DuPage vs. Lake IL

[King of Kensington]

What are the major differences between these counties?  

Both are quite affluent - DuPage is more so on the whole, but the wealthiest in Lake are wealthier than the wealthiest areas of DuPage.  In other words, DuPage is more consistently middle to upper middle class, while there is a much greater variation in Lake.

Lake has a significant Jewish population, DuPage has hardly any.  DuPage has a bit more of a  "white ethnic" Catholic population.  DuPage is more Republican than Lake.

Both are traditional centers of WASP Republicanism and Trump was a bad fit for both.

Are these perceptions correct?

[jimrtex]

What are the major differences between these counties?  

Both are quite affluent - DuPage is more so on the whole, but the wealthiest in Lake are wealthier than the wealthiest areas of DuPage.  In other words, DuPage is more consistently middle to upper middle class, while there is a much greater variation in Lake.

Lake has a significant Jewish population, DuPage has hardly any.  DuPage has a bit more of a  "white ethnic" Catholic population.  DuPage is more Republican than Lake.

Both are traditional centers of WASP Republicanism and Trump was a bad fit for both.

Are these perceptions correct?

Net commuter flow is from Cook to DuPage. I suspect that commuter flow is inward from Lake to Cook.

[TJ in Oregon]

I've always been amazed at just how liberal DuPage County is for a white upscale suburban county that isn't in the uber-liberal commuting direction (which in Chicagoland is the north shore). It tends to vote for liberal Republicans downballot (by "liberal" I mean tax cuts and social liberalism); people like Bruce Rauner do well there. But it's incredibly liberal given that it didn't even vote for Mitt Romney. In virtually every other midwestern metro, a county like DuPage would be solidly Atlas blue on the presidential level.

[King of Kensington]

To what extent was Obama carrying DuPage in 2012 a "favorite son" effect? 

Trump was a bad fit for DuPage given that the GOP vote dropped by about 10 points.

[dpmapper]

I've always been amazed at just how liberal DuPage County is for a white upscale suburban county that isn't in the uber-liberal commuting direction (which in Chicagoland is the north shore). It tends to vote for liberal Republicans downballot (by "liberal" I mean tax cuts and social liberalism); people like Bruce Rauner do well there. But it's incredibly liberal given that it didn't even vote for Mitt Romney. In virtually every other midwestern metro, a county like DuPage would be solidly Atlas blue on the presidential level.

It's majority white, but not by as much as most other midwestern suburban counties.  Also, Chicago being so much bigger, DuPage filled up a lot earlier than suburban counties in other states.  You don't have any really exurban parts of DuPage; those are in other counties farther out (e.g., Kane). 

[King of Kensington]

College graduates:

DuPage  46.7%
Lake  42.7%

Advanced degree:

DuPage  18.2%
Lake  17.2%

$100,000+ HH income:

Lake  38.8%
DuPage  38.1%

$200,000+ HH income:

Lake  12.2%
DuPage  10.6%

[muon2]

It's useful to compare the Gini index of income inequality. These are 2009-2013 estimates from the Census. The scale goes from 0 to 1 where higher values represent greater inequality. Here are the numbers for the Chicagoland planning area:

Cook 0.4973 (one of the highest in the US - top 5%)
Lake 0.4741 (higher than Milwaukee county)
DuPage 0.4478
Kane 0.4305
McHenry 0.3951
Will 0.3948
Kendall 0.3505 (lowest in IL)

Lake has both very poor and very rich areas, while in DuPage there aren't as many very rich or very poor.

Now look at the vote totals (Clinton-Trump) from 2016 in the same Gini order:
Cook 74%-21%
Lake 56%-36%
DuPage 53%-39%
Kane 52%-42%
McHenry 42%-50%
Will 50%-44%
Kendall 46%-46%

Other than McHenry, the counties line up for Clinton in the same order as their income inequality. Correlation doesn't prove causation, but it's an interesting relationship.

[King of Kensington]

Lake is less wealthy than I thought.  But then I realized that most of Chicago's tony North Shore suburbs are in Cook County.   

Most of Chicago's white ethnic groups moved westward when they suburbanized, right?  Except for Jews who started out on the West Side but moved northward. 

[King of Kensington]

DuPage has very very few Jews, even though in the first half of the 20th century the West Side was the main Jewish area of Chicago.  Why did they move north instead of further west as they suburbanized?  Were the western suburbs less welcoming to Jews than the northern suburbs?  Or did they shift over to the North Side prior to mass suburbanization?

[mianfei]

It's useful to compare the Gini index of income inequality. These are 2009-2013 estimates from the Census. The scale goes from 0 to 1 where higher values represent greater inequality. Here are the numbers for the Chicagoland planning area:

Cook 0.4973 (one of the highest in the US - top 5%)
Lake 0.4741 (higher than Milwaukee county)
DuPage 0.4478
Kane 0.4305
McHenry 0.3951
Will 0.3948
Kendall 0.3505 (lowest in IL)

Lake has both very poor and very rich areas, while in DuPage there aren't as many very rich or very poor.

Now look at the vote totals (Clinton-Trump) from 2016 in the same Gini order:
Cook 74%-21%
Lake 56%-36%
DuPage 53%-39%
Kane 52%-42%
McHenry 42%-50%
Will 50%-44%
Kendall 46%-46%

Other than McHenry, the counties line up for Clinton in the same order as their income inequality. Correlation doesn't prove causation, but it's an interesting relationship.

How does Porter County, Indiana (politically 100 percent a “collar county” even if not in the same state) compare? It narrowly voted for Trump, but I have thought that minus Mike Pence on the ballot Hilary would have emulated Obama, who was the first Democrat to win a majority in Porter County since 1852.

[RINO Tom]

Lake is less wealthy than I thought.  But then I realized that most of Chicago's tony North Shore suburbs are in Cook County.   

Most of Chicago's white ethnic groups moved westward when they suburbanized, right?  Except for Jews who started out on the West Side but moved northward.

While this doesn't always happen in DuPage or Lake, it's important to remember - given basic math - that the wealthy areas in a wealthy county can vote something like 60%-40% Republican, the not-so-wealthy or heavily minority areas can vote 80%-20% Democratic, and the county can be blue.  Obviously, in such an example, it does not indicate affluent voters favoring Democrats just because they live in an "affluent county" that does.