East Alton vs Pontoon Beach

A side-by-side comparison of East Alton and Pontoon Beach: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Pontoon Beach has the higher population (6,131 vs 5,729 in East Alton). Pontoon Beach has the higher median household income ($59,375 vs $46,926 in East Alton). Pontoon Beach has the higher median home value ($137,900 vs $99,600 in East Alton).

Population, income & housing

	East Alton	Pontoon Beach
Population	5,729	6,131
Median age	45.2 yrs	33.9 yrs
Median household income	$46,926	$59,375
Median home value	$99,600	$137,900
Median gross rent	$819	$1,117
Housing units	3,159	2,539
Homeownership rate	62.5%	67.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.9%	16.2%
Unemployment rate	3.5%	7.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	East Alton	Pontoon Beach
Population	6,061 → 5,729 (-5.5%)	5,793 → 6,131 (+5.8%)
Median household income	$44,830 → $46,926 (+4.7%)	$53,341 → $59,375 (+11.3%)
Median home value	$81,100 → $99,600 (+22.8%)	$95,200 → $137,900 (+44.9%)
Median gross rent	$766 → $819 (+6.9%)	$849 → $1,117 (+31.6%)

East Alton

Population

6,0615,729

Median household income

$44,830$46,926

Median home value

$81,100$99,600

Median gross rent

$766$819

Pontoon Beach

Population

5,7936,131

Median household income

$53,341$59,375

Median home value

$95,200$137,900

Median gross rent

$849$1,117

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	East Alton	Pontoon Beach
Under 5	6.6%	8.1%
5 to 17	12.6%	19.6%
18 to 24	5.9%	8.8%
25 to 34	17.5%	14.2%
35 to 44	6.8%	15.9%
45 to 54	17.2%	9.1%
55 to 64	16.1%	11.0%
65 to 74	10.2%	9.5%
75 and over	7.2%	3.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	East Alton	Pontoon Beach
White (non-Hispanic)	89.5%	64.6%
Black or African American	1.6%	8.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	3.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	1.6%
Two or more races	6.2%	4.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.6%	16.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	East Alton	Pontoon Beach
No high school diploma	12.4%	10.5%
High school graduate	37.9%	38.4%
Some college or associate's	33.8%	34.9%
Bachelor's degree	9.5%	10.8%
Graduate or professional degree	6.3%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	East Alton	Pontoon Beach
Drove alone	75.2%	78.2%
Carpooled	11.1%	13.1%
Public transit	0.0%	2.5%
Walked	2.7%	0.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.1%	5.8%
Other means	0.9%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	East Alton	Pontoon Beach
1-unit, detached	84.9%	57.7%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	7.9%	10.8%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	7.1%
20 or more units	5.3%	0.7%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	23.2%

Poverty & households

	East Alton	Pontoon Beach
Poverty rate	14.5%	14.9%
Average household size	2.09	2.58
Mean commute (minutes)	22	22
Median year structure built	1955	1991