Galesburg vs Wataga

A side-by-side comparison of Galesburg and Wataga: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Galesburg has the higher population (29,653 vs 782 in Wataga). Wataga has the higher median household income ($57,500 vs $45,213 in Galesburg). Wataga has the higher median home value ($95,700 vs $89,800 in Galesburg).

Population, income & housing

	Galesburg	Wataga
Population	29,653	782
Median age	41.2 yrs	32.3 yrs
Median household income	$45,213	$57,500
Median home value	$89,800	$95,700
Median gross rent	$719	$634
Housing units	14,217	354
Homeownership rate	61.2%	72.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.3%	12.2%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Galesburg	Wataga
Population	30,689 → 29,653 (-3.4%)	820 → 782 (-4.6%)
Median household income	$36,547 → $45,213 (+23.7%)	$39,226 → $57,500 (+46.6%)
Median home value	$75,900 → $89,800 (+18.3%)	$81,500 → $95,700 (+17.4%)
Median gross rent	$637 → $719 (+12.9%)	$505 → $634 (+25.5%)

Galesburg

Population

30,68929,653

Median household income

$36,547$45,213

Median home value

$75,900$89,800

Median gross rent

$637$719

Wataga

Population

820782

Median household income

$39,226$57,500

Median home value

$81,500$95,700

Median gross rent

$505$634

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Galesburg	Wataga
Under 5	4.9%	6.8%
5 to 17	12.9%	20.3%
18 to 24	12.6%	7.9%
25 to 34	11.3%	23.4%
35 to 44	12.2%	10.4%
45 to 54	11.1%	9.2%
55 to 64	12.8%	8.4%
65 to 74	11.5%	10.0%
75 and over	10.6%	3.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Galesburg	Wataga
White (non-Hispanic)	72.0%	90.4%
Black or African American	12.2%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.4%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.3%
Two or more races	5.0%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	8.9%	4.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Galesburg	Wataga
No high school diploma	14.3%	7.5%
High school graduate	34.2%	33.7%
Some college or associate's	32.2%	46.7%
Bachelor's degree	11.5%	10.6%
Graduate or professional degree	7.8%	1.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Galesburg	Wataga
Drove alone	75.4%	87.1%
Carpooled	11.3%	11.6%
Public transit	0.8%	0.3%
Walked	5.6%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.7%	0.8%
Other means	0.8%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Galesburg	Wataga
1-unit, detached	68.1%	80.5%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	9.8%	14.4%
5 to 19 units	9.6%	5.1%
20 or more units	6.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	4.5%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Galesburg	Wataga
Poverty rate	20.7%	14.2%
Average household size	2.07	2.34
Mean commute (minutes)	16	22
Median year structure built	1953	1973