Elgin vs St. Charles

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

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

Elgin has the higher population (114,106 vs 32,733 in St. Charles). St. Charles has the higher median household income ($115,350 vs $88,316 in Elgin). St. Charles has the higher median home value ($369,700 vs $252,400 in Elgin).

Population, income & housing

	Elgin	St. Charles
Population	114,106	32,733
Median age	36.3 yrs	41.6 yrs
Median household income	$88,316	$115,350
Median home value	$252,400	$369,700
Median gross rent	$1,260	$1,788
Housing units	40,111	13,780
Homeownership rate	71.4%	70.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.0%	51.2%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Elgin	St. Charles
Population	112,653 → 114,106 (+1.3%)	32,686 → 32,733 (+0.1%)
Median household income	$69,041 → $88,316 (+27.9%)	$98,393 → $115,350 (+17.2%)
Median home value	$186,000 → $252,400 (+35.7%)	$293,300 → $369,700 (+26.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,069 → $1,260 (+17.9%)	$1,288 → $1,788 (+38.8%)

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

St. Charles

Population

32,68632,733

Median household income

$98,393$115,350

Median home value

$293,300$369,700

Median gross rent

$1,288$1,788

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Elgin	St. Charles
Under 5	6.9%	5.1%
5 to 17	18.8%	15.3%
18 to 24	9.4%	9.2%
25 to 34	13.6%	12.3%
35 to 44	13.2%	11.7%
45 to 54	12.9%	14.3%
55 to 64	12.4%	15.6%
65 to 74	8.2%	9.9%
75 and over	4.6%	6.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Elgin	St. Charles
White (non-Hispanic)	36.3%	75.7%
Black or African American	4.9%	3.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	5.9%	4.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.6%	4.3%
Hispanic or Latino	48.4%	11.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Elgin	St. Charles
No high school diploma	18.8%	5.3%
High school graduate	25.8%	17.1%
Some college or associate's	29.4%	26.5%
Bachelor's degree	16.9%	30.4%
Graduate or professional degree	9.1%	20.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Elgin	St. Charles
Drove alone	72.7%	72.9%
Carpooled	10.0%	7.3%
Public transit	1.8%	2.3%
Walked	1.0%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.3%
Worked from home	11.6%	14.5%
Other means	2.4%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Elgin	St. Charles
1-unit, detached	60.8%	60.8%
1-unit, attached	13.6%	13.6%
2 to 4 units	9.8%	7.3%
5 to 19 units	7.8%	10.2%
20 or more units	4.6%	8.0%
Mobile home & other	3.4%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Elgin	St. Charles
Poverty rate	10.4%	3.9%
Average household size	2.89	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	28	29
Median year structure built	1976	1985