Alton vs Edwardsville

A side-by-side comparison of Alton and Edwardsville: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Edwardsville has the higher population (26,543 vs 25,430 in Alton). Edwardsville has the higher median household income ($92,671 vs $53,005 in Alton). Edwardsville has the higher median home value ($286,700 vs $99,500 in Alton).

Population, income & housing

	Alton	Edwardsville
Population	25,430	26,543
Median age	38.4 yrs	32.3 yrs
Median household income	$53,005	$92,671
Median home value	$99,500	$286,700
Median gross rent	$948	$1,231
Housing units	12,513	10,353
Homeownership rate	57.1%	68.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.2%	54.3%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alton	Edwardsville
Population	26,640 → 25,430 (-4.5%)	25,171 → 26,543 (+5.5%)
Median household income	$40,211 → $53,005 (+31.8%)	$77,411 → $92,671 (+19.7%)
Median home value	$79,900 → $99,500 (+24.5%)	$228,300 → $286,700 (+25.6%)
Median gross rent	$773 → $948 (+22.6%)	$971 → $1,231 (+26.8%)

Alton

Population

26,64025,430

Median household income

$40,211$53,005

Median home value

$79,900$99,500

Median gross rent

$773$948

Edwardsville

Population

25,17126,543

Median household income

$77,411$92,671

Median home value

$228,300$286,700

Median gross rent

$971$1,231

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alton	Edwardsville
Under 5	5.9%	5.2%
5 to 17	17.3%	14.1%
18 to 24	7.6%	22.2%
25 to 34	14.5%	11.3%
35 to 44	13.3%	11.4%
45 to 54	12.7%	12.1%
55 to 64	11.5%	10.8%
65 to 74	10.9%	7.2%
75 and over	6.4%	5.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alton	Edwardsville
White (non-Hispanic)	65.7%	85.1%
Black or African American	24.0%	7.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.1%	2.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	0.1%
Two or more races	5.9%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	2.7%	3.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alton	Edwardsville
No high school diploma	9.2%	3.0%
High school graduate	31.1%	18.1%
Some college or associate's	38.6%	24.6%
Bachelor's degree	13.6%	30.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.6%	23.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alton	Edwardsville
Drove alone	76.1%	79.7%
Carpooled	9.9%	3.6%
Public transit	1.6%	0.6%
Walked	2.2%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	8.4%	14.3%
Other means	1.8%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alton	Edwardsville
1-unit, detached	75.1%	72.9%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	11.0%	6.9%
5 to 19 units	4.4%	13.4%
20 or more units	6.2%	4.3%
Mobile home & other	2.1%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Alton	Edwardsville
Poverty rate	24.5%	11.2%
Average household size	2.30	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	24	24
Median year structure built	1953	1984