East Chicago vs Munster

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

East Chicago and Munster 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 23,733 in Munster). Munster has the higher median household income ($105,764 vs $41,071 in East Chicago). Munster has the higher median home value ($312,000 vs $92,400 in East Chicago).

Population, income & housing

	East Chicago	Munster
Population	26,158	23,733
Median age	36.5 yrs	45.3 yrs
Median household income	$41,071	$105,764
Median home value	$92,400	$312,000
Median gross rent	$820	$1,480
Housing units	12,429	9,786
Homeownership rate	44.1%	86.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	9.9%	48.1%
Unemployment rate	7.9%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	East Chicago	Munster
Population	28,201 → 26,158 (-7.2%)	22,689 → 23,733 (+4.6%)
Median household income	$32,839 → $41,071 (+25.1%)	$84,254 → $105,764 (+25.5%)
Median home value	$74,500 → $92,400 (+24.0%)	$228,400 → $312,000 (+36.6%)
Median gross rent	$686 → $820 (+19.5%)	$1,149 → $1,480 (+28.8%)

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

Munster

Population

22,68923,733

Median household income

$84,254$105,764

Median home value

$228,400$312,000

Median gross rent

$1,149$1,480

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	East Chicago	Munster
Under 5	6.1%	4.2%
5 to 17	19.7%	15.5%
18 to 24	9.2%	8.2%
25 to 34	12.4%	8.7%
35 to 44	13.7%	13.0%
45 to 54	12.9%	14.7%
55 to 64	11.1%	15.0%
65 to 74	8.6%	10.1%
75 and over	6.2%	10.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	East Chicago	Munster
White (non-Hispanic)	6.6%	70.9%
Black or African American	36.4%	6.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	0.1%	6.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	0.3%	1.3%
Hispanic or Latino	56.5%	14.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	East Chicago	Munster
No high school diploma	26.3%	3.5%
High school graduate	39.7%	23.3%
Some college or associate's	24.1%	25.1%
Bachelor's degree	6.5%	30.7%
Graduate or professional degree	3.4%	17.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	East Chicago	Munster
Drove alone	75.7%	77.5%
Carpooled	16.3%	5.9%
Public transit	0.8%	2.7%
Walked	2.2%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.1%
Worked from home	3.9%	11.6%
Other means	0.5%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	East Chicago	Munster
1-unit, detached	42.8%	74.8%
1-unit, attached	7.4%	6.8%
2 to 4 units	26.4%	4.4%
5 to 19 units	16.3%	9.9%
20 or more units	6.9%	3.9%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	East Chicago	Munster
Poverty rate	27.0%	7.3%
Average household size	2.61	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	22	28
Median year structure built	1942	1972