Aurora vs South Elgin

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

Aurora and South 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 23,984 in South Elgin). South Elgin has the higher median household income ($123,744 vs $90,109 in Aurora). South Elgin has the higher median home value ($296,100 vs $260,400 in Aurora).

Population, income & housing

	Aurora	South Elgin
Population	179,867	23,984
Median age	35.2 yrs	39.2 yrs
Median household income	$90,109	$123,744
Median home value	$260,400	$296,100
Median gross rent	$1,535	$1,619
Housing units	63,492	8,614
Homeownership rate	66.8%	81.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.2%	38.4%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Aurora	South Elgin
Population	199,927 → 179,867 (-10.0%)	23,039 → 23,984 (+4.1%)
Median household income	$71,749 → $90,109 (+25.6%)	$99,451 → $123,744 (+24.4%)
Median home value	$184,400 → $260,400 (+41.2%)	$235,500 → $296,100 (+25.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,228 → $1,535 (+25.0%)	$1,415 → $1,619 (+14.4%)

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

South Elgin

Population

23,03923,984

Median household income

$99,451$123,744

Median home value

$235,500$296,100

Median gross rent

$1,415$1,619

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Aurora	South Elgin
Under 5	6.3%	4.1%
5 to 17	20.3%	19.8%
18 to 24	9.9%	7.9%
25 to 34	13.2%	10.4%
35 to 44	15.5%	15.9%
45 to 54	14.0%	19.5%
55 to 64	10.2%	10.6%
65 to 74	6.8%	6.7%
75 and over	3.7%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Aurora	South Elgin
White (non-Hispanic)	32.5%	56.6%
Black or African American	10.5%	5.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	10.9%	11.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	1.3%
Two or more races	2.7%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	42.8%	21.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Aurora	South Elgin
No high school diploma	17.9%	9.3%
High school graduate	21.0%	25.0%
Some college or associate's	23.9%	27.3%
Bachelor's degree	22.5%	24.9%
Graduate or professional degree	14.7%	13.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Aurora	South Elgin
Drove alone	67.7%	74.0%
Carpooled	11.2%	9.3%
Public transit	3.6%	1.3%
Walked	1.6%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	14.5%	13.2%
Other means	1.3%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Aurora	South Elgin
1-unit, detached	58.0%	67.7%
1-unit, attached	17.2%	15.2%
2 to 4 units	8.8%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	8.7%	4.5%
20 or more units	7.1%	6.8%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Aurora	South Elgin
Poverty rate	9.8%	6.4%
Average household size	2.95	2.81
Mean commute (minutes)	28	29
Median year structure built	1986	1996