Sheldon vs Watseka

A side-by-side comparison of Sheldon and Watseka: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Watseka has the higher population (4,630 vs 1,309 in Sheldon). Sheldon has the higher median household income ($43,942 vs $42,794 in Watseka). Watseka has the higher median home value ($104,400 vs $75,200 in Sheldon).

Population, income & housing

	Sheldon	Watseka
Population	1,309	4,630
Median age	45.4 yrs	46.4 yrs
Median household income	$43,942	$42,794
Median home value	$75,200	$104,400
Median gross rent	$738	$815
Housing units	630	2,384
Homeownership rate	69.1%	63.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	6.9%	11.3%
Unemployment rate	16.4%	6.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Sheldon	Watseka
Population	1,169 → 1,309 (+12.0%)	4,954 → 4,630 (-6.5%)
Median household income	$42,152 → $43,942 (+4.2%)	$39,281 → $42,794 (+8.9%)
Median home value	$64,200 → $75,200 (+17.1%)	$85,500 → $104,400 (+22.1%)
Median gross rent	$725 → $738 (+1.8%)	$648 → $815 (+25.8%)

Sheldon

Population

1,1691,309

Median household income

$42,152$43,942

Median home value

$64,200$75,200

Median gross rent

$725$738

Watseka

Population

4,9544,630

Median household income

$39,281$42,794

Median home value

$85,500$104,400

Median gross rent

$648$815

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Sheldon	Watseka
Under 5	5.6%	7.3%
5 to 17	14.8%	12.4%
18 to 24	8.3%	9.5%
25 to 34	10.4%	11.2%
35 to 44	9.8%	8.0%
45 to 54	20.6%	12.7%
55 to 64	13.6%	13.5%
65 to 74	8.2%	11.8%
75 and over	8.7%	13.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Sheldon	Watseka
White (non-Hispanic)	95.3%	84.6%
Black or African American	0.0%	1.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	1.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.9%
Two or more races	1.8%	5.9%
Hispanic or Latino	2.8%	5.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Sheldon	Watseka
No high school diploma	22.8%	14.2%
High school graduate	46.5%	41.8%
Some college or associate's	23.8%	32.7%
Bachelor's degree	5.1%	8.3%
Graduate or professional degree	1.7%	2.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Sheldon	Watseka
Drove alone	83.8%	80.1%
Carpooled	9.4%	13.1%
Public transit	0.0%	1.1%
Walked	3.6%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.5%
Worked from home	3.2%	3.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Sheldon	Watseka
1-unit, detached	77.0%	70.6%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	8.1%
2 to 4 units	15.4%	7.5%
5 to 19 units	1.4%	5.2%
20 or more units	0.0%	2.3%
Mobile home & other	5.7%	6.3%

Poverty & households

	Sheldon	Watseka
Poverty rate	17.4%	25.5%
Average household size	2.12	2.12
Mean commute (minutes)	21	17
Median year structure built	1946	1965