German Valley vs Willow Lake

A side-by-side comparison of German Valley and Willow Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

German Valley and Willow Lake are places in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Willow Lake has the higher population (838 vs 455 in German Valley). Willow Lake has the higher median household income ($93,750 vs $71,420 in German Valley). Willow Lake has the higher median home value ($154,100 vs $118,300 in German Valley).

Population, income & housing

	German Valley	Willow Lake
Population	455	838
Median age	34.4 yrs	56.6 yrs
Median household income	$71,420	$93,750
Median home value	$118,300	$154,100
Median gross rent	$775	—
Housing units	205	391
Homeownership rate	74.3%	94.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.1%	24.2%
Unemployment rate	1.7%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	German Valley	Willow Lake
Population	553 → 455 (-17.7%)	752 → 838 (+11.4%)
Median household income	$57,500 → $71,420 (+24.2%)	$63,889 → $93,750 (+46.7%)
Median home value	$89,100 → $118,300 (+32.8%)	$125,900 → $154,100 (+22.4%)
Median gross rent	$654 → $775 (+18.5%)	—

German Valley

Population

553455

Median household income

$57,500$71,420

Median home value

$89,100$118,300

Median gross rent

$654$775

Willow Lake

Population

752838

Median household income

$63,889$93,750

Median home value

$125,900$154,100

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	German Valley	Willow Lake
Under 5	10.8%	5.6%
5 to 17	19.3%	8.2%
18 to 24	6.4%	1.8%
25 to 34	14.1%	9.5%
35 to 44	13.4%	5.3%
45 to 54	11.2%	12.6%
55 to 64	9.9%	25.1%
65 to 74	8.6%	21.4%
75 and over	6.4%	10.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	German Valley	Willow Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	97.8%	84.2%
Black or African American	0.0%	13.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.7%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.7%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	0.4%	0.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	German Valley	Willow Lake
No high school diploma	5.9%	8.1%
High school graduate	33.6%	20.1%
Some college or associate's	30.4%	47.7%
Bachelor's degree	12.1%	19.0%
Graduate or professional degree	18.0%	5.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	German Valley	Willow Lake
Drove alone	90.4%	89.5%
Carpooled	1.3%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.8%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.6%	10.5%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	German Valley	Willow Lake
1-unit, detached	84.9%	100.0%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	3.9%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	8.3%	0.0%
20 or more units	1.5%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	German Valley	Willow Lake
Poverty rate	6.8%	6.7%
Average household size	2.49	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	29	20
Median year structure built	1970	1975