The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km²), the metropolitan area includes the city of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, its suburbs and hinterland, spanning 14

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in northeast

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, northwest Indiana, and southeast

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. 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 (after the metro areas of Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles), the third-largest metropolitan area in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, the largest within the entire Midwest, 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 population also increased according to the 2020 Census. The metro area also has a large number of White,

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

, and Arab American residents, making the Chicago metropolitan area a truly diverse region. The Chicago metropolitan area represents about 3 percent of the entire

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 Gross regional product (GRP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a region or subdivision of a country in a period (quarterly or yearly) of time. A metropolitan area's GRP (gross metropolitan prod ...

(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 The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Chicago, DePaul University, Loyola University, and the

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...

. The

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 The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago 'L' and CTA bus service. In , the system had a ridership of , ...

(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 The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

operated a national rail hub at

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

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 bus routes primarily serve the suburbs, with some service into the city.

Definitions

Chicago Metropolitan statistical area

Chicago metropolitan area in Illinois 1950-2010

The Chicago

Metropolitan Statistical Area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally incorporated as a city or tow ...

was originally designated by the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...

in 1950. It comprised the

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 Net or net may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Net (mathematics), a filter-like topological generalization of a sequence * Net, a linear system of divisors of dimension 2 * Net (polyhedron), an arrangement of polygons that can be folded up ...

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 Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...

(5,287,037) ** DeKalb County (107,333) **

DuPage County DuPage County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, and one of the collar counties of the Chicago metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 932,877, making it Illinois' second-most populous county. Its county seat ...

(932,541) ** Grundy County (48,421) ** Kankakee County (113,449) ** Kane County (511,892) ** Kendall County (104,821) ** McHenry County (320,961) **

Will County 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 ...

(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 Combined statistical area (CSA) is a United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) term for a combination of adjacent metropolitan (MSA) and micropolitan statistical areas (µSA) across the 50 US states and the territory of Puerto Ric ...

(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

). 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 An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

, according to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

''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 The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'', 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,

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, and

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

). 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. 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

, eight nearby Illinois counties (

Lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

, McHenry, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Grundy, Will, and Kankakee), and the two Indiana counties of

and

Porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., ...

. 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 The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization promoting business in the Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United ...

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's ''"Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana"'' advertising campaign are directed at the MSA itself, as well as LaSalle, Winnebago ( Rockford), Boone, and Ogle counties in Illinois, in addition to Jasper, Newton, and La Porte counties in Indiana and

Kenosha Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenosh ...

, Racine, and Walworth counties in Wisconsin, and even as far northeast as

Berrien County, Michigan Berrien County is a county on the south line of Michigan, at the southwestern corner of the state. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 154,316. The county seat is St. Joseph. Berrien County is included in the Niles-Benton Harbor, MI Me ...

. The region is part of the Great Lakes Megalopolis, containing an estimated 54 million people.

Collar counties

The term "

collar counties Collar counties is a colloquialism for DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties, the five counties of Illinois that border Cook County, which is home to Chicago. The collar counties are part of the Chicago metropolitan area and comp ...

" is a colloquialism for the five counties ( DuPage, Kane,

, McHenry, and Will) of

that border Chicago's

. 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: *

* Kane County * Kendall County * Lake County * McHenry 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 moraines in the south and west suburbs. These areas are higher and hillier than the Chicago Plain. A continental divide, separating the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

watershed from that of the Great Lakes and

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

, 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,

green ash ''Fraxinus pennsylvanica'', the green ash or red ash, is a species of ash native to eastern and central North America, from Nova Scotia west to southeastern Alberta and eastern Colorado, south to northern Florida, and southwest to Oklahoma and e ...

, boxelder,

black cherry ''Prunus serotina'', commonly called black cherry,World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, Second Edition'. CRC Press; 19 April 2016. . p. 833–. wild black cherry, rum cherry, or mountain black cherry, is a deciduous tree or shrub of the ...

, and

American elm ''Ulmus americana'', generally known as the American elm or, less commonly, as the white elm or water elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America, naturally occurring from Nova Scotia west to Alberta and Montana, and south to F ...

. These resources perform important functions in carbon storage, water recycling, and energy saving.

Demographics

ISS067-E-151549 Chicago metropolitan area

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

boomburb ''Boomburb'' is a neologism principally promoted by American Robert E. Lang of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech for a large, rapidly growing city in the United States that remains essentially suburban in character, even as it reaches popu ...

s outside the Sun Belt, West Coast and

Mountain States The Mountain states (also known as the Mountain West or the Interior West) form one of the nine geographic divisions of the United States that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau. It is a subregion of the Western Un ...

regions, and exurban 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 are comparatively affluent, while the southern suburbs (sometimes known as

Chicago Southland The Chicago Southland is a region comprising the south and southwest suburbs of the City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. Home to roughly 2.5 million residents, this region has been known as the Southland by the local populace and regio ...

