Chicago metropolitan areaThe Chicago metropolitan area is the
metropolitan area associated with the city of
Chicago in the
United States. It is the area that is closely linked to the city through social, economic, and cultural ties. There are several definitions of the area, the two most common being the area under the jursidiction of the
Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (a
metropolitan planning organization), and the area defined by the federal
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).
The metropolitan area is also informally known by residents as Chicagoland, a term which may include areas outside the MSA as part of the broader
Combined Statistical Area (CSA).
The Chicago metropolitan area is sometimes grouped together with
Milwaukee and
Racine in Wisconsin, creating a
megalopolis, gradually spreading toward nearby urban centers like
Rockford,
South Bend, and
Madison in southern
Wisconsin.
Definitions
Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
The
Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) is responsible for transportation infrastructure, land use, and long term economic development planning for the areas under its jurisdiction.
[1] The area has a population of 8.15 million (as of the 2000 Census).
[2] It consists of seven counties in the state of
Illinois:
Cook CountyDuPage CountyKane CountyKendall CountyLake CountyMcHenry CountyWill CountyMetropolitan statistical area
The Chicago
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was originally designated by the
United States Census Bureau in 1950 and consisted of the
Illinois counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, and Will along with Lake County in
Indiana. As surrounding counties saw an increase in their population densities and the number of their residents employed within Cook County, they met Census criteria to be added to the MSA. The Chicago MSA is the third largest MSA by population in the United States with a population of 9,505,748 (2006 estimate).
[3]The MSA is further subdivided into the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL Metropolitan Division, corresponding roughly to the CMAP region, the Gary, IN Metropolitan Division surrounding the city of
Gary, Indiana, and the Lake County-Kenosha County, IL-WI Metropolitan Division. These commuter flow-based definitions are sometimes at odds with people's feelings about their regional affiliations.[
citation needed] The components of the MSA and their 2006 populations
[3] are:
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL Metropolitan Division (7,929,775)
Cook CountyDeKalb CountyDuPage CountyGrundy County (part of North Central Illinois region)
Kane CountyKendall CountyMcHenry CountyWill CountyGary, IN Metropolitan Division (700,896)
Jasper CountyLake County, IndianaNewton CountyPorter CountyLake County-Kenosha County, IL-WI Metropolitan Division (875,077)
Lake County, IllinoisKenosha County, WisconsinCombined statistical areaThe OMB also defines a slightly larger region, the
Combined Statistical Area (CSA), combining the metropolitan areas of Chicago,
Michigan City (in
Indiana), and
Kankakee (in
Illinois). This area represents the extent of the labor market pool for the entire region. The combined statistical area, of which the Chicago metropolitan area is part, has a population of 9,725,317 (as of 2006).
[3]Chicagoland"Chicagoland" is an informal name for the Chicago metropolitan area, used primarily by copywriters, advertising agencies, and traffic reporters.[
citation needed] There is no precise definition for the term "Chicagoland," which may be larger than the MSA and include portions of the greater CSA. The Chicago Tribune, which coined the term, includes the city of Chicago, the rest of
Cook County, eight nearby Illinois counties;
Lake,
McHenry,
DuPage,
Kane,
Kendall,
Grundy,
Will and
Kankakee, and two counties in
Indiana;
Lake and
Porter.
[4] The Illinois Department of Tourism defines Chicagoland as Cook County without the city of Chicago, and only Lake, DuPage, Kane and Will counties.
[5] The
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce defines it as all of Cook, and DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.
[6]Colonel Robert R. McCormick, editor and publisher of the
Chicago Tribune, usually gets credit for placing the term in common use.
[7][8] McCormick's conception of Chicagoland stretched all the way to nearby parts of
Iowa and
Michigan.
[9] The first usage came on July 27, 1926 (page 1) with the headline: "Chicagoland's Shrines: A Tour of Discoveries" by reporter James O'Donnell Bennett. He claimed that Chicagoland comprised everything in a 200 mile radius in every direction and reported on many different places in the area. The Tribune was the dominant newspaper in a vast area stretching to the west of the city, and that
hinterland was closely tied to the metropolis by rail lines and commercial links.
[10]DemographicsThe suburbs, surrounded by easily annexed flat ground, have been expanding at a tremendous rate since the early
1960s.
Naperville is noteworthy for being one of only a few
boomburbs outside the
Sunbelt,
West Coast and
Mountain States regions, and
exurban Kendall County ranked as the third fastest-growing county in the United States with a population greater than 10,000 between 2004 and 2005.
