Chesterton vs Valparaiso

A side-by-side comparison of Chesterton and Valparaiso: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Valparaiso has the higher population (34,377 vs 14,326 in Chesterton). Chesterton has the higher median household income ($88,536 vs $67,664 in Valparaiso). Chesterton has the higher median home value ($280,400 vs $250,500 in Valparaiso).

Population, income & housing

	Chesterton	Valparaiso
Population	14,326	34,377
Median age	37.6 yrs	37.0 yrs
Median household income	$88,536	$67,664
Median home value	$280,400	$250,500
Median gross rent	$1,145	$1,142
Housing units	6,025	15,238
Homeownership rate	71.8%	58.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	40.2%	40.6%
Unemployment rate	7.8%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chesterton	Valparaiso
Population	14,119 → 14,326 (+1.5%)	33,355 → 34,377 (+3.1%)
Median household income	$73,977 → $88,536 (+19.7%)	$59,533 → $67,664 (+13.7%)
Median home value	$190,400 → $280,400 (+47.3%)	$185,800 → $250,500 (+34.8%)
Median gross rent	$933 → $1,145 (+22.7%)	$925 → $1,142 (+23.5%)

Chesterton

Population

14,11914,326

Median household income

$73,977$88,536

Median home value

$190,400$280,400

Median gross rent

$933$1,145

Valparaiso

Population

33,35534,377

Median household income

$59,533$67,664

Median home value

$185,800$250,500

Median gross rent

$925$1,142

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chesterton	Valparaiso
Under 5	7.8%	4.7%
5 to 17	18.0%	14.5%
18 to 24	5.3%	14.8%
25 to 34	13.7%	12.2%
35 to 44	18.3%	13.8%
45 to 54	11.1%	11.4%
55 to 64	9.3%	11.7%
65 to 74	8.1%	8.9%
75 and over	8.5%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chesterton	Valparaiso
White (non-Hispanic)	84.6%	80.4%
Black or African American	1.5%	3.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	1.6%	3.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.2%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	8.0%	9.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chesterton	Valparaiso
No high school diploma	3.5%	6.2%
High school graduate	31.3%	26.6%
Some college or associate's	25.0%	26.5%
Bachelor's degree	27.9%	25.1%
Graduate or professional degree	12.2%	15.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chesterton	Valparaiso
Drove alone	70.5%	74.6%
Carpooled	5.4%	10.7%
Public transit	1.8%	0.7%
Walked	0.7%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.6%
Worked from home	20.3%	9.3%
Other means	0.5%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chesterton	Valparaiso
1-unit, detached	65.5%	55.4%
1-unit, attached	9.1%	6.4%
2 to 4 units	10.0%	10.9%
5 to 19 units	10.1%	20.7%
20 or more units	3.7%	5.2%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	1.4%

Poverty & households

	Chesterton	Valparaiso
Poverty rate	10.8%	14.0%
Average household size	2.45	2.20
Mean commute (minutes)	27	23
Median year structure built	1980	1979