South Elgin vs St. Charles

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

South 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.

St. Charles has the higher population (32,733 vs 23,984 in South Elgin). South Elgin has the higher median household income ($123,744 vs $115,350 in St. Charles). St. Charles has the higher median home value ($369,700 vs $296,100 in South Elgin).

Population, income & housing

	South Elgin	St. Charles
Population	23,984	32,733
Median age	39.2 yrs	41.6 yrs
Median household income	$123,744	$115,350
Median home value	$296,100	$369,700
Median gross rent	$1,619	$1,788
Housing units	8,614	13,780
Homeownership rate	81.3%	70.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.4%	51.2%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	South Elgin	St. Charles
Population	23,039 → 23,984 (+4.1%)	32,686 → 32,733 (+0.1%)
Median household income	$99,451 → $123,744 (+24.4%)	$98,393 → $115,350 (+17.2%)
Median home value	$235,500 → $296,100 (+25.7%)	$293,300 → $369,700 (+26.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,415 → $1,619 (+14.4%)	$1,288 → $1,788 (+38.8%)

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

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)

	South Elgin	St. Charles
Under 5	4.1%	5.1%
5 to 17	19.8%	15.3%
18 to 24	7.9%	9.2%
25 to 34	10.4%	12.3%
35 to 44	15.9%	11.7%
45 to 54	19.5%	14.3%
55 to 64	10.6%	15.6%
65 to 74	6.7%	9.9%
75 and over	5.0%	6.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	South Elgin	St. Charles
White (non-Hispanic)	56.6%	75.7%
Black or African American	5.8%	3.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	11.7%	4.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.6%	4.3%
Hispanic or Latino	21.0%	11.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	South Elgin	St. Charles
No high school diploma	9.3%	5.3%
High school graduate	25.0%	17.1%
Some college or associate's	27.3%	26.5%
Bachelor's degree	24.9%	30.4%
Graduate or professional degree	13.5%	20.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	South Elgin	St. Charles
Drove alone	74.0%	72.9%
Carpooled	9.3%	7.3%
Public transit	1.3%	2.3%
Walked	0.7%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	13.2%	14.5%
Other means	1.5%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	South Elgin	St. Charles
1-unit, detached	67.7%	60.8%
1-unit, attached	15.2%	13.6%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	7.3%
5 to 19 units	4.5%	10.2%
20 or more units	6.8%	8.0%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	South Elgin	St. Charles
Poverty rate	6.4%	3.9%
Average household size	2.81	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	29	29
Median year structure built	1996	1985