) 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,

had the highest median household income of any county in the

. 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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(2,746,388)

Over 100,000 population

* Aurora, Illinois (180,542) * Joliet, Illinois (150,362) *

Naperville, Illinois Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is in the Chicago metro area, west of the city. Naperville was founded in 1831 by Joseph Naper. The city was ...

(149,540) * Elgin, Illinois (114,797)

Over 50,000 population

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenos ...

(99,986) * Waukegan, Illinois (89,321) * Cicero, Illinois (85,268) * Schaumburg, Illinois (78,723) *

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...

(78,110) * Hammond, Indiana (77,879) * Arlington Heights, Illinois (77,676) *

Bolingbrook, Illinois The village of Bolingbrook is a southwest suburb of Chicago in Will and DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 73,922. As of 2010, it is the 17th largest incorporated place in Illinois and the sta ...

(73,922) * Gary, Indiana (69,093) * Palatine, Illinois (67,908) * Skokie, Illinois (67,824) *

Des Plaines, Illinois Des Plaines is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 60,675. The city is a suburb of Chicago and is located just north of O'Hare International Airport. It is situated on and is named after the ...

(60,675) *

Orland Park, Illinois Orland Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion in Will County. The village is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, Orland Park had a population of 58,703. Located 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Ch ...

(58,703) * Oak Lawn, Illinois (58,362) *

Berwyn, Illinois Berwyn is a suburban city in Cook County, Illinois, coterminous with Berwyn Township, Cook County, Illinois, Berwyn Civil township, Township, which was formed in 1908 after breaking off from Cicero Township, Cook County, Illinois, Cicero Townshi ...

(57,250) * Mount Prospect, Illinois (56,852) * Tinley Park, Illinois (55,971) *

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, adjacent to Chicago. It is the 29th-most populous municipality in Illinois with a population of 54,583 as of the 2020 U.S. Census estimate. Oak Park was first settled in 1835 and later incorporated ...

(54,583) * Wheaton, Illinois (53,970) *

Downers Grove, Illinois Downers Grove is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, whose surname serves as the eponym for the village. It is a south-west suburb of Chicago. The village is located between I-88 and I- ...

(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. Chicagoland Townships grays

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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

metropolitan area is home to the corporate headquarters of 57 Fortune 1000 companies, including AbbVie Inc., Allstate,

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar Inc. (stock symbol CAT) is an American ''Fortune'' 500 corporation and the world's largest construction-equipment manufacturer. In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked number 65 on the ''Fortune'' 500 list and number 238 on the Global ''Fo ...

, Kraft Heinz, McDonald's, Mondelez International,

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorol ...

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

, Walgreens, and more. The Chicago area also headquarters a wide variety of global financial institutions including

Citadel LLC Citadel LLC (formerly known as Citadel Investment Group, LLC) is an American multinational hedge fund and financial services company. Founded in 1990 by Kenneth C. Griffin, it has more than $50 billion in assets under management . The company ...

Discover Financial Services Discover Financial Services is an American financial services company that owns and operates Discover Bank, which offers checking and savings accounts, personal loans, home equity loans, student loans and credit cards. It also owns and operate ...

, Morningstar, Inc., CNA Financial, and more. Chicago is home to the largest futures exchange in the world, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In March 2008, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange announced its acquisition of NYMEX Holdings Inc, the parent company of the

New York Mercantile Exchange The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is a commodity futures exchange owned and operated by CME Group of Chicago. NYMEX is located at One North End Avenue in Brookfield Place in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan, New York City. T ...

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 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, had begun its life as an agricultural futures market. 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 ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' 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 Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop busines ...

(ORD) *

Chicago Midway International Airport Chicago Midway International Airport , typically referred to as Midway Airport, Chicago Midway, or simply Midway, is a major commercial airport on the Southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the Lo ...

(MDW) * Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport (MKE) (located in the adjacent Milwaukee metropolitan area) *

Chicago Rockford International Airport Chicago Rockford International Airport , typically referred to as Rockford International Airport, Chicago Rockford, or by its IATA call letters, RFD, is a commercial airport in Rockford, Illinois, located northwest of Chicago., effective April 26 ...

(RFD) (located in the adjacent Rockford metropolitan area) *

Gary/Chicago International Airport Gary/Chicago International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport in Gary, in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is three miles northwest of the city center of Gary, and southeast of the Chicago Loop. It is operated by the Gar ...

