Bloomington vs Normal

A side-by-side comparison of Bloomington and Normal: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Bloomington has the higher population (78,703 vs 52,908 in Normal). Bloomington has the higher median household income ($75,449 vs $66,350 in Normal). Normal has the higher median home value ($199,900 vs $198,800 in Bloomington).

Population, income & housing

	Bloomington	Normal
Population	78,703	52,908
Median age	36.0 yrs	25.2 yrs
Median household income	$75,449	$66,350
Median home value	$198,800	$199,900
Median gross rent	$1,004	$974
Housing units	37,013	21,879
Homeownership rate	61.6%	55.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.9%	52.5%
Unemployment rate	2.6%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bloomington	Normal
Population	78,015 → 78,703 (+0.9%)	54,891 → 52,908 (-3.6%)
Median household income	$67,507 → $75,449 (+11.8%)	$58,111 → $66,350 (+14.2%)
Median home value	$168,300 → $198,800 (+18.1%)	$170,200 → $199,900 (+17.5%)
Median gross rent	$836 → $1,004 (+20.1%)	$875 → $974 (+11.3%)

Bloomington

Population

78,01578,703

Median household income

$67,507$75,449

Median home value

$168,300$198,800

Median gross rent

$836$1,004

Normal

Population

54,89152,908

Median household income

$58,111$66,350

Median home value

$170,200$199,900

Median gross rent

$875$974

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bloomington	Normal
Under 5	6.2%	4.4%
5 to 17	16.8%	12.4%
18 to 24	10.7%	32.9%
25 to 34	15.0%	11.2%
35 to 44	13.6%	10.2%
45 to 54	12.2%	8.7%
55 to 64	11.3%	8.3%
65 to 74	9.0%	6.7%
75 and over	5.2%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bloomington	Normal
White (non-Hispanic)	70.6%	75.4%
Black or African American	9.7%	11.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	7.8%	3.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.2%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	7.3%	7.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bloomington	Normal
No high school diploma	5.3%	2.5%
High school graduate	20.0%	19.7%
Some college or associate's	25.7%	25.3%
Bachelor's degree	32.5%	34.0%
Graduate or professional degree	16.5%	18.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bloomington	Normal
Drove alone	69.4%	70.8%
Carpooled	7.5%	6.1%
Public transit	0.8%	1.4%
Walked	2.6%	8.7%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.5%
Worked from home	18.4%	12.4%
Other means	1.0%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bloomington	Normal
1-unit, detached	55.5%	46.9%
1-unit, attached	5.1%	6.9%
2 to 4 units	8.8%	7.1%
5 to 19 units	18.1%	23.2%
20 or more units	7.6%	13.3%
Mobile home & other	4.8%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Bloomington	Normal
Poverty rate	11.2%	21.5%
Average household size	2.24	2.34
Mean commute (minutes)	17	17
Median year structure built	1982	1989