Geneva vs South Elgin

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

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

South Elgin has the higher population (23,984 vs 21,299 in Geneva). Geneva has the higher median household income ($136,621 vs $123,744 in South Elgin). Geneva has the higher median home value ($415,800 vs $296,100 in South Elgin).

Population, income & housing

	Geneva	South Elgin
Population	21,299	23,984
Median age	41.7 yrs	39.2 yrs
Median household income	$136,621	$123,744
Median home value	$415,800	$296,100
Median gross rent	$1,805	$1,619
Housing units	8,457	8,614
Homeownership rate	83.7%	81.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	63.8%	38.4%
Unemployment rate	1.7%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Geneva	South Elgin
Population	21,888 → 21,299 (-2.7%)	23,039 → 23,984 (+4.1%)
Median household income	$111,916 → $136,621 (+22.1%)	$99,451 → $123,744 (+24.4%)
Median home value	$338,300 → $415,800 (+22.9%)	$235,500 → $296,100 (+25.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,510 → $1,805 (+19.5%)	$1,415 → $1,619 (+14.4%)

Geneva

Population

21,88821,299

Median household income

$111,916$136,621

Median home value

$338,300$415,800

Median gross rent

$1,510$1,805

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)

	Geneva	South Elgin
Under 5	4.2%	4.1%
5 to 17	20.0%	19.8%
18 to 24	7.0%	7.9%
25 to 34	9.7%	10.4%
35 to 44	13.2%	15.9%
45 to 54	13.5%	19.5%
55 to 64	15.3%	10.6%
65 to 74	11.5%	6.7%
75 and over	5.5%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Geneva	South Elgin
White (non-Hispanic)	82.9%	56.6%
Black or African American	1.5%	5.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	2.4%	11.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	1.3%
Two or more races	4.3%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	8.7%	21.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Geneva	South Elgin
No high school diploma	3.6%	9.3%
High school graduate	12.3%	25.0%
Some college or associate's	20.3%	27.3%
Bachelor's degree	38.5%	24.9%
Graduate or professional degree	25.2%	13.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Geneva	South Elgin
Drove alone	65.7%	74.0%
Carpooled	3.5%	9.3%
Public transit	5.3%	1.3%
Walked	0.9%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	21.4%	13.2%
Other means	3.1%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Geneva	South Elgin
1-unit, detached	70.8%	67.7%
1-unit, attached	13.2%	15.2%
2 to 4 units	7.5%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	4.2%	4.5%
20 or more units	4.0%	6.8%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Geneva	South Elgin
Poverty rate	2.5%	6.4%
Average household size	2.59	2.81
Mean commute (minutes)	28	29
Median year structure built	1986	1996