Downers Grove vs Naperville

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

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

Naperville has the higher population (149,424 vs 49,867 in Downers Grove). Naperville has the higher median household income ($150,937 vs $119,649 in Downers Grove). Naperville has the higher median home value ($509,900 vs $439,000 in Downers Grove).

Population, income & housing

	Downers Grove	Naperville
Population	49,867	149,424
Median age	42.6 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$119,649	$150,937
Median home value	$439,000	$509,900
Median gross rent	$1,589	$1,852
Housing units	21,268	56,575
Homeownership rate	75.3%	74.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	58.8%	71.7%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Downers Grove	Naperville
Population	49,470 → 49,867 (+0.8%)	147,501 → 149,424 (+1.3%)
Median household income	$94,893 → $119,649 (+26.1%)	$125,926 → $150,937 (+19.9%)
Median home value	$353,100 → $439,000 (+24.3%)	$416,700 → $509,900 (+22.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,315 → $1,589 (+20.8%)	$1,516 → $1,852 (+22.2%)

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

Naperville

Population

147,501149,424

Median household income

$125,926$150,937

Median home value

$416,700$509,900

Median gross rent

$1,516$1,852

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Downers Grove	Naperville
Under 5	5.6%	5.7%
5 to 17	16.2%	19.3%
18 to 24	6.8%	6.7%
25 to 34	11.6%	11.2%
35 to 44	12.6%	14.4%
45 to 54	13.6%	14.7%
55 to 64	13.9%	13.4%
65 to 74	12.0%	8.8%
75 and over	7.7%	5.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Downers Grove	Naperville
White (non-Hispanic)	82.1%	62.0%
Black or African American	2.7%	4.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	5.8%	21.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.2%	3.9%
Hispanic or Latino	5.7%	7.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Downers Grove	Naperville
No high school diploma	3.5%	2.8%
High school graduate	13.7%	9.3%
Some college or associate's	24.1%	16.2%
Bachelor's degree	34.1%	38.8%
Graduate or professional degree	24.7%	33.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Downers Grove	Naperville
Drove alone	61.9%	58.9%
Carpooled	4.7%	4.8%
Public transit	7.8%	6.2%
Walked	1.7%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	23.2%	27.3%
Other means	0.6%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Downers Grove	Naperville
1-unit, detached	63.1%	62.0%
1-unit, attached	6.3%	12.7%
2 to 4 units	2.3%	4.3%
5 to 19 units	11.0%	12.4%
20 or more units	16.6%	8.1%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Downers Grove	Naperville
Poverty rate	4.9%	4.4%
Average household size	2.42	2.71
Mean commute (minutes)	28	31
Median year structure built	1974	1989