East Chicago vs Highland

A side-by-side comparison of East Chicago and Highland: population, income, housing, and more.

East Chicago and Highland are places in Indiana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

East Chicago has the higher population (26,158 vs 23,749 in Highland). Highland has the higher median household income ($76,219 vs $41,071 in East Chicago). Highland has the higher median home value ($219,500 vs $92,400 in East Chicago).

Population, income & housing

	East Chicago	Highland
Population	26,158	23,749
Median age	36.5 yrs	44.5 yrs
Median household income	$41,071	$76,219
Median home value	$92,400	$219,500
Median gross rent	$820	$1,202
Housing units	12,429	10,791
Homeownership rate	44.1%	77.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	9.9%	30.1%
Unemployment rate	7.9%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	East Chicago	Highland
Population	28,201 → 26,158 (-7.2%)	22,581 → 23,749 (+5.2%)
Median household income	$32,839 → $41,071 (+25.1%)	$67,281 → $76,219 (+13.3%)
Median home value	$74,500 → $92,400 (+24.0%)	$161,100 → $219,500 (+36.3%)
Median gross rent	$686 → $820 (+19.5%)	$1,106 → $1,202 (+8.7%)

East Chicago

Population

28,20126,158

Median household income

$32,839$41,071

Median home value

$74,500$92,400

Median gross rent

$686$820

Highland

Population

22,58123,749

Median household income

$67,281$76,219

Median home value

$161,100$219,500

Median gross rent

$1,106$1,202

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	East Chicago	Highland
Under 5	6.1%	6.1%
5 to 17	19.7%	12.7%
18 to 24	9.2%	6.9%
25 to 34	12.4%	13.1%
35 to 44	13.7%	11.9%
45 to 54	12.9%	13.4%
55 to 64	11.1%	15.1%
65 to 74	8.6%	11.4%
75 and over	6.2%	9.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	East Chicago	Highland
White (non-Hispanic)	6.6%	67.1%
Black or African American	36.4%	9.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.1%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	0.3%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	56.5%	18.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	East Chicago	Highland
No high school diploma	26.3%	6.8%
High school graduate	39.7%	29.8%
Some college or associate's	24.1%	33.3%
Bachelor's degree	6.5%	19.5%
Graduate or professional degree	3.4%	10.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	East Chicago	Highland
Drove alone	75.7%	83.7%
Carpooled	16.3%	4.2%
Public transit	0.8%	2.5%
Walked	2.2%	0.2%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.2%
Worked from home	3.9%	6.9%
Other means	0.5%	2.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	East Chicago	Highland
1-unit, detached	42.8%	70.2%
1-unit, attached	7.4%	5.7%
2 to 4 units	26.4%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	16.3%	14.2%
20 or more units	6.9%	5.6%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	East Chicago	Highland
Poverty rate	27.0%	9.7%
Average household size	2.61	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	22	26
Median year structure built	1942	1966