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The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its
suburbs A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
and hinterland, spanning 14 counties in northeast Illinois, northwest Indiana, and southeast Wisconsin. The MSA had a 2020 census population of 9,618,502 and the combined statistical area which spans up to 19 counties had a population of nearly 10 million people. The Chicago area is the fourth largest metropolitan area in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
(after the metro areas of Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles), the third-largest metropolitan area in the United States, the largest within the entire
Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
, and the largest in the Great Lakes megalopolis. Its urban area is one of the forty largest in the world. According to the 2020 Census, the metropolitan's population is approaching the 10 million mark. The metropolitan area has seen a substantial increase of Latin American residents on top of its already large latin population, and the
Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
population also increased according to the 2020 Census. The metro area also has a large number of White, Black, and Arab American residents, making the Chicago metropolitan area a truly diverse region. The Chicago metropolitan area represents about 3 percent of the entire United States population. Chicagoland, as the metropolitan area is also called, has one of the world's largest and most diversified economies. With more than six million full and part-time employees, the Chicago metropolitan area is a key factor of the Illinois economy, as the state has an annual GDP of over $1 trillion. The Chicago metropolitan area generated an annual gross regional product (GRP) of approximately $700 billion in 2018. The region is home to more than 400 major corporate headquarters, including 31 in the ''Fortune'' 500 such as McDonald's, Boeing, United, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. With many companies moving to Chicagoland, the area ranked as the nation's top metropolitan area for corporation relocations for six consecutive years. The Chicago area is home to a number of the nation's leading research universities including the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Chicago, DePaul University, Loyola University, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. The University of Chicago and Northwestern University are consistently ranked as two of the best universities in the world. There are many transportation options around the area. The region has three separate rail networks: the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) operates elevated and subway lines that run primarily throughout the city, Downtown Chicago, and into some suburbs. The CTA operates some rail lines 24 hours a day, every day of the year, nonstop service, making Chicago and New York City the only two cities in the world to offer some 24 hour rail service running nonstop, everyday throughout their city limits. The city-suburban Metra rail network runs numerous lines between Downtown Chicago and suburban/satellite cities. And the South Shore Line runs between Downtown Chicago and suburban Northwest Indiana. Amtrak operated a national rail hub at Union Station in Downtown Chicago. CTA bus routes primarily serve the city proper, with some service into the suburbs. Several CTA bus routes also operate 24 hours a day, nonstop.
Pace Pace or paces may refer to: Business *Pace (transit), a bus operator in the suburbs of Chicago, US * Pace Airlines, an American charter airline *Pace Foods, a maker of a popular brand of salsa sold in North America, owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...
bus routes primarily serve the suburbs, with some service into the city.


Definitions


Chicago Metropolitan statistical area

The Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area was originally designated by the United States Census Bureau in 1950. It comprised 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, now defined as the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the third largest MSA by population in the United States. The 2015 census estimate for the MSA was 9,532,569, a decline from 9,543,893 in the 2014 census estimate. This loss of population has been attributed to taxes, crime, political issues, weather, and other factors; however, a negative net migration rate statewide has been shown to be a result of poor gross in-migration, rather than an unusually high rate of gross out-migration. The Chicago MSA is further subdivided by state boundaries into the ''Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL Metropolitan Division'', corresponding roughly to the CMAP region; the ''Gary, IN Metropolitan Division'' consisting of the Indiana counties of Lake and Porter, as well as two surrounding counties; and the ''Lake County-Kenosha County, IL-WI Metropolitan Division''. A breakdown of the 2009 estimated populations of the three Metropolitan Divisions of the MSA are as follows: * ''Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Metropolitan Division'' (7,998,257) ** Cook County (5,287,037) **
DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johan DeKalb: * DeKalb County, Alabama * DeKalb County, Georgia * DeKalb County, Illinois * DeKalb County, Indiana * DeKalb County, Missouri ...
(107,333) ** DuPage County (932,541) ** Grundy County (48,421) ** Kankakee County (113,449) ** Kane County (511,892) ** Kendall County (104,821) ** McHenry County (320,961) ** Will County (685,251) * ''Gary, IN Metropolitan Division'' (709,265) ** Jasper County (IN) (33,520) ** Lake County (IN) (496,478) ** Newton County (IN) (14,250) ** Porter County (IN) (165,017) * ''Lake County-Kenosha County, IL-WI Metropolitan Division'' (877,949) ** Lake County (IL) (712,567) ** Kenosha County (WI) (165,382)


