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Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Evanston, IL
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Evanston profile


Living in Evanston



Evanston is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 75,544 people and 19 constituent neighborhoods, Evanston is the 14th largest community in Illinois. Evanston has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

Evanston real estate is some of the most expensive in Illinois, although Evanston house values don't compare to the most expensive real estate in the U.S.

Also of interest is that Evanston has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Of important note, Evanston is also a city of artists. Evanston has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Evanston’s character.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 19.29% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Evanston is also a college town, where lots of students live while attending area colleges. Because of the high percentage of people living in Evanston enrolled in college, Evanston has a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared towards the needs and activities of students.

Not only is Evanston a city with many college students, but it also retains many recent graduates who are looking to start new careers, shaping the character of the city into a place that is geared toward, and considered attractive to, many single, educated people. Many singles consider Evanston a good place to live without being in a really big city, with opportunities for friendships and fun with others like themselves.

One downside of living in Evanston, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 30.67 minutes every day commuting to work. It is, however, a pedestrian-friendly city. Many of its neighborhoods are dense enough and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot. In addition, local public transit is widely used. For those who would prefer to avoid driving entirely and leave their car at home, it may be an option to use the transit instead.

For the size of the city, public transportation in Evanston is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the subway. For Evanston, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Evanston, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Evanston is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 68.26% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.

The per capita income in Evanston in 2018 was $57,626, which is wealthy relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $230,504 for a family of four. However, Evanston contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Evanston is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Evanston home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Evanston residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Evanston also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.77% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Evanston include German, Irish, English, Polish, and Italian.

In addition, Evanston has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (17.24%).

The most common language spoken in Evanston is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.