Decatur vs Forsyth

A side-by-side comparison of Decatur and Forsyth: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Decatur has the higher population (70,368 vs 3,656 in Forsyth). Forsyth has the higher median household income ($113,456 vs $50,809 in Decatur). Forsyth has the higher median home value ($289,800 vs $97,300 in Decatur).

Population, income & housing

	Decatur	Forsyth
Population	70,368	3,656
Median age	39.9 yrs	41.9 yrs
Median household income	$50,809	$113,456
Median home value	$97,300	$289,800
Median gross rent	$796	$1,207
Housing units	36,121	1,346
Homeownership rate	62.3%	92.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.3%	58.7%
Unemployment rate	8.9%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Decatur	Forsyth
Population	72,359 → 70,368 (-2.8%)	2,989 → 3,656 (+22.3%)
Median household income	$42,701 → $50,809 (+19.0%)	$91,275 → $113,456 (+24.3%)
Median home value	$83,000 → $97,300 (+17.2%)	$222,200 → $289,800 (+30.4%)
Median gross rent	$683 → $796 (+16.5%)	$1,563 → $1,207 (-22.8%)

Decatur

Population

72,35970,368

Median household income

$42,701$50,809

Median home value

$83,000$97,300

Median gross rent

$683$796

Forsyth

Population

2,9893,656

Median household income

$91,275$113,456

Median home value

$222,200$289,800

Median gross rent

$1,563$1,207

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Decatur	Forsyth
Under 5	6.1%	6.6%
5 to 17	14.7%	21.1%
18 to 24	10.1%	4.7%
25 to 34	13.3%	7.5%
35 to 44	10.8%	14.2%
45 to 54	10.7%	13.8%
55 to 64	13.5%	10.9%
65 to 74	11.6%	12.1%
75 and over	9.2%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Decatur	Forsyth
White (non-Hispanic)	65.7%	86.5%
Black or African American	23.9%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.4%	4.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.0%
Two or more races	5.4%	6.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.2%	2.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Decatur	Forsyth
No high school diploma	8.2%	2.6%
High school graduate	40.2%	14.7%
Some college or associate's	30.3%	24.0%
Bachelor's degree	13.9%	36.2%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	22.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Decatur	Forsyth
Drove alone	80.2%	84.7%
Carpooled	7.4%	7.6%
Public transit	1.3%	0.0%
Walked	2.3%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.5%	6.6%
Other means	1.2%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Decatur	Forsyth
1-unit, detached	73.4%	92.6%
1-unit, attached	2.0%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	4.4%	1.5%
5 to 19 units	9.3%	2.5%
20 or more units	8.3%	2.7%
Mobile home & other	2.6%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Decatur	Forsyth
Poverty rate	19.1%	10.7%
Average household size	2.18	2.69
Mean commute (minutes)	17	17
Median year structure built	1960	1996