county

Cook County, IL

Demographic and economic profile of Cook County, IL, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.

AI Overview

Cook County is Illinois's economic core, anchoring a metro labor force of roughly 2.7 million workers with 41.9% holding a bachelor's degree or higher and median worker earnings of $49,298. GDP per capita reaches $82,405 against a median household income of $83,498, while median home values of $305,200 and gross rents of $1,381/month reflect moderate housing costs relative to output. The county's population edged down 0.7% over five years, unemployment sits at 6.9%, and 21.7% of residents are foreign-born, with a mean commute of 31.9 minutes signaling a densely interconnected regional economy.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page

Population

5,182,617

Data USA · as of 2024

Median Household Income

$83,498

Data USA · as of 2024

Median Age

38.0 yrs

Data USA · as of 2024

Population Growth (5-year)

-0.7% since 2018

Cook County lost population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.

Demographics

Race & Ethnicity

  • White Alone2,257,930 (43.6%)
  • Black or African American Alone1,148,066 (22.2%)
  • Some Other Race Alone642,144 (12.4%)
  • Two Races Including Some Other Race507,430 (9.8%)
  • Asian Alone411,778 (7.9%)
  • Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races165,020 (3.2%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Languages Spoken at Home

  1. 1.Spanish1,028,255
  2. 2.Russian, Polish, or other Slavic204,908
  3. 3.Other Indo-European163,635
  4. 4.Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese)67,828
  5. 5.Other Asian and Pacific Island54,556

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population Under 18

21.4%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Working-Age (18–64)

63.0%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population 65 and Over

15.5%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Foreign-Born Population

21.7%

Data USA · as of 2024

Veterans

132,321

Data USA · as of 2024

Economy

GDP per Capita

$82,405

Data USA · as of 2023

Cost of Living Index

—

Not yet cached

Per Capita Income

$47,801

Census ACS · as of 2023

Unemployment Rate

6.9%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Poverty Rate

13.3%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Top Industries

  1. 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance613,349
  2. 2.Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services414,170
  3. 3.Manufacturing (Group)238,590
  4. 4.Retail Trade (Group)236,763
  5. 5.Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation, & Accommodation & Food Services219,957

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Occupations

  1. 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations1,205,983
  2. 2.Sales & Office Occupations483,543
  3. 3.Service Occupations413,079
  4. 4.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations348,343
  5. 5.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations146,214

Data USA · as of 2024

Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)

  1. 1.Transportation, Warehousing, & Utilities (LQ 1.33×)201,110
  2. 2.Professional, Scientific, & Management (LQ 1.28×)411,128
  3. 3.Finance, Insurance, & Real Estate (LQ 1.26×)217,703
  4. 4.Information (LQ 1.05×)51,027
  5. 5.Wholesale Trade (LQ 1.02×)61,180

Census ACS · as of 2023

Housing

Median Home Value

$305,200

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Gross Rent

$1,381/mo

Census ACS · as of 2023

Homeownership Rate

57.7%

Data USA · as of 2024

Home Value Distribution

  • $300,000 to $399,999248,768 (20.5%)
  • $400,000 to $499,999154,969 (12.8%)
  • $500,000 to $749,999145,430 (12.0%)
  • $200,000 to $249,999144,132 (11.9%)
  • $250,000 to $299,999136,680 (11.3%)
  • $150,000 to $174,99960,307 (5.0%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Education

Bachelor's Degree or Higher

41.9%

Census ACS · as of 2023

High School Diploma or Higher

88.3%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Workforce

Labor Force Participation

66.2%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Worker Earnings

$49,298

Census ACS · as of 2023

Mean Commute Time

31.5 min

Data USA · as of 2024

Households Without a Vehicle

18.0%

Census ACS · as of 2023

How People Get to Work

  • Drove Alone1,392,162 (54.8%)
  • Worked At Home480,070 (18.9%)
  • Public Transit300,955 (11.8%)
  • Carpooled196,668 (7.7%)
  • Walked101,572 (4.0%)
  • Other28,225 (1.1%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Similar Locations

5 counties with comparable population, workforce, income, education, and cost of living. Click any to compare.

More on FDI Connect

Compare Cook County against other US geographies, save it to your shortlist, see active property listings on the interactive map, and unlock the full demographic dashboard.

Open full dashboardCreate free account

Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.