Cook County vs McHenry County

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

Cook County and McHenry 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 311,366 in McHenry County). McHenry County has the higher median household income ($102,836 vs $81,797 in Cook County). Cook County has the higher median home value ($305,200 vs $286,900 in McHenry County).

Population, income & housing

	Cook County	McHenry County
Population	5,185,812	311,366
Median age	37.8 yrs	40.4 yrs
Median household income	$81,797	$102,836
Median home value	$305,200	$286,900
Median gross rent	$1,381	$1,358
Housing units	2,270,349	120,605
Homeownership rate	57.5%	82.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	41.9%	35.2%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cook County	McHenry County
Population	5,198,275 → 5,185,812 (-0.2%)	307,714 → 311,366 (+1.2%)
Median household income	$64,660 → $81,797 (+26.5%)	$86,799 → $102,836 (+18.5%)
Median home value	$246,600 → $305,200 (+23.8%)	$224,500 → $286,900 (+27.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,123 → $1,381 (+23.0%)	$1,197 → $1,358 (+13.5%)

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

McHenry County

Population

307,714311,366

Median household income

$86,799$102,836

Median home value

$224,500$286,900

Median gross rent

$1,197$1,358

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cook County	McHenry County
Under 5	5.6%	5.3%
5 to 17	15.8%	17.7%
18 to 24	8.6%	8.1%
25 to 34	15.8%	11.5%
35 to 44	13.9%	13.1%
45 to 54	12.4%	13.7%
55 to 64	12.3%	14.6%
65 to 74	9.2%	9.9%
75 and over	6.3%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cook County	McHenry County
White (non-Hispanic)	40.5%	76.9%
Black or African American	22.1%	1.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	7.7%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.7%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	26.5%	15.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cook County	McHenry County
No high school diploma	11.7%	6.3%
High school graduate	22.2%	26.9%
Some college or associate's	24.2%	31.7%
Bachelor's degree	24.4%	23.3%
Graduate or professional degree	17.6%	11.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cook County	McHenry County
Drove alone	56.2%	74.9%
Carpooled	7.8%	7.1%
Public transit	13.0%	1.4%
Walked	3.9%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.1%
Worked from home	16.5%	14.7%
Other means	1.7%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cook County	McHenry County
1-unit, detached	39.8%	77.4%
1-unit, attached	5.5%	10.6%
2 to 4 units	19.7%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	14.6%	5.5%
20 or more units	19.6%	2.2%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Cook County	McHenry County
Poverty rate	13.3%	6.1%
Average household size	2.45	2.66
Mean commute (minutes)	32	31
Median year structure built	1961	1989