Colchester vs Prairie City

A side-by-side comparison of Colchester and Prairie City: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Colchester has the higher population (1,057 vs 386 in Prairie City). Colchester has the higher median household income ($62,500 vs $36,250 in Prairie City). Colchester has the higher median home value ($86,500 vs $80,400 in Prairie City).

Population, income & housing

	Colchester	Prairie City
Population	1,057	386
Median age	40.6 yrs	43.9 yrs
Median household income	$62,500	$36,250
Median home value	$86,500	$80,400
Median gross rent	$808	—
Housing units	575	166
Homeownership rate	73.6%	85.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.7%	11.9%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	7.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Colchester	Prairie City
Population	1,553 → 1,057 (-31.9%)	389 → 386 (-0.8%)
Median household income	$43,164 → $62,500 (+44.8%)	$26,071 → $36,250 (+39.0%)
Median home value	$67,200 → $86,500 (+28.7%)	$60,400 → $80,400 (+33.1%)
Median gross rent	$663 → $808 (+21.9%)	$613 → $933 (+52.2%)

Colchester

Population

1,5531,057

Median household income

$43,164$62,500

Median home value

$67,200$86,500

Median gross rent

$663$808

Prairie City

Population

389386

Median household income

$26,071$36,250

Median home value

$60,400$80,400

Median gross rent

$613$933

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Colchester	Prairie City
Under 5	0.9%	8.0%
5 to 17	20.2%	18.4%
18 to 24	4.2%	8.0%
25 to 34	7.7%	5.4%
35 to 44	22.3%	12.2%
45 to 54	12.1%	12.7%
55 to 64	13.2%	13.5%
65 to 74	13.2%	16.6%
75 and over	6.2%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Colchester	Prairie City
White (non-Hispanic)	95.8%	77.7%
Black or African American	0.0%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	1.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	1.6%
Two or more races	1.1%	10.9%
Hispanic or Latino	3.0%	6.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Colchester	Prairie City
No high school diploma	8.2%	10.7%
High school graduate	40.2%	33.6%
Some college or associate's	32.9%	43.9%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	6.3%
Graduate or professional degree	4.9%	5.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Colchester	Prairie City
Drove alone	84.8%	94.4%
Carpooled	8.6%	4.2%
Public transit	1.6%	0.0%
Walked	0.3%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.6%	1.4%
Other means	1.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Colchester	Prairie City
1-unit, detached	90.4%	86.1%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.3%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	6.1%	13.9%

Poverty & households

	Colchester	Prairie City
Poverty rate	9.7%	14.3%
Average household size	2.11	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	16	24
Median year structure built	1959	1952