Cook County

The median income of households in Cook County, Illinois was $83,498. An estimated 6.1% of households had income below $10,000 a year and 15.2% had income of $200,000 or more.

An estimated 79.5% of households received earnings. An estimated 26.2% of households received Social Security and an estimated 20 % of households received retirement income other than Social Security. The average income from Social Security was $22,847. These income sources are not mutually exclusive; that is, some households received income from more than one source.

In 2020-2024, 13.5 % of people were in poverty. An estimated 17.9% of children under 18 were below the poverty level, compared with 13.4% of people 65 years old and over. An estimated 12.1% of people 18 to 64 years were below the poverty level.

In 2020-2024, 15.7 % of households received SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). An estimated 42.4% of households that received SNAP had children under 18, and 41.9% of households that received SNAP had one or more people 60 years and over. An estimated 33.5% of all households receiving SNAP were families with a female householder and no spouse present.

Among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in Cook County, Illinois in 2020-2024, 91.1% had health insurance coverage and 8.9% did not have health insurance coverage. Private coverage was 65% and public coverage was 35.3%, respectively. The percentage of children under the age of 19 with no health insurance coverage was 3.8%.

In 2020-2024, Cook County, Illinois had a total population of 5,182,090 - 2,653,202 (51.2%) females and 2,528,888 (48.8%) males. The median age was 38 years. An estimated 21.1% of the population was under 18 years, 36.1% was 19 to 44 years, 24.5% was 45 to 64 years, and 16 % was 65 years and older.

In 2020-2024, there were 2,100,230 households in Cook County, Illinois. The average household size was 2.43 people.

Married-couple households made up 38.9% of the households in Cook County, Illinois while cohabiting couple households made up 7% of households. Female householders with no spouse or partner present were 33% of all households, while 21.1% of households had male householders with no spouse or partner present. Some households had one person, as 15.4% of households were male householders living alone, and 19.3% were female householders living alone, for a total of 34.7% of all households.

In Cook County, Illinois, 26.7% of all households had one or more people under the age of 18; 29.2% of all households had one or more people 65 years and over.

In 2020-2024, an estimated 78.3% of the people living in Cook County, Illinois were U.S. natives. 60.7% of the Cook County, Illinois population were living in the state where they were born.

Approximately 21.7% of Cook County, Illinois residents in 2020-2024 were foreign-born. 52.5% of foreign-born were naturalized U.S. citizens and an estimated 73.7 % entered the country before the year 2010.

Foreign-born residents of Cook County, Illinois come from different parts of the world. The bar graph below displays the percentage of foreign-born from each world region of birth in 2020-2024 for Cook County, Illinois.

Among people at least five years old living in Cook County, Illinois in 2020-2024, 35.8 % spoke a language other than English at home. Spanish was spoken by 21.1% of people at least five years old; 14% reported that they did not speak English "very well."

In 2020-2024, 88.4 % of the people at least one year old living in Cook County, Illinois were living in the same house one year earlier.

In 2020-2024, 88.6 % of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 42.7% had a bachelor's degree or higher. An estimated 11.4% did not complete high school.

The total school enrollment in Cook County, Illinois was 1,219,440 in 2020-2024. Nursery school enrollment was 76,585 and kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment was 803,240. College or graduate school enrollment was 339,615.

In Cook County, Illinois, among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in 2020-2024, 11.4 % reported a disability. The likelihood of having a disability varied by age - from 3.7% of people under 18 years old, to 8.9% of people 18 to 64 years old, and to 32.2% of those 65 and over.

In Cook County, Illinois, 61.5 % of the population 16 and over were employed; 33.8% were not currently in the labor force.

An estimated 82.8% of the people employed were private wage and salary workers; 12.2% were federal, state, or local government workers; and 4.8 % were self-employed in their own (not incorporated) business.

In 2020-2024, the civilian employed population 16 years and older in Cook County, Illinois worked in the following industries:

An estimated 54.8% of Cook County, Illinois workers drove to work alone in 2020-2024, and 7.7% carpooled. Among those who commuted to work, it took them on average 31.5 minutes to get to work.

In 2020-2024, Cook County, Illinois had a total of 2,276,493 housing units. Of these housing units, 45.1% were single-family houses either not attached to any other structure or attached to one or more structures (commonly referred to as "townhouses" or "row houses"). 54.1% of the housing units were located in multi-unit structures, or those buildings that contained two or more apartments. 0.8% were mobile homes, while any remaining housing units were classified as "other," which included boats, recreational vehicles, vans, etc.

5.1% of the housing inventory was comprised of houses built since 2010, while 27.8% of the houses were first built in 1939 or earlier. The median number of rooms in all housing units in Cook County, Illinois was 5.1 rooms, and of these housing units 48.5% had three or more bedrooms.

In 2020-2024, Cook County, Illinois had 2,100,230 housing units that were occupied or had people living in them, while the remaining 176,263 were vacant. Of the occupied housing units, the percentage of these houses occupied by owners (also known as the homeownership rate) was 57.7% while renters occupied 42.3%. The average household size of owner-occupied houses was 2.64 and in renter-occupied houses it was 2.13.

4.8% of householders of these occupied houses had moved into their house since 2021, while 10.2% moved into their house in 1989 or earlier. Households without a vehicle available for personal use comprised 18% and another 12.1% had three or more vehicles available for use.

The following chart provides the primary fuel used to heat houses in Cook County, Illinois:

In 2020-2024, the median property value for owner-occupied houses in Cook County, Illinois was $324,500.

Of the owner-occupied households, 62.4 % had a mortgage. 37.6% owned their houses "free and clear," that is without a primary mortgage or loan on the house. The median monthly housing costs for owners with a mortgage was $2,270 and for owners without a mortgage it was $910.

For renter-occupied houses, the median gross rent for Cook County, Illinois was $1,435. Gross rent includes the monthly contract rent and any monthly payments made for electricity, gas, water and sewer, and any other fuels to heat the house.