Chicagoland

Chicagoland.
Chicagoland.
Chicagoland Radius Map Showing Zones.
Chicagoland Radius Map Showing Zones.

Chicagoland is a common name for the Chicago metropolitan area in the USA. Chicagoland includes the City of Chicago at its core and encompasses smaller cities and suburban communities located in nine surrounding counties in the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Chicagoland is often used in place of "Chicago metropolitan area" by local residents, businesses, governments, and planning agencies. The term originated in the pages of the Chicago Tribune in the 1900s.

Contents

[edit]

Overview

The Chicago–Naperville-Joliet, Illinois–Gary, Indiana–Kenosha, Wisconsin Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area had 9,157,540 inhabitants during the 2000 census. Population estimates for 2003 place the Chicagoland population at approximately 9,650,000, which would make it the 25th most populous metropolitan area in the world. Chicagoland runs together with Suburban Milwaukee creating a megalopolis region.

The suburbs, surrounded by easily annexed flat ground, have been expanding at a tremendous rate since the early 1960s. Naperville in particular is noteworthy for being the only boomburb outside the Sunbelt and Mountain States regions. Settlement patterns in Chicagoland tend to follow those in the city proper: the northern suburbs along the shore of Lake Michigan are comparatively affluent, while the southern suburbs are less so, with lower median incomes and a lower cost of living. There are affluent areas in the northwest and western suburbs as well, that rival the northern suburbs. The southern portion of Chicagoland is occasionally called Illiana, a contraction of Illinois and Indiana.

[edit]

Origin

The publisher of the Chicago Tribune, Colonel Robert R. McCormick, was an inveterate civic booster. In his view, Chicagoland was the vast region in the center of the country, with Chicago as its economic and cultural capital. In many ways, what McCormick envisioned as Chicagoland is now described by the term flyover country.

The term is often used by advertisers ("See your Chicagoland Ford dealer") or by weathercasters ("A major snowstorm is expected in the Chicagoland area"). It would rarely be used outside the area, however. For example, people from Chicago or the surrounding suburbs would likely indicate the city of Chicago, the northern suburbs, the northwest suburbs, the western suburbs, etc. in response to a question from an outsider as to where they are from.

[edit]

List of counties

[edit]

Illinois

[edit]

Indiana

[edit]

Wisconsin

[edit]

Anchor cities

[edit]

Major airports

[edit]

Suburbs with more than 100,000 inhabitants

[edit]

Illinois

[edit]

Indiana

[edit]

Suburbs with 10,000 to 100,000 inhabitants

[edit]

Illinois

[edit]

Indiana

[edit]

Wisconsin

[edit]

Suburbs with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants

[edit]

Illinois

[edit]

Indiana

[edit]

Wisconsin

[edit]

See also


Map of Chicagoland Metropolitan area of Chicagoland
States: Illinois | Indiana | Wisconsin
Largest cities (over 30,000 in 2000): Aurora | Berwyn | Calumet City | Chicago | Chicago Heights | Crystal Lake | Des Plaines | East Chicago | Elgin | Elmhurst | Evanston | Gary, IN | Hammond, IN | Harvey | Highland Park | Joliet | Kenosha, WI | Naperville | North Chicago | Park Ridge | Waukegan | Wheaton
Largest towns and villages (over 30,000 in 2000): Addison | Arlington Heights | Bartlett | Bolingbrook | Buffalo Grove | Carol Stream | Carpentersville | Cicero | Downers Grove | Elk Grove Village | Glendale Heights | Glenview | Hanover Park | Hoffman Estates | Lombard | Merrillville, IN | Mount Prospect | Mundelein | Niles | Northbrook | Oak Lawn | Oak Park | Orland Park | Palatine | Schaumburg | Skokie | Streamwood | Tinley Park | Wheeling | Woodridge
Counties: Cook | DuPage | Kane | Kendall | Kenosha | Lake (IL) | Lake (IN) | McHenry | Will
[edit]

External links