Combined Statistical Area

The OMB also defines a slightly larger region as a Combined Statistical Area (CSA). The Chicago–Naperville, IL–IN–WI Combined Statistical Area combines the metropolitan areas of Chicago, Michigan City (in Indiana), northeastern LaSalle County, Illinois, and Kankakee (in Illinois). This area represents the extent of the labor market pool for the entire region. The CSA has a population of 9,825,325 (2019 estimate).


United Nations' Chicago urban agglomeration

The Chicago urban agglomeration, according to the United Nations ''World Urbanization Prospects'' report (2018 revision), lists a population of 8,864,000. The term "urban agglomeration" refers to the population contained within the contours of a contiguous territory inhabited at urban density levels. It usually incorporates the population in a city, plus that in the contiguous urban, or built-up area.


Chicagoland

Chicagoland is an informal name for the Chicago metropolitan area. The term ''Chicagoland'' has no official definition, and the region is often considered to include areas beyond the corresponding MSA, as well as portions of the greater CSA. Colonel Robert R. McCormick, editor and publisher of the '' Chicago Tribune'', usually gets credit for placing the term in common use. McCormick's conception of Chicagoland stretched all the way to nearby parts of four states ( Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa). The first usage was in the ''Tribunes July 27, 1926 front page headline, "Chicagoland's Shrines: A Tour of Discoveries", for an article by reporter
James O'Donnell Bennett James O'Donnell Bennett (1870–1940) was an American journalist and author. He was best known for writing for the ''Chicago Tribune'' and the ''Chicago Record-Herald''. Biography James was born in Jackson, Michigan in 1870, and died in Chicago ...
. He stated that Chicagoland comprised everything in a 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. Today, the ''Chicago Tribunes usage includes the city of Chicago, the rest of Cook County, eight nearby Illinois counties ( Lake, McHenry, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Grundy,
Will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...
, and Kankakee), and the two Indiana counties of Lake and Porter. Illinois Department of Tourism literature uses ''Chicagoland'' for suburbs in Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane, and Will counties, treating the city separately. The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce defines it as all of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties. In addition, company marketing programs such as Construction Data Company's "Chicago and Vicinity" region and the
Chicago Automobile Trade Association The Chicago Auto Show is held annually in February at Chicago's McCormick Place convention center. It is the largest auto show in North America. History Samuel Miles, formerly a promoter of bicycle shows, produced the first "official" Chic ...
's ''"Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana"'' advertising campaign are directed at the MSA itself, as well as LaSalle,
Winnebago Winnebago can refer to: * The exonym of the Ho-Chunk tribe of Native North Americans with reservations in Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin ** Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, a federally recognized tribe group in the state ** The Winnebago language of the ...
( Rockford), Boone, and Ogle counties in Illinois, in addition to Jasper,
Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...
, and La Porte counties in Indiana and Kenosha,
Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditio ...
, and Walworth counties in Wisconsin, and even as far northeast as Berrien County, Michigan. The region is part of the Great Lakes Megalopolis, containing an estimated 54 million people.


Collar counties

The term " collar counties" is a
colloquialism Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...
for the five counties ( DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and
Will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...
) of Illinois that border Chicago's Cook County. After Cook County, they are also the next five most populous counties in the state. According to the ''Encyclopedia of Chicago'', there is no specifically known origin of the phrase, but it has been commonly used among policy makers, urban planners, and in the media. However, it also notes that as growth has spread beyond these counties, it may have lost some of its usefulness.


Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) is an Illinois state agency responsible for transportation infrastructure, land use, and long-term economic development planning for the areas under its jurisdiction within Illinois. The planning area has a population of over 8 million, which includes the following locations in Illinois: * Cook County * DuPage County * Kane County * Kendall County * Lake County * McHenry County * Will County


Geography and environment

The city of Chicago lies in the Chicago Plain, a flat and broad area characterized by little topographical relief. The few low hills are sand ridges. North of the Chicago Plain, steep bluffs and ravines run alongside Lake Michigan. Along the southern shore of the Chicago Plain, sand dunes run alongside the lake. The tallest dunes reach up to near and are found in Indiana Dunes National Park. Surrounding the low plain are bands of
moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...
s in the south and west suburbs. These areas are higher and hillier than the Chicago Plain. A
continental divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...
, separating the Mississippi River watershed from that of the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River, runs through the Chicago area. A 2012 survey of the urban trees and forests in the seven county Illinois section of the Chicago area found that 21% of the land is covered by the tree and shrub canopy, made up of about 157,142,000 trees. The five most common tree species are
buckthorn ''Rhamnus'' is a genus of about 110 accepted species of shrubs or small trees, commonly known as buckthorns, in the family Rhamnaceae. Its species range from tall (rarely to ) and are native mainly in east Asia and North America, but found thr ...
, green ash,
boxelder ''Acer negundo'', the box elder, boxelder maple, Manitoba maple or ash-leaved maple, is a species of maple native to North America. It is a fast-growing, short-lived tree with opposite, compound leaves. It is sometimes considered a weedy or inv ...
, black cherry, and American elm. These resources perform important functions in carbon storage, water recycling, and energy saving.


Demographics

As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area had a population of 9,729,825. The population density was 1,318 per square mile. The racial makeup was 52.8% Non-Hispanic White, 22.1% were Hispanic, 16.7% were Non-Hispanic African Americans, and 6.4% were Asian. Other ethnic groups such as Native Americans and Pacific Islanders made up 2.0% of the population. The suburbs, surrounded by easily annexed flat ground, have been expanding at a tremendous rate since the early 1960s. Aurora, Elgin, Joliet, and Naperville are noteworthy for being four of the few boomburbs outside the
Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel. Several climates can be found in the region — des ...
,
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...
and Mountain States regions, and
exurban An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing density, and growth. It sh ...
Kendall County ranked as the fastest-growing county (among counties with a population greater than 10,000) in the United States between the years 2000 and 2007. Settlement patterns in the Chicago metropolitan area tend to follow those in the city proper: the northern suburbs along the shore of
Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
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 West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham E ...
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 Midwestern United States. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, poverty rates of the largest counties from least poverty to most are as follows: McHenry 3.70%, Dupage 5.9%, Will 6.7%, Lake 6.9%, Kane 7.4%, Cook 14.5%. 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.


Population

As the Chicago metropolitan area has grown, more counties have been partly or totally assimilated with the taking of each decennial census. Counties highlighted in gray were not included in the MSA for that census. The CSA totals in blue are the totals of all the counties listed above, regardless of whether they were included in the Chicago Combined Statistical Area at the time.


Principal municipalities


Over 1,000,000 population

* Chicago (2,746,388)


Over 100,000 population

*
Aurora, Illinois Aurora is a city in the Chicago metropolitan area located partially in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage, Kane County, Illinois, Kane, Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall, and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Locat ...
(180,542) * Joliet, Illinois (150,362) * Naperville, Illinois (149,540) * Elgin, Illinois (114,797)


Over 50,000 population

* Kenosha, Wisconsin (99,986) * Waukegan, Illinois (89,321) * Cicero, Illinois (85,268) * Schaumburg, Illinois (78,723) * Evanston, Illinois (78,110) *
Hammond, Indiana Hammond ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern Lake County. As of the ...
(77,879) *
Arlington Heights, Illinois Arlington Heights is a municipality in Cook County with a small portion in Lake County in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of the city's downtown. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 77,676. Per the ...
(77,676) * Bolingbrook, Illinois (73,922) * Gary, Indiana (69,093) *
Palatine, Illinois Palatine () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a northwestern residential suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 67,908. As of the 2010 Census, it was the seventh-largest community in Cook Coun ...
(67,908) * Skokie, Illinois (67,824) * Des Plaines, Illinois (60,675) * Orland Park, Illinois (58,703) * Oak Lawn, Illinois (58,362) * Berwyn, Illinois (57,250) * Mount Prospect, Illinois (56,852) * Tinley Park, Illinois (55,971) * Oak Park, Illinois (54,583) * Wheaton, Illinois (53,970) * Downers Grove, Illinois (50,247)


