Kane County vs McHenry County

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

Kane 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.

Kane County has the higher population (516,097 vs 311,366 in McHenry County). McHenry County has the higher median household income ($102,836 vs $100,678 in Kane County). Kane County has the higher median home value ($303,000 vs $286,900 in McHenry County).

Population, income & housing

	Kane County	McHenry County
Population	516,097	311,366
Median age	38.6 yrs	40.4 yrs
Median household income	$100,678	$102,836
Median home value	$303,000	$286,900
Median gross rent	$1,404	$1,358
Housing units	189,918	120,605
Homeownership rate	75.7%	82.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.5%	35.2%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kane County	McHenry County
Population	531,376 → 516,097 (-2.9%)	307,714 → 311,366 (+1.2%)
Median household income	$79,394 → $100,678 (+26.8%)	$86,799 → $102,836 (+18.5%)
Median home value	$238,300 → $303,000 (+27.2%)	$224,500 → $286,900 (+27.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,148 → $1,404 (+22.3%)	$1,197 → $1,358 (+13.5%)

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

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)

	Kane County	McHenry County
Under 5	5.9%	5.3%
5 to 17	18.5%	17.7%
18 to 24	9.0%	8.1%
25 to 34	11.9%	11.5%
35 to 44	13.3%	13.1%
45 to 54	13.6%	13.7%
55 to 64	12.9%	14.6%
65 to 74	9.1%	9.9%
75 and over	5.9%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kane County	McHenry County
White (non-Hispanic)	54.7%	76.9%
Black or African American	4.9%	1.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	3.9%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	33.1%	15.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kane County	McHenry County
No high school diploma	13.0%	6.3%
High school graduate	22.7%	26.9%
Some college or associate's	26.8%	31.7%
Bachelor's degree	24.1%	23.3%
Graduate or professional degree	13.4%	11.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kane County	McHenry County
Drove alone	71.9%	74.9%
Carpooled	8.9%	7.1%
Public transit	1.7%	1.4%
Walked	1.3%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	14.4%	14.7%
Other means	1.6%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kane County	McHenry County
1-unit, detached	69.0%	77.4%
1-unit, attached	11.8%	10.6%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	6.1%	5.5%
20 or more units	5.7%	2.2%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Kane County	McHenry County
Poverty rate	8.3%	6.1%
Average household size	2.79	2.66
Mean commute (minutes)	28	31
Median year structure built	1984	1989