Downingtown vs West Chester

A side-by-side comparison of Downingtown and West Chester: population, income, housing, and more.

Downingtown and West Chester are places in Pennsylvania. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

West Chester has the higher population (19,235 vs 8,163 in Downingtown). Downingtown has the higher median household income ($82,292 vs $81,492 in West Chester). West Chester has the higher median home value ($481,300 vs $322,500 in Downingtown).

Population, income & housing

	Downingtown	West Chester
Population	8,163	19,235
Median age	38.7 yrs	24.8 yrs
Median household income	$82,292	$81,492
Median home value	$322,500	$481,300
Median gross rent	$1,528	$1,661
Housing units	3,658	7,371
Homeownership rate	50.9%	34.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.4%	60.1%
Unemployment rate	2.4%	7.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Downingtown	West Chester
Population	7,926 → 8,163 (+3.0%)	20,034 → 19,235 (-4.0%)
Median household income	$66,345 → $82,292 (+24.0%)	$61,837 → $81,492 (+31.8%)
Median home value	$242,700 → $322,500 (+32.9%)	$378,400 → $481,300 (+27.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,194 → $1,528 (+28.0%)	$1,293 → $1,661 (+28.5%)

Downingtown

Population

7,9268,163

Median household income

$66,345$82,292

Median home value

$242,700$322,500

Median gross rent

$1,194$1,528

West Chester

Population

20,03419,235

Median household income

$61,837$81,492

Median home value

$378,400$481,300

Median gross rent

$1,293$1,661

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Downingtown	West Chester
Under 5	6.5%	2.4%
5 to 17	12.9%	7.2%
18 to 24	5.6%	41.2%
25 to 34	20.2%	17.4%
35 to 44	16.9%	8.5%
45 to 54	9.4%	7.8%
55 to 64	14.1%	6.0%
65 to 74	9.8%	5.7%
75 and over	4.7%	3.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Downingtown	West Chester
White (non-Hispanic)	71.3%	71.4%
Black or African American	10.9%	12.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	9.2%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.8%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	4.7%	10.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Downingtown	West Chester
No high school diploma	3.2%	6.0%
High school graduate	26.5%	20.0%
Some college or associate's	24.0%	13.9%
Bachelor's degree	33.3%	38.2%
Graduate or professional degree	13.1%	21.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Downingtown	West Chester
Drove alone	70.2%	63.6%
Carpooled	11.5%	5.7%
Public transit	0.9%	1.5%
Walked	1.1%	13.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	15.2%	14.9%
Other means	1.1%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Downingtown	West Chester
1-unit, detached	21.0%	16.7%
1-unit, attached	36.6%	32.4%
2 to 4 units	9.7%	16.7%
5 to 19 units	23.5%	14.9%
20 or more units	9.2%	19.1%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Downingtown	West Chester
Poverty rate	7.1%	18.3%
Average household size	2.27	2.07
Mean commute (minutes)	24	22
Median year structure built	1964	1958