Cary vs McHenry

A side-by-side comparison of Cary and McHenry: population, income, housing, and more.

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

McHenry has the higher population (27,774 vs 17,875 in Cary). Cary has the higher median household income ($109,790 vs $86,865 in McHenry). Cary has the higher median home value ($287,000 vs $244,900 in McHenry).

Population, income & housing

	Cary	McHenry
Population	17,875	27,774
Median age	38.6 yrs	43.5 yrs
Median household income	$109,790	$86,865
Median home value	$287,000	$244,900
Median gross rent	$1,456	$1,508
Housing units	6,506	11,671
Homeownership rate	85.7%	73.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	45.5%	25.5%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cary	McHenry
Population	17,936 → 17,875 (-0.3%)	26,813 → 27,774 (+3.6%)
Median household income	$100,339 → $109,790 (+9.4%)	$75,811 → $86,865 (+14.6%)
Median home value	$232,500 → $287,000 (+23.4%)	$181,300 → $244,900 (+35.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,196 → $1,456 (+21.7%)	$1,221 → $1,508 (+23.5%)

Cary

Population

17,93617,875

Median household income

$100,339$109,790

Median home value

$232,500$287,000

Median gross rent

$1,196$1,456

McHenry

Population

26,81327,774

Median household income

$75,811$86,865

Median home value

$181,300$244,900

Median gross rent

$1,221$1,508

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cary	McHenry
Under 5	6.6%	4.5%
5 to 17	17.6%	15.1%
18 to 24	8.7%	6.9%
25 to 34	11.0%	12.7%
35 to 44	15.5%	12.9%
45 to 54	12.1%	13.0%
55 to 64	15.7%	15.5%
65 to 74	8.9%	10.8%
75 and over	4.0%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cary	McHenry
White (non-Hispanic)	80.2%	77.7%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.1%	1.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.7%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	13.7%	17.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cary	McHenry
No high school diploma	3.2%	9.2%
High school graduate	20.5%	32.2%
Some college or associate's	30.9%	33.1%
Bachelor's degree	28.7%	18.6%
Graduate or professional degree	16.8%	6.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cary	McHenry
Drove alone	75.8%	76.7%
Carpooled	3.9%	7.1%
Public transit	1.9%	1.5%
Walked	0.4%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	17.7%	12.4%
Other means	0.3%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cary	McHenry
1-unit, detached	77.9%	67.5%
1-unit, attached	16.1%	11.4%
2 to 4 units	0.9%	8.3%
5 to 19 units	3.1%	7.6%
20 or more units	2.1%	4.7%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Cary	McHenry
Poverty rate	4.6%	4.0%
Average household size	2.81	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	29	31
Median year structure built	1985	1988