Altamont vs Watson

A side-by-side comparison of Altamont and Watson: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Altamont has the higher population (2,500 vs 616 in Watson). Altamont has the higher median household income ($76,198 vs $68,625 in Watson). Altamont has the higher median home value ($132,200 vs $93,900 in Watson).

Population, income & housing

	Altamont	Watson
Population	2,500	616
Median age	38.0 yrs	41.4 yrs
Median household income	$76,198	$68,625
Median home value	$132,200	$93,900
Median gross rent	$898	$750
Housing units	1,040	244
Homeownership rate	78.0%	82.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.6%	12.1%
Unemployment rate	1.0%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Altamont	Watson
Population	2,333 → 2,500 (+7.2%)	824 → 616 (-25.2%)
Median household income	$46,204 → $76,198 (+64.9%)	$53,750 → $68,625 (+27.7%)
Median home value	$98,600 → $132,200 (+34.1%)	$75,400 → $93,900 (+24.5%)
Median gross rent	$748 → $898 (+20.1%)	$556 → $750 (+34.9%)

Altamont

Population

2,3332,500

Median household income

$46,204$76,198

Median home value

$98,600$132,200

Median gross rent

$748$898

Watson

Population

824616

Median household income

$53,750$68,625

Median home value

$75,400$93,900

Median gross rent

$556$750

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Altamont	Watson
Under 5	3.5%	3.9%
5 to 17	22.6%	18.3%
18 to 24	3.3%	8.3%
25 to 34	17.1%	12.8%
35 to 44	14.2%	11.5%
45 to 54	6.3%	19.6%
55 to 64	9.7%	14.9%
65 to 74	11.1%	8.3%
75 and over	12.4%	2.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Altamont	Watson
White (non-Hispanic)	96.4%	98.9%
Black or African American	1.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.7%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	0.6%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Altamont	Watson
No high school diploma	7.0%	10.5%
High school graduate	40.0%	41.4%
Some college or associate's	34.4%	36.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.1%	11.0%
Graduate or professional degree	2.5%	1.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Altamont	Watson
Drove alone	74.9%	81.3%
Carpooled	15.0%	11.7%
Public transit	0.4%	0.0%
Walked	2.2%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.0%	6.9%
Other means	0.4%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Altamont	Watson
1-unit, detached	79.2%	79.5%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	5.0%	7.8%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	2.9%
20 or more units	1.4%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	9.3%	9.8%

Poverty & households

	Altamont	Watson
Poverty rate	14.2%	20.6%
Average household size	2.44	2.67
Mean commute (minutes)	25	17
Median year structure built	1964	1982