Kankakee County vs Kendall County

A side-by-side comparison of Kankakee County and Kendall County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Kendall County has the higher population (135,053 vs 106,833 in Kankakee County). Kendall County has the higher median household income ($110,474 vs $68,325 in Kankakee County). Kendall County has the higher median home value ($298,900 vs $185,700 in Kankakee County).

Population, income & housing

	Kankakee County	Kendall County
Population	106,833	135,053
Median age	39.0 yrs	36.0 yrs
Median household income	$68,325	$110,474
Median home value	$185,700	$298,900
Median gross rent	$1,075	$1,763
Housing units	45,396	45,775
Homeownership rate	68.8%	84.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.4%	36.4%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kankakee County	Kendall County
Population	110,637 → 106,833 (-3.4%)	126,054 → 135,053 (+7.1%)
Median household income	$58,902 → $68,325 (+16.0%)	$96,563 → $110,474 (+14.4%)
Median home value	$147,900 → $185,700 (+25.6%)	$235,600 → $298,900 (+26.9%)
Median gross rent	$887 → $1,075 (+21.2%)	$1,414 → $1,763 (+24.7%)

Kankakee County

Population

110,637106,833

Median household income

$58,902$68,325

Median home value

$147,900$185,700

Median gross rent

$887$1,075

Kendall County

Population

126,054135,053

Median household income

$96,563$110,474

Median home value

$235,600$298,900

Median gross rent

$1,414$1,763

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kankakee County	Kendall County
Under 5	5.8%	6.2%
5 to 17	17.2%	21.3%
18 to 24	9.8%	8.3%
25 to 34	12.5%	12.5%
35 to 44	12.0%	16.1%
45 to 54	12.1%	14.3%
55 to 64	13.1%	10.2%
65 to 74	10.3%	6.9%
75 and over	7.2%	4.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kankakee County	Kendall County
White (non-Hispanic)	68.9%	63.4%
Black or African American	14.6%	8.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.0%	3.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.1%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	12.1%	21.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kankakee County	Kendall County
No high school diploma	9.0%	6.4%
High school graduate	35.8%	23.5%
Some college or associate's	34.8%	33.6%
Bachelor's degree	12.4%	23.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.9%	13.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kankakee County	Kendall County
Drove alone	79.1%	77.4%
Carpooled	7.8%	6.8%
Public transit	1.1%	1.0%
Walked	2.9%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.2%	13.6%
Other means	1.6%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kankakee County	Kendall County
1-unit, detached	71.2%	74.2%
1-unit, attached	4.3%	17.4%
2 to 4 units	7.4%	3.0%
5 to 19 units	6.9%	3.5%
20 or more units	3.5%	1.7%
Mobile home & other	6.7%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Kankakee County	Kendall County
Poverty rate	12.5%	4.9%
Average household size	2.50	3.03
Mean commute (minutes)	25	33
Median year structure built	1971	2001