Highland Park vs North Chicago

A side-by-side comparison of Highland Park and North Chicago: population, income, housing, and more.

Highland Park and North Chicago are places in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

North Chicago has the higher population (30,772 vs 30,229 in Highland Park). Highland Park has the higher median household income ($161,875 vs $56,815 in North Chicago). Highland Park has the higher median home value ($594,400 vs $147,800 in North Chicago).

Population, income & housing

	Highland Park	North Chicago
Population	30,229	30,772
Median age	46.0 yrs	23.6 yrs
Median household income	$161,875	$56,815
Median home value	$594,400	$147,800
Median gross rent	$1,903	$1,392
Housing units	12,372	8,085
Homeownership rate	83.7%	33.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	76.1%	19.1%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	8.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Highland Park	North Chicago
Population	29,628 → 30,229 (+2.0%)	29,971 → 30,772 (+2.7%)
Median household income	$150,269 → $161,875 (+7.7%)	$43,094 → $56,815 (+31.8%)
Median home value	$584,500 → $594,400 (+1.7%)	$108,100 → $147,800 (+36.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,754 → $1,903 (+8.5%)	$1,193 → $1,392 (+16.7%)

Highland Park

Population

29,62830,229

Median household income

$150,269$161,875

Median home value

$584,500$594,400

Median gross rent

$1,754$1,903

North Chicago

Population

29,97130,772

Median household income

$43,094$56,815

Median home value

$108,100$147,800

Median gross rent

$1,193$1,392

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Highland Park	North Chicago
Under 5	6.7%	5.5%
5 to 17	17.5%	12.5%
18 to 24	5.3%	37.0%
25 to 34	7.1%	18.8%
35 to 44	12.0%	8.4%
45 to 54	12.7%	5.5%
55 to 64	14.2%	5.5%
65 to 74	14.0%	4.5%
75 and over	10.6%	2.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Highland Park	North Chicago
White (non-Hispanic)	79.7%	28.5%
Black or African American	1.6%	23.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	2.9%	4.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.7%	0.7%
Two or more races	3.0%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	12.0%	38.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Highland Park	North Chicago
No high school diploma	2.9%	18.9%
High school graduate	7.7%	29.9%
Some college or associate's	13.3%	32.1%
Bachelor's degree	38.7%	13.1%
Graduate or professional degree	37.5%	6.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Highland Park	North Chicago
Drove alone	62.2%	45.3%
Carpooled	2.7%	9.7%
Public transit	6.3%	1.4%
Walked	2.4%	21.7%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	25.2%	20.0%
Other means	0.8%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Highland Park	North Chicago
1-unit, detached	74.6%	36.7%
1-unit, attached	4.8%	12.4%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	22.3%
5 to 19 units	5.3%	18.9%
20 or more units	11.6%	9.3%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Highland Park	North Chicago
Poverty rate	3.3%	21.9%
Average household size	2.54	2.66
Mean commute (minutes)	28	17
Median year structure built	1962	1972