Urban areas within

Within 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. The formerly distinct urban areas of Aurora, Elgin, Joliet, and Waukegan were absorbed into the Chicago UA as of the 2000 census. † These urban areas and urban clusters are now joined to the Chicago Urban Area as of the 2010 census. ^ The Round Lake Beach-McHenry-Grayslake, IL-WI UA extends into Walworth County, WI, which lies in the Milwaukee CSA. ^^ The Michigan City-LaPorte, IN-MI UA extends into Berrien County, MI, which lies (for the moment) outside the Chicago CSA. ^^^ The Sandwich, IL UC extends into LaSalle County, IL, which lies (for the moment) outside the Chicago CSA. ^^^^ The Genoa City, WI-IL UC extends into Walworth County, WI, which lies in the Milwaukee CSA.


Economy

The Chicago metropolitan area is home to the corporate headquarters of 57 Fortune 1000 companies, including
AbbVie Inc. AbbVie is an American publicly traded biopharmaceutical company founded in 2013. It originated as a Corporate spin-off, spin-off of Abbott Laboratories. History On October 19, 2011, Abbott Laboratories announced its plan to separate into two pub ...
,
Allstate The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook since 1967. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993 but still partially owned by S ...
, Boeing, Caterpillar Inc., Kraft Heinz, McDonald's, Mondelez International, Motorola, United Airlines, Walgreens, and
more More or Mores may refer to: Computing * MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS * more (command), a shell command * MORE protocol, a routing protocol * Missouri Research and Education Network Music Albums * ''More!'' (album), by Booka ...
. The Chicago area also headquarters a wide variety of global financial institutions including Citadel LLC, Discover Financial Services,
Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar, Inc. is an American financial services firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and was founded by Joe Mansueto in 1984. It provides an array of investment research and investment management services. With operations in 29 countries, ...
, CNA Financial, and more. Chicago is home to the largest futures exchange in the world, the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) (often called "the Chicago Merc", or "the Merc") is a global derivatives marketplace based in Chicago and located at 20 S. Wacker Drive. The CME was founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board, an a ...
. In March 2008, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange announced its acquisition of NYMEX Holdings Inc, the parent company of the New York Mercantile Exchange and Commodity Exchange. CME'S acquisition of NYMEX was completed in August 2008. A key piece of infrastructure for several generations was the
Union Stock Yards The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, was the meatpacking district in Chicago for more than a century, starting in 1865. The district was operated by a group of railroad companies that acquired marshland and turned it into a central ...
of Chicago, which from 1865 until 1971 penned and slaughtered millions of cattle and hogs into standardized cuts of beef and pork. This prompted poet Carl Sandburg to describe Chicago as the "Hog Butcher for the World". The Chicago area, meanwhile, began to produce significant quantities of telecommunications gear, electronics, steel, crude oil derivatives, automobiles, and industrial capital goods. By the early 2000s, Illinois' economy had moved toward a dependence on high-value-added services, such as financial trading, higher education, logistics, and health care. In some cases, these services clustered around institutions that hearkened back to Illinois's earlier economies. For example, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a trading exchange for global
derivatives The derivative of a function is the rate of change of the function's output relative to its input value. Derivative may also refer to: In mathematics and economics * Brzozowski derivative in the theory of formal languages * Formal derivative, an ...
, had begun its life as an agricultural
futures market A futures exchange or futures market is a central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts defined by the exchange. Futures contracts are derivatives contracts to buy or sell specific quantities of a commodity or fi ...
. In 2007, the area ranked first among U.S. metro areas in the number of new and expanded corporate facilities. It ranked third in 2008, behind the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown and Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan areas, and ranked second behind the New York metropolitan area in 2009. '' The Wall Street Journal'' summarized the Chicago area's economy in November 2006 with the comment that "Chicago has survived by repeatedly reinventing itself."


Transportation


Major airports

* Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) * Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) * Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport (MKE) (located in the adjacent
Milwaukee metropolitan area The Milwaukee metropolitan area (also known as Metro Milwaukee or Greater Milwaukee) is a major metropolitan area located in Southeastern Wisconsin, consisting of the city of Milwaukee and the surrounding area. There are several definitions of the ...
) * Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD) (located in the adjacent
Rockford metropolitan area The Rockford Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of four counties in north-central Illinois, anchored by the city of Rockford. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of ...
) * Gary/Chicago International Airport (GYY)


Commercial ports

*
Port of Chicago The Port of Chicago consists of several major port facilities within the city of Chicago, Illinois, operated by the Illinois International Port District (formerly known as the Chicago Regional Port District). It is a multimodal facility featuring ...
* Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor


Transit systems


Commercial freight

Chicago has been at the center of the United States' railroad network since the 19th century. Almost all Class I railroads serve the area, the most in North America.


