In 2023, the population of the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metropolitan area in the United States was about 9.26 million people. This was a slight decrease from the previous year, which was about 9.27 million.

Graph and download economic data for Resident Population in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI (MSA) (CHIPOP) from 2000 to 2022 about Chicago, WI, IN, IL, residents, population, and USA.

Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the Chicago metro area from 1950 to 2025.

In 2023, the metropolitan area of New York-Newark-Jersey City had the biggest population in the United States. Based on annual estimates from the census, the metropolitan area had around 19.5 million inhabitants, which was a slight decrease from the previous year. The Los Angeles and Chicago metro areas rounded out the top three. What is a metropolitan statistical area? In general, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a core urbanized area with a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants – the smallest MSA is Carson City, with an estimated population of nearly 56,000. The urban area is made bigger by adjacent communities that are socially and economically linked to the center. MSAs are particularly helpful in tracking demographic change over time in large communities and allow officials to see where the largest pockets of inhabitants are in the country. How many MSAs are in the United States? There were 421 metropolitan statistical areas across the U.S. as of July 2021. The largest city in each MSA is designated the principal city and will be the first name in the title. An additional two cities can be added to the title, and these will be listed in population order based on the most recent census. So, in the example of New York-Newark-Jersey City, New York has the highest population, while Jersey City has the lowest. The U.S. Census Bureau conducts an official population count every ten years, and the new count is expected to be announced by the end of 2030.

Graph and download economic data for Civilian Labor Force in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI (MSA) (LAUMT171698000000006A) from 1990 to 2024 about Chicago, WI, IN, IL, civilian, labor force, labor, household survey, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Unemployed Persons in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI (MSA) (LAUMT171698000000004) from Jan 1990 to Aug 2025 about Chicago, WI, IN, IL, household survey, persons, unemployment, and USA.

How many incorporated places are registered in the U.S.?

There were 19,502 incorporated places registered in the United States as of July 31, 2019. 16,410 had a population under 10,000 while, in contrast, only 10 cities had a population of one million or more.

Small-town America

Suffice it to say, almost nothing is more idealized in the American imagination than small-town America. When asked where they would prefer to live, 30 percent of Americans reported that they would prefer to live in a small town. Americans tend to prefer small-town living due to a perceived slower pace of life, close-knit communities, and a more affordable cost of living when compared to large cities.

An increasing population

Despite a preference for small-town life, metropolitan areas in the U.S. still see high population figures, with the New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago metro areas being the most populous in the country. Metro and state populations are projected to increase by 2040, so while some may move to small towns to escape city living, those small towns may become more crowded in the upcoming decades.

A dataset listing Illinois cities by population for 2024.

Separate tables for the last ten years of Community Data Snapshot releases (2015-2025) are provided for three geographic levels:The seven counties in the CMAP region (with regional total)The 284 municipalities in the CMAP regionThe 77 Chicago community areas (CCAs) There is limited geographic availability (particularly at the CCA level) for some variables. Additional information on availability and data sources are found in the CDS Data Dictionary. Looking to match human-friendly labels to field names? Use the CDS Data Dictionary Crosswalk.When using multiple releases of the snapshots, please don’t compare overlapping ACS 5-Year Estimates. The Census Bureau provides specific guidance for when it is appropriate to compare ACS data across time. CMAP uses the most recently available 5-Year Estimates, which are usually available on a two year lag:CDS release yearACS 5-Year Estimates data vintageCompare to previous CDS release year20252019-20232020, 201520242018-2022201920232017-2021201820222016-2020201720212015-2019201620202014-2018201520192013-2017 20182012-2016 20172011-2015 20162010-2014 20152009-2013 NOTE: Much of the data is from five-year American Community Survey, which is a sample-based data product. This means users must exercise caution when interpreting data from low-population municipalities, as the margins of error are often large compared to the estimate. Not sure which municipality or Chicago community area you want? Explore a community's data in the interactive dashboard.Are you looking for the PDF versions? Find and download the print-friendly Community Data Snapshots from the agency website.

Graph and download economic data for Employed Persons in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI (MSA) (LAUMT171698000000005) from Jan 1990 to Aug 2025 about Chicago, WI, IN, IL, household survey, persons, employment, and USA.

Courtesy of MetroPulse

In terms of population size, the sex ratio in the United States favors females, although the gender gap is remaining stable. In 2010, there were around 5.17 million more women, with the difference projected to decrease to around 3 million by 2027.

Gender ratios by U.S. state In the United States, the resident population was estimated to be around 331.89 million in 2021. The gender distribution of the nation has remained steady for several years, with women accounting for approximately 51.1 percent of the population since 2013. Females outnumbered males in the majority of states across the country in 2020, and there were eleven states where the gender ratio favored men.

Metro areas by population National differences between male and female populations can also be analyzed by metropolitan areas. In general, a metropolitan area is a region with a main city at its center and adjacent communities that are all connected by social and economic factors. The largest metro areas in the U.S. are New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. In 2019, there were more women than men in all three of those areas, but Jackson, Missouri was the metro area with the highest share of female population.

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI (MSA) (LAUMT171698000000003A) from 1990 to 2024 about Chicago, WI, IN, IL, household survey, unemployment, rate, and USA.

