Chicago, Illinois

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The 2000 Census showed that Chicago had a population of 2,896,016 people^<1>. This represents 23.28% of the total population of Illinois, making it the state's most populous community.

The following table shows the recent changes in population. For the years after 2000, the population counts are estimated.

Below is a list of similarily sized communities (while rank is based on the 2000 Census, the population shown is estimated for 2008):

Rank in 2000	Community	Direction	Distance<2>	2008 Population	Change Since 2000
-1-	Chicago			2,853,114	1.48% decrease
2	Rockford	NW	76 mi [122.3 km]	157,272	4.77% increase
3	Aurora	W	31 mi [49.89 km]	171,782	20.14% increase
4	Naperville	W	25 mi [40.23 km]	143,117	11.5% increase
5	Peoria	SW	125 mi [201.2 km]	114,114	1.04% increase
6	Springfield	SW	175 mi [281.6 km]	117,352	5.29% increase
7	Joliet	SW	32 mi [51.5 km]	146,125	37.57% increase

Chicago had 1,152,868 Housing Units^<3> at the time of the 2000 Census.

The 2000 Census shows that Chicago has a total area of 234 square miles [606 km²]^<4>. Of this total, 227.1 square miles [588 km²]6.87 square miles [17.79 km²]).

Using the above population and land area values, Chicago had a 2000 population density of 12,750 people per square mile [4,922 people/km²], making it the state's 5th most densely populated area.

Cook County

The city of Chicago is primarily located in Cook County and is the county seat. A portion of Chicago extends into DuPage County.

The county had a population of 5,377,092 people at the 2000 Census. With it's population of 2,896,016 people, Chicago contained 53.9% of the Cook County total.

In addition, where the community of Chicago has a population density of 12,750 people per square mile [4,922 people/km²], Cook County averages 5,685 people per square mile [2,195 people/km²].

For more information, please visit our Census Page for Cook County.

Population Rings

To help identify the number of people who live in Chicago and the surrounding area, we have drawn concentric rings centered on Chicago. We counted the number of communities within each ring and summed their populations.^<5>

US Census QuickFacts

The Census Bureau has created documents containing demographic information called QuickFacts. Although they don't create QuickFacts for all communities, they do have one for Chicago. Not only does the QuickFact have details about Chicago, it also contains a comparison between Chicago and the state of Illinois.

Click here for the Chicago QuickFact (QF-1714000).

The following communities are nearby Chicago and also have Census QuickFacts:

	Community	Census QuickFact	Direction	Distance	2008 Population	Change Since 2000
	Cicero	QF-1714351	W	3 mi [4.83 km]	80,414	6.08% decrease
	Berwyn	QF-1705573	W	5 mi [8.05 km]	49,919	7.58% decrease
	Oak Park	QF-1754885	NW	6 mi [9.66 km]	49,557	5.65% decrease
	Oak Lawn	QF-1754820	S	9 mi [14.48 km]	53,244	3.62% decrease
	Elmhurst	QF-1723620	W	13 mi [20.92 km]	46,013	7.6% increase
	Evanston	QF-1724582	N	14 mi [22.53 km]	77,693	4.65% increase
	Niles	QF-1753000	NW	14 mi [22.53 km]	28,666	4.66% decrease
	Park Ridge	QF-1757875	NW	14 mi [22.53 km]	36,927	2.24% decrease

For more about neighboring communities, please visit our Neighborhood Page for Chicago.

A Census Quickfact is available for Cook County (QF-17031).

Miscellaneous Information

The Federal government has assigned identifying codes to each community, county and state. The following FIPS codes apply to Chicago:

Chicago is located in Census Region #2 (the Midwest Region) and in Division #3 (the East North-Central Division).

For more information about various Federal Codes, please visit our Misc. Page for Chicago.

The Commemorative Quarter for Illinois<6>

Search for Local Businesses

People have found Google's 'Search-by-Location' to be a useful tool when planning visits to this area. We have prepared the following searches to help you find businesses, travel and vacation activities that are in (or close to) Chicago. It's likely that the search results won't include all of the businesses that are in this area, but the results should give you a good foundation for further searches.

For what it's worth: In addition to helping you submit your own search, clicking 'Other...' will frequently (but not always) show you some popular searches for this area.

If you find an error or your business wasn't included in the results, please contact Google to help them resolve the issue (we simply link to 'Search-by-Location' and have no control over their results).

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Footnotes