Passenger

* Chicago Transit Authority trains, locally referred to as " the 'L' ", (after "elevated train") serving Chicago and the near suburbs * Pace Suburban Bus operates suburban bus and regional vanpool, paratransit, and ride-matching services in the Chicagoland region. * Metra run by the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation: ** 4 lines serving southern Cook County and Will County ** 3 lines serving western Cook County, DuPage County, and Kane County ** 2 lines serving northern Cook County and Lake County ** 1 line serving northern Cook County, Lake County, and Kenosha County ** 1 line serving northwestern Cook County and McHenry County * South Shore Line shares the Metra electric lines and connects Chicago to
Gary Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran *Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Unit ...
, Michigan City, and ending at South Bend. * Amtrak operates Union Station which is the major Amtrak passenger rail hub with connections to Metra and the within a few blocks of connections to several 'L' lines. Amtrak also operates a connecting station out of Joliet.


Major highways


Interstates

*
Interstate 41 Interstate 41 (I-41) is a north–south Interstate Highway connecting the interchange of I-94 and U.S. Route 41 (US 41), located south of the Wisconsin–Illinois border at the end of the Tri-State Tollway in metropolitan Ch ...
(I-41) runs concurrently with Interstate 94 at the northern terminus of the Tri-State Tollway. * Interstate 55 (I-55) is the Adlai Stevenson Expy. * I-355 is the Veterans Memorial Tollway (formerly North-South Tollway). * I-57 is unofficially the "West Leg" of the Dan Ryan Expy. * I-65 has no name, whether official or unofficial. * I-80 is officially called the Borman Expy (cosigned with I-94), Kingery Expy (cosigned with I-94 for 3 miles), Tri-State Tollway (cosigned with I-294 for 4 miles) and is unofficially called the Moline Expy west of I-294. * I-88 is the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (formerly East-West Tollway) *
I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...
is locally known as Jane Addams Tollway (formerly Northwest Tollway), John F Kennedy Expy (cosigned with I-94), Dan Ryan Expy (cosigned with I-94), and Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge. The
Chicago Skyway Interstate 90 (I-90) in the US state of Illinois runs roughly northwest-to-southeast through the northern part of the state. From the Wisconsin state line at South Beloit, it heads south to Rockford before heading east-southeast to the ...
is disputed since around 2000 if it actually is I-90. Currently it is signed as "To I-90" in both directions. *
I-190 Interstate 190 may refer to the following Interstate Highways in the United States related to Interstate 90: * Interstate 190 (Illinois), a spur into Chicago's O'Hare International Airport *Interstate 190 (Massachusetts), a spur from Worcester to L ...
is the John F. Kennedy Expy spur heading into Chicago-O'Hare Int'l Airport. * I-290 is the Dwight D. Eisenhower Expy. * I-94 is Tri-State Tollway in Lake County, Edens Spur, Edens Expy, John F. Kennedy Expy (cosigned with I-90), Dan Ryan Expy (cosigned with I-90), Bishop Ford Frwy (formerly Calumet Expy), Kingery Expy (cosigned with I-80) and Borman Expy (cosigned with I-80). * I-294 is the Tri-State Tollway.


Other main highways

* US Routes in the Illinois part of the area include: US 6, US 12, US 14, US 20, US 30, US 34, US 41, US 45, and US 52. * Illinois Route 53, an arterial north–south state highway running through Grundy, Will, DuPage, Cook and Lake counties * Historic US Route 66's eastern terminus is in Chicago.


