East Chicago vs St. John

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

East Chicago and St. John 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 21,639 in St. John). St. John has the higher median household income ($127,449 vs $41,071 in East Chicago). St. John has the higher median home value ($370,800 vs $92,400 in East Chicago).

Population, income & housing

	East Chicago	St. John
Population	26,158	21,639
Median age	36.5 yrs	41.4 yrs
Median household income	$41,071	$127,449
Median home value	$92,400	$370,800
Median gross rent	$820	$971
Housing units	12,429	7,614
Homeownership rate	44.1%	98.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	9.9%	42.9%
Unemployment rate	7.9%	3.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	East Chicago	St. John
Population	28,201 → 26,158 (-7.2%)	17,426 → 21,639 (+24.2%)
Median household income	$32,839 → $41,071 (+25.1%)	$105,852 → $127,449 (+20.4%)
Median home value	$74,500 → $92,400 (+24.0%)	$290,200 → $370,800 (+27.8%)
Median gross rent	$686 → $820 (+19.5%)	$908 → $971 (+6.9%)

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

St. John

Population

17,42621,639

Median household income

$105,852$127,449

Median home value

$290,200$370,800

Median gross rent

$908$971

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	East Chicago	St. John
Under 5	6.1%	5.2%
5 to 17	19.7%	19.7%
18 to 24	9.2%	8.1%
25 to 34	12.4%	8.0%
35 to 44	13.7%	13.0%
45 to 54	12.9%	15.2%
55 to 64	11.1%	12.3%
65 to 74	8.6%	11.9%
75 and over	6.2%	6.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	East Chicago	St. John
White (non-Hispanic)	6.6%	80.5%
Black or African American	36.4%	2.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.1%	2.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	2.1%
Two or more races	0.3%	1.4%
Hispanic or Latino	56.5%	10.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	East Chicago	St. John
No high school diploma	26.3%	5.3%
High school graduate	39.7%	22.6%
Some college or associate's	24.1%	29.2%
Bachelor's degree	6.5%	28.9%
Graduate or professional degree	3.4%	14.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	East Chicago	St. John
Drove alone	75.7%	80.5%
Carpooled	16.3%	4.4%
Public transit	0.8%	1.8%
Walked	2.2%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.9%	11.4%
Other means	0.5%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	East Chicago	St. John
1-unit, detached	42.8%	84.7%
1-unit, attached	7.4%	12.7%
2 to 4 units	26.4%	1.7%
5 to 19 units	16.3%	0.0%
20 or more units	6.9%	0.6%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	East Chicago	St. John
Poverty rate	27.0%	2.3%
Average household size	2.61	2.87
Mean commute (minutes)	22	32
Median year structure built	1942	2002