Naperville vs Wheaton

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

Naperville and Wheaton 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 53,453 in Wheaton). Naperville has the higher median household income ($150,937 vs $119,566 in Wheaton). Naperville has the higher median home value ($509,900 vs $447,700 in Wheaton).

Population, income & housing

	Naperville	Wheaton
Population	149,424	53,453
Median age	40.1 yrs	37.6 yrs
Median household income	$150,937	$119,566
Median home value	$509,900	$447,700
Median gross rent	$1,852	$1,731
Housing units	56,575	20,695
Homeownership rate	74.3%	72.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	71.7%	64.1%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Naperville	Wheaton
Population	147,501 → 149,424 (+1.3%)	53,270 → 53,453 (+0.3%)
Median household income	$125,926 → $150,937 (+19.9%)	$103,376 → $119,566 (+15.7%)
Median home value	$416,700 → $509,900 (+22.4%)	$358,000 → $447,700 (+25.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,516 → $1,852 (+22.2%)	$1,419 → $1,731 (+22.0%)

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

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)

	Naperville	Wheaton
Under 5	5.7%	5.9%
5 to 17	19.3%	16.2%
18 to 24	6.7%	11.0%
25 to 34	11.2%	13.3%
35 to 44	14.4%	11.8%
45 to 54	14.7%	11.6%
55 to 64	13.4%	12.7%
65 to 74	8.8%	10.1%
75 and over	5.8%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Naperville	Wheaton
White (non-Hispanic)	62.0%	78.1%
Black or African American	4.4%	3.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	21.7%	5.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.7%
Two or more races	3.9%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	7.4%	7.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Naperville	Wheaton
No high school diploma	2.8%	3.5%
High school graduate	9.3%	11.4%
Some college or associate's	16.2%	21.0%
Bachelor's degree	38.8%	37.4%
Graduate or professional degree	33.0%	26.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Naperville	Wheaton
Drove alone	58.9%	61.5%
Carpooled	4.8%	4.7%
Public transit	6.2%	4.6%
Walked	1.4%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.6%
Worked from home	27.3%	24.0%
Other means	1.2%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Naperville	Wheaton
1-unit, detached	62.0%	58.7%
1-unit, attached	12.7%	11.1%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	6.8%
5 to 19 units	12.4%	10.7%
20 or more units	8.1%	12.5%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Naperville	Wheaton
Poverty rate	4.4%	5.9%
Average household size	2.71	2.52
Mean commute (minutes)	31	26
Median year structure built	1989	1975