Knox County vs Whiteside County

A side-by-side comparison of Knox County and Whiteside County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Whiteside County has the higher population (55,192 vs 49,294 in Knox County). Whiteside County has the higher median household income ($64,536 vs $53,291 in Knox County). Whiteside County has the higher median home value ($125,800 vs $104,900 in Knox County).

Population, income & housing

	Knox County	Whiteside County
Population	49,294	55,192
Median age	42.4 yrs	43.4 yrs
Median household income	$53,291	$64,536
Median home value	$104,900	$125,800
Median gross rent	$725	$808
Housing units	23,788	25,850
Homeownership rate	69.8%	75.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.3%	20.1%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Knox County	Whiteside County
Population	50,508 → 49,294 (-2.4%)	56,016 → 55,192 (-1.5%)
Median household income	$44,129 → $53,291 (+20.8%)	$54,232 → $64,536 (+19.0%)
Median home value	$83,000 → $104,900 (+26.4%)	$106,700 → $125,800 (+17.9%)
Median gross rent	$634 → $725 (+14.4%)	$695 → $808 (+16.3%)

Knox County

Population

50,50849,294

Median household income

$44,129$53,291

Median home value

$83,000$104,900

Median gross rent

$634$725

Whiteside County

Population

56,01655,192

Median household income

$54,232$64,536

Median home value

$106,700$125,800

Median gross rent

$695$808

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Knox County	Whiteside County
Under 5	5.5%	5.3%
5 to 17	14.6%	16.7%
18 to 24	9.8%	7.6%
25 to 34	11.1%	10.8%
35 to 44	11.7%	11.4%
45 to 54	11.6%	12.3%
55 to 64	13.6%	14.4%
65 to 74	12.6%	12.3%
75 and over	9.6%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Knox County	Whiteside County
White (non-Hispanic)	80.8%	82.1%
Black or African American	7.7%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.0%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.8%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	6.3%	13.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Knox County	Whiteside County
No high school diploma	10.7%	9.0%
High school graduate	34.9%	37.8%
Some college or associate's	34.1%	33.1%
Bachelor's degree	13.1%	12.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.2%	7.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Knox County	Whiteside County
Drove alone	80.5%	80.6%
Carpooled	8.9%	9.7%
Public transit	0.5%	0.3%
Walked	3.6%	3.5%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.7%
Worked from home	5.7%	4.9%
Other means	0.6%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Knox County	Whiteside County
1-unit, detached	76.9%	81.2%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	7.6%	7.8%
5 to 19 units	6.1%	3.9%
20 or more units	4.3%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	4.2%	2.4%

Poverty & households

	Knox County	Whiteside County
Poverty rate	15.9%	12.1%
Average household size	2.18	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	21	20
Median year structure built	1956	1960