Cook County vs Lake County

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

Cook County and Lake 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 711,885 in Lake County). Lake County has the higher median household income ($108,917 vs $81,797 in Cook County). Lake County has the higher median home value ($326,600 vs $305,200 in Cook County).

Population, income & housing

	Cook County	Lake County
Population	5,185,812	711,885
Median age	37.8 yrs	38.9 yrs
Median household income	$81,797	$108,917
Median home value	$305,200	$326,600
Median gross rent	$1,381	$1,434
Housing units	2,270,349	270,083
Homeownership rate	57.5%	74.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	41.9%	47.0%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	5.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cook County	Lake County
Population	5,198,275 → 5,185,812 (-0.2%)	701,473 → 711,885 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$64,660 → $81,797 (+26.5%)	$89,427 → $108,917 (+21.8%)
Median home value	$246,600 → $305,200 (+23.8%)	$265,100 → $326,600 (+23.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,123 → $1,381 (+23.0%)	$1,197 → $1,434 (+19.8%)

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

Lake County

Population

701,473711,885

Median household income

$89,427$108,917

Median home value

$265,100$326,600

Median gross rent

$1,197$1,434

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cook County	Lake County
Under 5	5.6%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.8%	18.2%
18 to 24	8.6%	10.2%
25 to 34	15.8%	11.3%
35 to 44	13.9%	12.8%
45 to 54	12.4%	13.3%
55 to 64	12.3%	13.5%
65 to 74	9.2%	9.3%
75 and over	6.3%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cook County	Lake County
White (non-Hispanic)	40.5%	57.1%
Black or African American	22.1%	6.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	7.7%	8.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.7%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	26.5%	24.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cook County	Lake County
No high school diploma	11.7%	9.4%
High school graduate	22.2%	19.7%
Some college or associate's	24.2%	24.0%
Bachelor's degree	24.4%	27.4%
Graduate or professional degree	17.6%	19.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cook County	Lake County
Drove alone	56.2%	68.0%
Carpooled	7.8%	8.4%
Public transit	13.0%	2.8%
Walked	3.9%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.1%
Worked from home	16.5%	17.3%
Other means	1.7%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cook County	Lake County
1-unit, detached	39.8%	66.4%
1-unit, attached	5.5%	10.4%
2 to 4 units	19.7%	5.8%
5 to 19 units	14.6%	8.1%
20 or more units	19.6%	7.7%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	1.7%

Poverty & households

	Cook County	Lake County
Poverty rate	13.3%	8.1%
Average household size	2.45	2.70
Mean commute (minutes)	32	29
Median year structure built	1961	1982