(GYY)

Commercial ports

* Port of Chicago * 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 In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$5 ...

serve the area, the most in North America.

Passenger

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, Michigan City, and ending at

South Bend South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

. *

operates

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 (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 Interstate 355 (I-355), also known as the Veterans Memorial Tollway, is an Interstate Highway and tollway in the western and southwest suburbs of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. Like most other toll roads in the northeastern portion of th ...

is the Veterans Memorial Tollway (formerly North-South Tollway). *

I-57 Interstate 57 (I-57) is a north–south Interstate Highway in Missouri and Illinois that parallels the old Illinois Central Railroad for much of its route. It runs from Sikeston, Missouri, at I-55 to Chicago, Illinois, at I-94. I-57 ess ...

is unofficially the "West Leg" of the Dan Ryan Expy. *

I-65 Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between the Great Lakes and the Gulf ...

has no name, whether official or unofficial. *

I-80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...

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 Interstate 88 may refer to either of two United States Interstate highways: * Interstate 88 (Illinois) 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 ...

is the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (formerly East-West Tollway) * I-90 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 is disputed since around 2000 if it actually is I-90. Currently it is signed as "To I-90" in both directions. * I-190 is the John F. Kennedy Expy spur heading into Chicago-O'Hare Int'l Airport. *

I-290 Interstate 290 may refer to the following Interstate Highways in the United States: *Interstate 290 (Illinois), a highway from Chicago, Illinois, to Rolling Meadows, Illinois * Interstate 290 (Massachusetts), a highway in Massachusetts that connects ...

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 Interstate 294 (I-294) is a tolled auxiliary Interstate Highway in northeastern Illinois. It forms the southern portion of the Tri-State Tollway in Illinois. I-294 runs from South Holland at I-80/ I-94 and Illinois Route 394 (IL 394) to ...

is the Tri-State Tollway.

Other main highways

* US Routes in the Illinois part of the area include: US 6,

US 12 U.S. Route 12 (US 12) is an east–west United States highway, running from Aberdeen, Washington, to Detroit, Michigan, for almost . The highway has mostly been superseded by Interstate 90 (I-90) and I-94, but unlike most U.S. routes that ...

US 14 U.S. Route 14 (abbreviated U.S. 14 or US 14), an east–west route, is one of the original United States highways of 1926. It currently has a length of 1,398 miles (2,250 km), but it had a peak length of 1,429 miles (2,300 km). For ...

, US 20, US 30,

US 34 U.S. Route 34 (US 34) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from north-central Colorado to the western suburbs of Chicago. Through Rocky Mountain National Park it is known as the Trail Ridge Road where it reaches elevation ...

US 41 U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miami, ...

, 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 Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...

, 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

Jane Addams Memorial Tollway 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 ...

( Interstate 90) * Lakeshore Corridor, 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 Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) ** Chicago Cubs **

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) ** Chicago Bears *

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) **

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) ** Chicago Blackhawks * Major League Soccer (MLS) ** Chicago Fire Other professional teams: *

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA) **

Chicago Sky The Chicago Sky are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Sky compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 2 ...

* National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) **

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...

* National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) ** Chicago Bandits * American Association of Professional Baseball (AA) **

Chicago Dogs The Chicago Dogs are an independent professional baseball team based in Rosemont, Illinois. They are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball. They began play in 2018 and p ...

Kane County Cougars The Kane County Cougars are an independent professional baseball team located in Geneva, Illinois and are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball (MLB). They play thei ...

** Gary SouthShore RailCats *

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL) ** Chicago Wolves * NBA G League (NBAGL) **

Windy City Bulls The Windy City Bulls are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and are affiliated with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls play their home games at Now Arena, from Chicago. It became the thir ...

Arena Football Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...

(AFL) ** Chicago Rush (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 and

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

races. The

Chicago Marathon The Chicago Marathon is a marathon (long-distance foot race) held every October in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the six World Marathon Majors. Thus, it is also a World Athletics Label Road Race. The Chicago Marathon is the fourth-largest r ...

is one of the World Marathon Majors. The

Western Open The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...

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 The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

** DePaul University Blue Demons * Big Ten Conference ** Northwestern University Wildcats (Evanston) * Horizon League ** University of Illinois-Chicago Flames *

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

** Northern Illinois University Huskies (DeKalb) *

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

** Loyola University-Chicago Ramblers ** Valparaiso University Beacons (Valparaiso, IN) *

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to mos ...

