Cook County vs Kane County

A side-by-side comparison of Cook County and Kane County: population, income, housing, and more.

Cook County and Kane County are counties in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Cook County has the higher population (5,185,812 vs 516,097 in Kane County). Kane County has the higher median household income ($100,678 vs $81,797 in Cook County). Cook County has the higher median home value ($305,200 vs $303,000 in Kane County).

Population, income & housing

	Cook County	Kane County
Population	5,185,812	516,097
Median age	37.8 yrs	38.6 yrs
Median household income	$81,797	$100,678
Median home value	$305,200	$303,000
Median gross rent	$1,381	$1,404
Housing units	2,270,349	189,918
Homeownership rate	57.5%	75.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	41.9%	37.5%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cook County	Kane County
Population	5,198,275 → 5,185,812 (-0.2%)	531,376 → 516,097 (-2.9%)
Median household income	$64,660 → $81,797 (+26.5%)	$79,394 → $100,678 (+26.8%)
Median home value	$246,600 → $305,200 (+23.8%)	$238,300 → $303,000 (+27.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,123 → $1,381 (+23.0%)	$1,148 → $1,404 (+22.3%)

Cook County

Population

5,198,2755,185,812

Median household income

$64,660$81,797

Median home value

$246,600$305,200

Median gross rent

$1,123$1,381

Kane County

Population

531,376516,097

Median household income

$79,394$100,678

Median home value

$238,300$303,000

Median gross rent

$1,148$1,404

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cook County	Kane County
Under 5	5.6%	5.9%
5 to 17	15.8%	18.5%
18 to 24	8.6%	9.0%
25 to 34	15.8%	11.9%
35 to 44	13.9%	13.3%
45 to 54	12.4%	13.6%
55 to 64	12.3%	12.9%
65 to 74	9.2%	9.1%
75 and over	6.3%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cook County	Kane County
White (non-Hispanic)	40.5%	54.7%
Black or African American	22.1%	4.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	7.7%	3.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.7%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	26.5%	33.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cook County	Kane County
No high school diploma	11.7%	13.0%
High school graduate	22.2%	22.7%
Some college or associate's	24.2%	26.8%
Bachelor's degree	24.4%	24.1%
Graduate or professional degree	17.6%	13.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cook County	Kane County
Drove alone	56.2%	71.9%
Carpooled	7.8%	8.9%
Public transit	13.0%	1.7%
Walked	3.9%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.2%
Worked from home	16.5%	14.4%
Other means	1.7%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cook County	Kane County
1-unit, detached	39.8%	69.0%
1-unit, attached	5.5%	11.8%
2 to 4 units	19.7%	6.6%
5 to 19 units	14.6%	6.1%
20 or more units	19.6%	5.7%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Cook County	Kane County
Poverty rate	13.3%	8.3%
Average household size	2.45	2.79
Mean commute (minutes)	32	28
Median year structure built	1961	1984