Downers Grove vs Wheaton

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

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

Wheaton has the higher population (53,453 vs 49,867 in Downers Grove). Downers Grove has the higher median household income ($119,649 vs $119,566 in Wheaton). Wheaton has the higher median home value ($447,700 vs $439,000 in Downers Grove).

Population, income & housing

	Downers Grove	Wheaton
Population	49,867	53,453
Median age	42.6 yrs	37.6 yrs
Median household income	$119,649	$119,566
Median home value	$439,000	$447,700
Median gross rent	$1,589	$1,731
Housing units	21,268	20,695
Homeownership rate	75.3%	72.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	58.8%	64.1%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Downers Grove	Wheaton
Population	49,470 → 49,867 (+0.8%)	53,270 → 53,453 (+0.3%)
Median household income	$94,893 → $119,649 (+26.1%)	$103,376 → $119,566 (+15.7%)
Median home value	$353,100 → $439,000 (+24.3%)	$358,000 → $447,700 (+25.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,315 → $1,589 (+20.8%)	$1,419 → $1,731 (+22.0%)

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

Wheaton

Population

53,27053,453

Median household income

$103,376$119,566

Median home value

$358,000$447,700

Median gross rent

$1,419$1,731

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Downers Grove	Wheaton
Under 5	5.6%	5.9%
5 to 17	16.2%	16.2%
18 to 24	6.8%	11.0%
25 to 34	11.6%	13.3%
35 to 44	12.6%	11.8%
45 to 54	13.6%	11.6%
55 to 64	13.9%	12.7%
65 to 74	12.0%	10.1%
75 and over	7.7%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Downers Grove	Wheaton
White (non-Hispanic)	82.1%	78.1%
Black or African American	2.7%	3.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	5.8%	5.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.7%
Two or more races	3.2%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	5.7%	7.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Downers Grove	Wheaton
No high school diploma	3.5%	3.5%
High school graduate	13.7%	11.4%
Some college or associate's	24.1%	21.0%
Bachelor's degree	34.1%	37.4%
Graduate or professional degree	24.7%	26.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Downers Grove	Wheaton
Drove alone	61.9%	61.5%
Carpooled	4.7%	4.7%
Public transit	7.8%	4.6%
Walked	1.7%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.6%
Worked from home	23.2%	24.0%
Other means	0.6%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Downers Grove	Wheaton
1-unit, detached	63.1%	58.7%
1-unit, attached	6.3%	11.1%
2 to 4 units	2.3%	6.8%
5 to 19 units	11.0%	10.7%
20 or more units	16.6%	12.5%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Downers Grove	Wheaton
Poverty rate	4.9%	5.9%
Average household size	2.42	2.52
Mean commute (minutes)	28	26
Median year structure built	1974	1975