Kane County vs Lake County

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

Kane 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.

Lake County has the higher population (711,885 vs 516,097 in Kane County). Lake County has the higher median household income ($108,917 vs $100,678 in Kane County). Lake County has the higher median home value ($326,600 vs $303,000 in Kane County).

Population, income & housing

	Kane County	Lake County
Population	516,097	711,885
Median age	38.6 yrs	38.9 yrs
Median household income	$100,678	$108,917
Median home value	$303,000	$326,600
Median gross rent	$1,404	$1,434
Housing units	189,918	270,083
Homeownership rate	75.7%	74.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.5%	47.0%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	5.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kane County	Lake County
Population	531,376 → 516,097 (-2.9%)	701,473 → 711,885 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$79,394 → $100,678 (+26.8%)	$89,427 → $108,917 (+21.8%)
Median home value	$238,300 → $303,000 (+27.2%)	$265,100 → $326,600 (+23.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,148 → $1,404 (+22.3%)	$1,197 → $1,434 (+19.8%)

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

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)

	Kane County	Lake County
Under 5	5.9%	5.4%
5 to 17	18.5%	18.2%
18 to 24	9.0%	10.2%
25 to 34	11.9%	11.3%
35 to 44	13.3%	12.8%
45 to 54	13.6%	13.3%
55 to 64	12.9%	13.5%
65 to 74	9.1%	9.3%
75 and over	5.9%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kane County	Lake County
White (non-Hispanic)	54.7%	57.1%
Black or African American	4.9%	6.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.9%	8.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.9%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	33.1%	24.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kane County	Lake County
No high school diploma	13.0%	9.4%
High school graduate	22.7%	19.7%
Some college or associate's	26.8%	24.0%
Bachelor's degree	24.1%	27.4%
Graduate or professional degree	13.4%	19.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kane County	Lake County
Drove alone	71.9%	68.0%
Carpooled	8.9%	8.4%
Public transit	1.7%	2.8%
Walked	1.3%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	14.4%	17.3%
Other means	1.6%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kane County	Lake County
1-unit, detached	69.0%	66.4%
1-unit, attached	11.8%	10.4%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	5.8%
5 to 19 units	6.1%	8.1%
20 or more units	5.7%	7.7%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	1.7%

Poverty & households

	Kane County	Lake County
Poverty rate	8.3%	8.1%
Average household size	2.79	2.70
Mean commute (minutes)	28	29
Median year structure built	1984	1982