[1]Settlement patterns in the Chicago metropolitan area tend to follow those in the city proper: the northern suburbs along the shore of
Lake Michigan are comparatively affluent, while the southern suburbs (sometimes known as
Chicago Southland) are less so, with lower median incomes and a lower cost of living. However, there is a major exception to this. While Chicago's west side is the poorest section of the city, the western and northwestern suburbs contain many affluent areas. According to the 2000 Census,
DuPage County had the highest median household income of any county in the
Midwest. The regions third largest city, Naperville, had the lowest poverty rate of any U.S. city with a population greater than 100,000.[
citation needed] In
October of 2007,
Chicago Magazine's home prices of various towns are as follows:
(Data is from National Assoc of Realtors)
North suburbs (Cook/Lake)Waukegan $162,000
North Chicago $142,000
Mundelein $322,000
Libertyville $566,000
Morton Grove $422,000
Lake Zurich $ 377,000
Skokie $428,000
Evanston $621,000
Zion $164,000
Northwest suburbs
Rolling Meadows $327,000
Wheeling $302,000
Antioch $273,000
Carpentersville $217,000
Des Plaines $354,000
Elk Grove $346,000
Mount Prospect $389,000
Schaumburg $379,000
Elgin $255,000
Dupage County
Burr Ridge $1,048,405
Clarendon Hills $813,796
Downers Grove $471,000
Elmhurst $549,000
Wheaton $441,000
Glen Ellyn $514,000
Naperville $511,371
Itasca $475,000
Oak Brook $1,172,729
Hinsdale $1,135,633
South suburbsCalumet City $132,000
Evergreen Park $233,000
Hickory Hills $290,000
Chicago Ridge $243,000
Park Forest $121,000
Blue Island $161,000
Alsip $232,000
Lansing $167,000
According to the 2000 US Census, poverty rates of the largest counties from least poverty to most are as follows: McHenry 3.70%, Dupage 5.90%, Will 6.70%, Lake 6.90%, Kane 7.40%, Cook 14.50%.
In an in-depth historical analysis, Keating (2004, 2005) examined the origins of 233 settlements that by 1900 had become suburbs or city neighborhoods of the Chicago metropolitan area . The settlements began as farm centers (41%), industrial towns (30%), residential railroad suburbs (15%), and recreational/institutional centers (13%). Although relations between the different settlement types were at times contentious, there also was cooperation in such undertakings as the construction of high schools.
Largest Cities1,000,000 or MoreChicago,
Illinois (2,873,790)
100,000-1,000,000Suburbs with over 100,000 people:Aurora,
IllinoisGary,
IndianaJoliet,
IllinoisNaperville,
Illinois60,000-99,999Suburbs with over 60,000 people:Arlington Heights,
IllinoisBolingbrook,
IllinoisCicero,
IllinoisElgin,
IllinoisEvanston,
IllinoisHammond,
IndianaKenosha,
WisconsinPalatine,
IllinoisSchaumburg,
IllinoisSkokie,
IllinoisWaukegan,
IllinoisUrban areas and urban clusters within the Chicago CSAWithin the boundary of the 16-county Chicago Consolidated Statistical Area lies the Chicago urban area, as well as 27 smaller urban areas and clusters. Smallest gap indicates the shortest distance between the given urban area or cluster and the Chicago urban area.
TransportationMajor airportsChicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)
Gary/Chicago International Airport (GYY)
Commuter railChicago Transit Authority trains, locally referred to as
"the L", (after "elevated train") serving Chicago and the near suburbs
Metra4 lines serving southern Cook County and Will County
3 lines serving western Cook County, DuPage County, and Kane County
1 line serving northwestern Cook County and McHenry County
3 lines serving northern Cook County and Lake County, with 1 line extending up to
Kenosha, WisconsinSouth Shore Line shares the Metra electric lines and connects Chicago to
Gary,
Michigan City, ending at
South Bend, Indiana.
Major highwaysInterstate 90,
Interstate 290,
Interstate 94,
Interstate 294,
Interstate 88,
Interstate 65,
Interstate 55,
Interstate 355,
Interstate 57,
Interstate 80Major corridorsIn addition to the
Chicago Loop, the metro area is home to a few important subregional corridors of commercial activities. Among them are:
Illinois Technology and Research Corridor, along the
Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (
Interstate 88)
Golden Corridor, along the
Northwest Tollway (
Interstate 90)
Area codesFrom 1947 until 1988, the Illinois portion of the Chicago metro area was served by a single area code, 312, which abutted the 815 area code. In 1988 the 708 area code was introduced and the 312 area code became exclusive to the city of Chicago.
It became common to call suburbanites "708'ers", in reference to their area code.
The 708 area code was partitioned in 1996 into three area codes, serving different portions of the metro area: 630, 708, and 847.
At the same time that the 708 area code was in trouble, the 312 area code in Chicago was also exhausting its supply of available numbers. As a result, the city was divided into two area codes, 312 and 773. Rather than divide the city by a north/south area code, the central business district retained the 312 area code, while the remainder of the city took the new 773 code.
In 2002, the 847 area code was supplemented with the overlay area code 224. In February 2007, the 815 area code (serving outlying portions of the metro area) was supplemented with the overlay area code 779. In October 2007, the 630 area code was supplemented with the overlay area code 331.
Plans are in place for overlay codes in the 708, 773, and 312 regions as those area codes become exhausted in the future.
312 Chicago - City (The
Loop and central neighborhoods, e.g. the Near North Side)
773 Chicago - City (Everywhere else within the city limits, excluding central area)
847/
224 (North and Northwest Suburbs)
630/
331 (Western Suburbs)
708 (Near West and South Suburbs)
815/
779 (Far Northwest/Southwest Suburbs; Joliet, DeKalb, Rockford)
219 (Northwest Indiana)
574 (North-central Indiana)
262 (Southeast Wisconsin surrounding
Milwaukee County)
Proposed overlay area codes464 overlay for 708 (no effective date)
872 overlay for 312 & 773 (no effective date)
External linksUS Census' Urbanized Area Outline Map (2000)Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City, IL-IN-WI Combined Statistical Area (2003) mapU.S. Census Bureau State & County QuickFactsU.S. Census Bureau population estimatesCook County JailMetropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical AreasAbout Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical AreasHistorical Metropolitan Area DefinitionsNorthwest and Western Suburbs' Community Message Board