Major corridors

In 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 (I-88) is an Interstate Highway in the US state of Illinois that runs from an interchange with I-80 near Silvis and Moline to an interchange with I-290 and I-294 in Hillside, near Chicago. I-88 is long. This route is no ...
( Interstate 88) *
Golden Corridor The Golden Corridor is the area around the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway ( Interstate 90), formerly known as the Northwest Tollway, in the Chicago metropolitan area. Its name refers to the "gold" mine of economic profit for communities in the area. ...
, along the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (
Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...
) *
Lakeshore Corridor {{unreferenced, date=May 2016 The Lakeshore Corridor is the area around the Edens Expressway and Tri-State Tollway, in the northern suburbs of Chicago, including the affluent North Shore suburbs. It is home to many shopping centers, healthcare fac ...
, along the Edens Expressway and Tri-State Tollway


Culture


Sports

Listing of the professional sports teams in the Chicago metropolitan area Major league professional teams: * Major League Baseball (MLB) **
Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
** Chicago White Sox * National Football League (NFL) **
Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...
* National Basketball Association (NBA) ** Chicago Bulls * National Hockey League (NHL) ** Chicago Blackhawks *
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
(MLS) ** Chicago Fire Other professional teams: * Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) ** Chicago Sky *
National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...
(NWSL) ** Chicago Red Stars * National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) **
Chicago Bandits The Chicago Bandits were a women's professional softball team based in Rosemont, Illinois. Since the 2005 season, they have played as a member of National Pro Fastpitch (NPF). The Bandits won the 2008 NPF championship, defeating the Washington Gl ...
* American Association of Professional Baseball (AA) ** Chicago Dogs ** Kane County Cougars **
Gary SouthShore RailCats The Gary SouthShore RailCats are a professional baseball team based in Gary, Indiana, in the United States. The RailCats are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball. The Rai ...
* American Hockey League (AHL) ** Chicago Wolves * NBA G League (NBAGL) ** Windy City Bulls * Arena Football (AFL) **
Chicago Rush The Chicago Rush were a professional arena football team based in Rosemont, Illinois Rosemont is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Located immediately northwest of Chicago, as of the 2010 census it had a population of 4,20 ...
(Operations suspended in 2013, no longer part of the AFL)AFL Issues Statement on Rush, Blaze
Chicago Rush Media Relations, ArenaRush.com, September 9, 2013
The Chicagoland Speedway oval track has hosted
NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...
and IndyCar Series races. The Chicago Marathon is one of the
World Marathon Majors The World Marathon Majors (WMM) (known for sponsorship reasons as the Abbott World Marathon Majors) is a championship-style competition for marathon runners that started in 2006. A points-based competition founded on six major marathon races recog ...
. The Western Open and BMW Championship are PGA Tour tournaments that have been held primarily at golf courses near Chicago. NCAA Division I College Sports Teams: * Big East Conference ** DePaul University Blue Demons * Big Ten Conference ** Northwestern University Wildcats (Evanston) * Horizon League ** University of Illinois-Chicago Flames * Mid-American Conference ** Northern Illinois University Huskies (DeKalb) * Missouri Valley Conference ** Loyola University-Chicago Ramblers ** Valparaiso University Beacons (Valparaiso, IN) * Western Athletic Conference ** Chicago State University Cougars


Cuisine

*
Chicago-style hot dog A Chicago-style hot dog, Chicago Dog, or Chicago Red Hot is an all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, originating from the city of Chicago, Illinois. The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, bright green sweet pick ...
* Chicago-style pizza * Italian beef * Caramel Corn


Media

The two main newspapers are the '' Chicago Tribune'' and the '' Chicago Sun-Times''. Local television channels broadcasting to the Chicago market include WBBM-TV 2 (CBS), WMAQ-TV 5 (NBC), WLS-TV 7 (ABC),
WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...
9 (Ind),
WTTW WTTW (channel 11) is a PBS member television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by not-for-profit broadcaster Window to the World Communications, Inc., it is sister to commercial classical music radio station WFMT (98.7 FM). The ...
11 (PBS), MeTV 23, WCIU 26 (CW), WFLD 32 (FOX), WCPX-TV 38 ( Ion),
WSNS-TV WSNS-TV (channel 44) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Spanish-language Telemundo network. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group alongside NBC outlet WMAQ-TV (c ...
44 (Telemundo), WPWR-TV 50 (MyNetworkTV), and
WJYS-TV WJYS (channel 62) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station licensed to Hammond, Indiana, United States, serving the Chicago area. It is one of two commercial broadcasting, commercial television stations in the C ...
62 (The Way). Radio stations serving the area include: WBBM (AM), WBEZ, WGN (AM), WMBI, WLS (AM), and WSCR.