** Chicago State University Cougars

Cuisine

* Chicago-style hot dog *

Chicago-style pizza Chicago-style pizza is pizza prepared according to several different styles developed in Chicago, widely referred to simply as deep dish pizza due to its cooking style. The pan in which it is baked gives the pizza its characteristically high edg ...

Italian beef An Italian beef sandwich, originating in Chicago, is composed of thin slices of seasoned roast beef, simmered and served on a long French roll. The sandwich's history dates back at least to the 1930s. The bread itself is, at the diner's prefer ...

Caramel Corn Caramel corn or caramel popcorn (toffee popcorn in the UK) is a confection made of popcorn coated with a sugar or molasses based caramel candy shell that is normally less than 1mm thick. Typically a sugar solution or syrup is made and heated until ...

Media

The two main newspapers are the ''

'' and the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

''. Local television channels broadcasting to the Chicago market include WBBM-TV 2 (CBS), WMAQ-TV 5 (NBC),

WLS-TV WLS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on North Stat ...

7 (ABC), WGN-TV 9 (Ind), WTTW 11 (PBS),

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...

23, WCIU 26 (CW),

WFLD WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed MyNetworkTV ...

32 (FOX),

WCPX-TV WCPX-TV (channel 38) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, broadcasting the Ion Television network. The station is owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company, and maintains offices on De ...

38 ( Ion), WSNS-TV 44 (Telemundo),

WPWR-TV WPWR-TV (channel 50) is a television station licensed to Gary, Indiana, United States, broadcasting the MyNetworkTV programming service to the Chicago area. It is one of two commercial television stations in the Chicago market to be licensed in ...

50 (MyNetworkTV), and WJYS-TV 62 (The Way). Radio stations serving the area include:

WBBM (AM) WBBM (780 kHz) – branded ''Newsradio 105.9 WBBM'' – is a commercial all-news AM radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Audacy, Inc., its studios are located at Two Prudential Plaza in the Chicago Loop, while the stati ...

, WBEZ, WGN (AM), WMBI, WLS (AM), and

WSCR WSCR (670 AM) – branded as 670 The Score – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois, servicing the Chicago metropolitan area and much of surrounding Northern Illinois, Northwest Indiana and parts of the Milwa ...

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 school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

s. 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. In higher education,

founder William Rainey Harper was a leading early advocate of the junior college movement;

Joliet Junior College Joliet Junior College (JJC) is a public community college in Joliet, Illinois. Founded in 1901, it was the first public community college founded in the United States. In Spring 2014, the college enrolled 16,375 students. Every year, 48,000 stu ...

is the nation's oldest continuously-operating junior college today. Later U of C president

Robert Maynard Hutchins Robert Maynard Hutchins (January 17, 1899 – May 14, 1977) was an American educational philosopher. He was president (1929–1945) and chancellor (1945–1951) of the University of Chicago, and earlier dean of Yale Law School (1927–1929). His& ...

was central to the

Great Books A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...

movement, and programs of dialogic education arising from that legacy can be found today at the U of C, at

Shimer College Shimer Great Books School (pronounced ) is a Great Books college that is part of North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Prior to 2017, Shimer was an independent, accredited college on the south side of Chicago, with a history of being ...

, and in the City Colleges of Chicago and

Oakton Community College Oakton College is a public community college with campuses in Des Plaines, Illinois and Skokie, Illinois. It was established in 1969 in Morton Grove, Illinois and moved to its current locations in 1980. History Oakton College opened in 1969 in ...

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, 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 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) *

872 Year 872 ( DCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Sancho III Mitarra (or ''Menditarra'') becomes the founder and first 'king' of the indepe ...

Chicago - City (overlay for 312 & 773, effective November 7, 2009) * 847/224 (North and Northwest Suburbs) * 630/331 (Outer Western Suburbs) * 708 (South and Near West Suburbs) * 815/779 ( Rockford & Joliet: Far Northwest/Southwest Suburbs) * 219 (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 ( 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 frequently, year ...

(Southeast Wisconsin surrounding Milwaukee County)

Proposed overlays

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

References

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

Definitions

Chicago Metropolitan statistical area

Combined Statistical Area

United Nations' Chicago urban agglomeration

Chicagoland

Collar counties

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning

Geography and environment

Demographics

Population

Principal municipalities

Over 1,000,000 population

Over 100,000 population

Over 50,000 population

Urban areas within

Economy

Transportation

Major airports

Commercial ports

Transit systems

Commercial freight

Passenger

Major highways

Interstates

Other main highways

Major corridors

Culture

Sports

Cuisine

Media

Education

Area codes

Proposed overlays

See also

References

Further reading

External links