7%	28.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Downers Grove	Elmhurst
Drove alone	61.9%	61.3%
Carpooled	4.7%	4.1%
Public transit	7.8%	8.2%
Walked	1.7%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	23.2%	23.1%
Other means	0.6%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Downers Grove	Elmhurst
1-unit, detached	63.1%	72.9%
1-unit, attached	6.3%	4.0%
2 to 4 units	2.3%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	11.0%	4.4%
20 or more units	16.6%	16.5%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Downers Grove	Elmhurst
Poverty rate	4.9%	3.5%
Average household size	2.42	2.62
Mean commute (minutes)	28	28
Median year structure built	1974	1964