Education

Elementary and secondary education within the Chicago metropolitan area is provided by dozens of different school districts, of which by far the largest is the Chicago Public Schools with 400,000 students. Numerous private and religious school systems are also found in the region, as well as a growing number of charter schools. Racial inequalities in education in the region remain widespread, often breaking along district boundaries; for instance, educational prospects vary widely for students in the Chicago Public Schools compared to those in some neighboring suburban schools. Historically, the Chicago metropolitan area has been at the center of a number of national educational movements, from the free-flowing Winnetka Plan to the regimented Taylorism of the
Gary Plan William Albert Wirt (1874–1938) was a Superintendent (education), superintendent of schools in Gary, Indiana. Wirt developed the Gary Plan for the more efficient use of school facilities, a reform of the Progressive Movement that was widely ...
. In higher education, University of Chicago founder William Rainey Harper was a leading early advocate of the
junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...
movement; Joliet Junior College is the nation's oldest continuously-operating junior college today. Later U of C president Robert Maynard Hutchins was central to the Great Books movement, and programs of
dialogic education Dialogic learning is learning that takes place through dialogue. It is typically the result of egalitarian dialogue; in other words, the consequence of a dialogue in which different people provide arguments based on validity claims and not on p ...
arising from that legacy can be found today at the U of C, at Shimer College, and in the
City Colleges of Chicago The City Colleges of Chicago is the public community college system of the Chicago area. Its colleges offer associate degrees, certificates, free courses for the GED, and free English as a second language (ESL) courses. The City Colleges system ...
and Oakton Community College in the Northwest suburbs.


Area codes

From 1947 until 1988, the Illinois portion of the Chicago metro area was served by a single
area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...
, 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 running out of phone numbers, the 312 area code in Chicago was also exhausting its supply of available numbers. As a result, the city of Chicago 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 overlay area code 331 was implemented to supplement the 630 area with additional numbers. Plans are in place for overlay codes in the 708, 773, and 312 regions as those area codes become exhausted in the future. *
312 __NOTOC__ Year 312 ( CCCXII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantinus and Licinianus (or, less frequently, ...
Chicago - City (The
Loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...
and central neighborhoods, e.g. the Near North Side) *
773 __NOTOC__ Year 773 ( DCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 773 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...
Chicago - City (Everywhere else within the city limits, excluding central area) * 872 Chicago - City (overlay for 312 & 773, effective November 7, 2009) * 847/224 (North and Northwest Suburbs) * 630/331 (Outer Western Suburbs) *
708 __NOTOC__ Year 708 ( DCCVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 708 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era b ...
(South and Near West Suburbs) * 815/779 ( Rockford & Joliet: Far Northwest/Southwest Suburbs) *
219 __NOTOC__ Year 219 ( CCXIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Antonius and Sacerdos (or, less frequently, year 972 '' ...
(Northwest Indiana) *
574 Year 574 ( DLXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 574 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the ...
(North-central Indiana) *
262 __NOTOC__ Year 262 (Roman numerals, CCLXII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gallienus and Faustianus (or, less fre ...
(Southeast Wisconsin surrounding
Milwaukee County Milwaukee County is located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, and the 45th most populous coun ...
)


Proposed overlays

* 464 overlay for 708 (1/21/2022 rollout)


See also


References


Further reading

* Fischer, Paul B. (July 28, 1993).
Racial and Locational Patterns of Subsidized Housing in the Chicago Suburbs: A Report to the MacArthur Foundation
'
Archive
. Lake Forest, Ill.: Lake Forest College. Report to the MacArthur Foundation. * Lewinnek, Elaine (2014). ''The Working Man's Reward: Chicago's Early Suburbs and the Roots of American Sprawl''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.


External links


U.S. Census Urbanized Area Outline Map (2000)

Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City, IL-IN-WI Combined Statistical Area (2012) map

Illinois CBSAs and Counties (2013) map

U.S. Census Bureau Chicago city, Illinois QuickFacts








{{Authority control * Metropolitan areas of Illinois Metropolitan areas of Indiana Metropolitan areas of Wisconsin Regions of Illinois Regions of Indiana Regions of Wisconsin 1837 establishments in the United States