Aurora vs Elgin

A side-by-side comparison of Aurora and Elgin: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Aurora has the higher population (179,867 vs 114,106 in Elgin). Aurora has the higher median household income ($90,109 vs $88,316 in Elgin). Aurora has the higher median home value ($260,400 vs $252,400 in Elgin).

Population, income & housing

	Aurora	Elgin
Population	179,867	114,106
Median age	35.2 yrs	36.3 yrs
Median household income	$90,109	$88,316
Median home value	$260,400	$252,400
Median gross rent	$1,535	$1,260
Housing units	63,492	40,111
Homeownership rate	66.8%	71.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.2%	26.0%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Aurora	Elgin
Population	199,927 → 179,867 (-10.0%)	112,653 → 114,106 (+1.3%)
Median household income	$71,749 → $90,109 (+25.6%)	$69,041 → $88,316 (+27.9%)
Median home value	$184,400 → $260,400 (+41.2%)	$186,000 → $252,400 (+35.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,228 → $1,535 (+25.0%)	$1,069 → $1,260 (+17.9%)

Aurora

Population

199,927179,867

Median household income

$71,749$90,109

Median home value

$184,400$260,400

Median gross rent

$1,228$1,535

Elgin

Population

112,653114,106

Median household income

$69,041$88,316

Median home value

$186,000$252,400

Median gross rent

$1,069$1,260

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Aurora	Elgin
Under 5	6.3%	6.9%
5 to 17	20.3%	18.8%
18 to 24	9.9%	9.4%
25 to 34	13.2%	13.6%
35 to 44	15.5%	13.2%
45 to 54	14.0%	12.9%
55 to 64	10.2%	12.4%
65 to 74	6.8%	8.2%
75 and over	3.7%	4.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Aurora	Elgin
White (non-Hispanic)	32.5%	36.3%
Black or African American	10.5%	4.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	10.9%	5.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.7%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	42.8%	48.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Aurora	Elgin
No high school diploma	17.9%	18.8%
High school graduate	21.0%	25.8%
Some college or associate's	23.9%	29.4%
Bachelor's degree	22.5%	16.9%
Graduate or professional degree	14.7%	9.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Aurora	Elgin
Drove alone	67.7%	72.7%
Carpooled	11.2%	10.0%
Public transit	3.6%	1.8%
Walked	1.6%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.5%
Worked from home	14.5%	11.6%
Other means	1.3%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Aurora	Elgin
1-unit, detached	58.0%	60.8%
1-unit, attached	17.2%	13.6%
2 to 4 units	8.8%	9.8%
5 to 19 units	8.7%	7.8%
20 or more units	7.1%	4.6%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	3.4%

Poverty & households

	Aurora	Elgin
Poverty rate	9.8%	10.4%
Average household size	2.95	2.89
Mean commute (minutes)	28	28
Median year structure built	1986	1976