One downside of living in Des Plaines, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 30.53 minutes every day commuting to work. However, 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.
Like elsewhere in America, most people in Des Plaines use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Des Plaines‘s citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding the train. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.
The population of Des Plaines is very well educated relative to most cities and towns in the nation, where the average community has 21.84% of its adult population holding a 4-year degree or higher: 38.10% of adults in Des Plaines have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.
The per capita income in Des Plaines in 2022 was $42,057, which is upper middle income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $168,228 for a family of four. However, Des Plaines contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Des Plaines is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Des Plaines home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Des Plaines residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Des Plaines also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 20.72% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Des Plaines include Polish, German, Irish, Italian, and English.
Des Plaines also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 30.78%.
The most common language spoken in Des Plaines is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.
