Chicago trails the nation in several indicators, including median household income, health care coverage and high school graduation rates, according to a new national survey published Thursday the U.S. Census.
The 2011 American Community Survey, which provides a wide range of statistics about people, housing and the economy for all communities, found that 20.4 percent of Chicagoans lacked health care coverage, to 15.1 percent of all Americans.
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Chicago’s median household income, at $43,628 in 2011, lagged the national average of $50,502. And 80.7 percent of Chicagoans 25 or older complete high school, compared to the national average of 85.9 percent.
Chicago fared better than the nation, however, in median home value, which averaged $228,300 against $173,600.
It also outpaced the nation in bachelor’s degrees, with 33.5 percent of the city’s residents having completed college compared to 28.5 percent nationally.
On Sept. 12, the Census Bureau released national statistics on 2011 income, poverty and health insurance coverage from the Current Population Survey.
“The American Community Survey provides a wide range of important statistics about our nation’s people, housing and economy for all communities in the country — including Chicago,” said Thomas Mesenbourg, the Census Bureau’s acting director. “The results are used by everyone from retailers, homebuilders and police departments, to town and city planners.”
It is the only source of local estimates for most of the 40 topics it covers, such as education attainment, occupation, language spoken at home, nativity, ancestry and selected monthly homeowner costs down to the smallest communities, according to the Census Bureau.
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