Carbondale vs Murphysboro

A side-by-side comparison of Carbondale and Murphysboro: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Carbondale has the higher population (21,813 vs 6,804 in Murphysboro). Murphysboro has the higher median household income ($42,367 vs $29,670 in Carbondale). Carbondale has the higher median home value ($124,800 vs $79,600 in Murphysboro).

Population, income & housing

	Carbondale	Murphysboro
Population	21,813	6,804
Median age	24.9 yrs	40.0 yrs
Median household income	$29,670	$42,367
Median home value	$124,800	$79,600
Median gross rent	$750	$655
Housing units	12,275	3,930
Homeownership rate	26.7%	48.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.3%	19.4%
Unemployment rate	9.3%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carbondale	Murphysboro
Population	25,597 → 21,813 (-14.8%)	7,757 → 6,804 (-12.3%)
Median household income	$22,152 → $29,670 (+33.9%)	$36,184 → $42,367 (+17.1%)
Median home value	$117,500 → $124,800 (+6.2%)	$70,500 → $79,600 (+12.9%)
Median gross rent	$714 → $750 (+5.0%)	$594 → $655 (+10.3%)

Carbondale

Population

25,59721,813

Median household income

$22,152$29,670

Median home value

$117,500$124,800

Median gross rent

$714$750

Murphysboro

Population

7,7576,804

Median household income

$36,184$42,367

Median home value

$70,500$79,600

Median gross rent

$594$655

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carbondale	Murphysboro
Under 5	3.6%	5.5%
5 to 17	9.8%	14.9%
18 to 24	37.3%	9.3%
25 to 34	16.1%	12.7%
35 to 44	8.3%	15.5%
45 to 54	6.7%	10.4%
55 to 64	8.4%	11.1%
65 to 74	5.8%	11.4%
75 and over	4.1%	9.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carbondale	Murphysboro
White (non-Hispanic)	55.9%	70.5%
Black or African American	27.6%	13.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	6.7%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.6%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	5.4%	11.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carbondale	Murphysboro
No high school diploma	5.5%	11.3%
High school graduate	15.3%	31.1%
Some college or associate's	32.8%	38.2%
Bachelor's degree	22.8%	12.6%
Graduate or professional degree	23.6%	6.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carbondale	Murphysboro
Drove alone	64.0%	79.8%
Carpooled	10.1%	7.1%
Public transit	2.6%	0.0%
Walked	10.2%	3.6%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.9%	8.2%
Other means	2.4%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carbondale	Murphysboro
1-unit, detached	32.2%	63.1%
1-unit, attached	2.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	19.2%	20.0%
5 to 19 units	23.1%	2.9%
20 or more units	16.9%	8.5%
Mobile home & other	5.9%	5.5%

Poverty & households

	Carbondale	Murphysboro
Poverty rate	36.9%	16.4%
Average household size	1.88	1.94
Mean commute (minutes)	15	22
Median year structure built	1976	1963