Chicagoland

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Image:Chicagoland-map-tristate.jpg Image:Chicagoland.jpg Chicagoland is the preferred name for the Chicago metropolitan area and locally has the standing of an official name. 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. Newcomers to the area are often surprised to learn that the seemingly quaint term is not a mere nickname. Indeed, Chicagoland is virtually the only term local residents, businesses, governments, and planning agencies will use to refer to the metropolitan area. Locally, the term "Chicago metropolitan area" is rarely heard, and will likely have locals wondering why the speaker didn't simply say Chicagoland, instead. The term originated in the pages of the Chicago Tribune in the 1900s.

Contents

Overview

The Chicago–Joliet–Naperville–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. 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. The southern portion of Chicagoland is occasionally called Illiana, a contraction of Illinois and Indiana.

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 original impetus for the term is long forgotten; the meaning of Chicago metropolitan area is largely perpetuated by advertisers, e.g. "See your Chicagoland Ford dealer".

List of counties

Illinois

Indiana

Wisconsin

Anchor cities

Major airports

Suburbs with more than 100,000 inhabitants

Illinois

Indiana

Suburbs with 10,000 to 100,000 inhabitants

Illinois

Indiana

Wisconsin

Suburbs with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants

Illinois

Indiana

Wisconsin

See also

Image:Chicagoland-map-tristate.jpg

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


External Links

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