East Chicago vs Merrillville

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

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

Merrillville has the higher population (36,343 vs 26,158 in East Chicago). Merrillville has the higher median household income ($64,791 vs $41,071 in East Chicago). Merrillville has the higher median home value ($194,000 vs $92,400 in East Chicago).

Population, income & housing

	East Chicago	Merrillville
Population	26,158	36,343
Median age	36.5 yrs	41.3 yrs
Median household income	$41,071	$64,791
Median home value	$92,400	$194,000
Median gross rent	$820	$1,304
Housing units	12,429	16,255
Homeownership rate	44.1%	68.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	9.9%	25.2%
Unemployment rate	7.9%	6.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	East Chicago	Merrillville
Population	28,201 → 26,158 (-7.2%)	34,889 → 36,343 (+4.2%)
Median household income	$32,839 → $41,071 (+25.1%)	$60,803 → $64,791 (+6.6%)
Median home value	$74,500 → $92,400 (+24.0%)	$136,100 → $194,000 (+42.5%)
Median gross rent	$686 → $820 (+19.5%)	$1,082 → $1,304 (+20.5%)

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

Merrillville

Population

34,88936,343

Median household income

$60,803$64,791

Median home value

$136,100$194,000

Median gross rent

$1,082$1,304

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	East Chicago	Merrillville
Under 5	6.1%	4.5%
5 to 17	19.7%	16.9%
18 to 24	9.2%	9.5%
25 to 34	12.4%	11.4%
35 to 44	13.7%	12.0%
45 to 54	12.9%	11.9%
55 to 64	11.1%	13.2%
65 to 74	8.6%	12.8%
75 and over	6.2%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	East Chicago	Merrillville
White (non-Hispanic)	6.6%	34.3%
Black or African American	36.4%	44.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.9%
Two or more races	0.3%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	56.5%	15.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	East Chicago	Merrillville
No high school diploma	26.3%	7.8%
High school graduate	39.7%	36.1%
Some college or associate's	24.1%	30.9%
Bachelor's degree	6.5%	15.8%
Graduate or professional degree	3.4%	9.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	East Chicago	Merrillville
Drove alone	75.7%	80.4%
Carpooled	16.3%	6.0%
Public transit	0.8%	1.4%
Walked	2.2%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.9%	8.3%
Other means	0.5%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	East Chicago	Merrillville
1-unit, detached	42.8%	61.5%
1-unit, attached	7.4%	8.2%
2 to 4 units	26.4%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	16.3%	14.5%
20 or more units	6.9%	10.5%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	East Chicago	Merrillville
Poverty rate	27.0%	13.7%
Average household size	2.61	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	22	32
Median year structure built	1942	1978