There are three components of change: births, deaths, and migration. The change in the population from births and deaths is often combined and referred to as natural increase or natural change. Populations grow or shrink depending on if they gain people faster than they lose them. Looking at an area’s unique combination of natural change and migration helps us understand why its population is changing, and how quickly the change is occurring.Natural IncreaseNatural change is the difference between births and deaths in a population. Often times, natural change is positive, which means that more babies are being born than people are dying. This positive natural change is referred to as natural increase. Examples of natural increase exist across the United States, one being the Salt Lake City metro area in Utah. Between 2014 and 2015, Salt Lake City had around 19,100 births and 6,400 deaths. Since there were about 12,700 more births than deaths, Salt Lake City had a natural increase of about 12,700 people, making natural increase a key reason why its population grew over the year.The opposite of natural increase is called natural decrease, where more people are dying than babies being born, which can cause a population to shrink. Areas with aging populations often have natural decrease. Two states had natural decrease between 2014 and 2015, Maine and West Virginia. Between 2014 and 2015, Maine had 450 more deaths than births and West Virginia had 940 more deaths than births. In both cases, natural decrease was one of the reasons why their populations shrank between 2014 and 2015 in our latest estimates.MigrationMigration is the movement of people from one area to another. It is often expressed as net migration, which is the difference between how many people move into and out of an area. When net migration is positive, a population has more people moving in than out. We split migration into domestic migration and international migration.Domestic migration refers to people moving between areas within the United States, and is often one of the largest contributors to population change. Regionally, the South gains the most net domestic migrants, with roughly 440,000 more people moving into southern states than leaving them between 2014 and 2015. Sometimes net domestic migration is negative, in which case more people are moving away than are moving in. The Chicago metro area in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin lost about 80,000 people through migration between 2014 and 2015, which is consistent with a long-standing pattern of negative net domestic migration for the metro area.International migration refers to people moving into and out of the United States, and consists of a diverse group of people such as foreign-born immigrants from many countries around the world, members of the U.S. Armed Forces, and U.S. citizens working abroad. Some areas, like the Miami metro area in Florida, grow (in part) due to net international migration. Miami gained about 70,000 net international migrants between 2014 and 2015, making net international migration a major factor in Miami’s population growth.

In 2023, the real GDP of the Los Angeles metro area amount to around 1.08 trillion U.S. dollars, and increase after 2021. The overall quarterly GDP growth in the United States can be found here. Gross domestic product of Los AngelesWith a population of over 12.8 million inhabitants in 2023, Los Angeles is the second-largest city in America, following only New York. The Los Angeles metro area also ranked second among U.S. metro areas in terms of gross metropolitan product, second again only to New York City metro area, which came in with a GMP of 1.99 trillion U.S. dollars to Los Angeles’ 1.13 trillion U.S. dollars in the fiscal year of 2021. Chicago metro area ranked third with GMP of 757.2 billion U.S. dollars. Additional detailed statistics about GDP in the United States is available here. Despite Los Angeles’ high GDP, L.A. did not do as well as some cities in terms of median household income. Los Angeles ranked 9th with a median household income of 76,135 U.S. dollars annually in 2022. This was slightly higher than the median household income of the United States in 2022, which came in at 74,580 U.S. dollars annually. Located in Southern California, Los Angeles is home to Hollywood, the famous epicenter of the U.S. film and television industries. The United States is one of the leading film markets worldwide, producing 449 films in 2022, many of them produced by Hollywood-based studios. In 2018, movie ticket sales in North America generated over 11.89 billion U.S. dollars in box office revenue. Famous Hollywood actresses earn millions annually, with the best paid, Sofia Vergara, earning 43 million U.S. dollars in 2020. Second on the list was Angelina Jolie with earnings of 35.5 million U.S. dollars.

To advance ON TO 2050’s commitment to inclusive growth, CMAP has defined Economically Disconnected and Disinvested Areas within the region. Economically Disconnected Areas (EDAs) identify areas with concentrations of both low-income households and population of color or limited English proficiency population; approximately one-third of the region’s population lives in EDAs. Disinvested Areas (DAs) outline primarily nonresidential places with long-term declines in employment and other markers of commercial market weakness. Together, EDA and DA communities experience a persistent, long-term lack of market investment, leading to declining property values, taxes, employment, and, frequently, population. Disinvestment often constrains the ability of any individual community to respond effectively to these losses, and high tax rates and low market potential limit private investment. For these reasons, these geographies should be examined both separately and together. While some policy solutions will be common to both geographies, other solutions may be unique to each geography.More information can be found on CMAP's Economically Disconnected and Disinvested Areas webpage.Data sources are detailed in the methodology documents linked below:EDA MethodologyDisinvested Areas MethodologyInclusive Growth Strategy PaperReinvestment and Infill Strategy Paper

An “Area of Persistent Poverty” is defined by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. For the purpose of a grant application, a project is located in an Area of Persistent Poverty if:the County in which the project is located consistently had greater than or equal to 20 percent of the population living in poverty in all three of the following datasets: (a) the 1990 decennial census; (b) the 2000 decennial census; and (c) the most recent (2022) Small Area Income Poverty Estimates; ORthe Census Tract in which the project is located has a poverty rate of at least 20 percent as measured by the 2014-2018 5-year data series available from the American Community Survey of the Bureau of the Census; ORthe project is located in any territory or possession of the United States.

Courtesy of MetroPulse

Estimated characteristics of Chicago metro area PWID, random effects meta-analysis of proportions.

Separate tables are provided for three geographic levels:The seven counties in the CMAP region (with regional total)The 284 municipalities in the CMAP regionThe 77 Chicago community areas (CCAs) There is limited geographic availability (particularly at the CCA level) for some variables. Additional information on availability and data sources are found in the CDS Data Dictionary. Looking to match human-friendly labels to field names? Use the CDS Data Dictionary Crosswalk.NOTE: Much of the data is from 5-year American Community Survey, which is a sample-based data product. This means users must exercise caution when interpreting data from low-population municipalities, as the margins of error are often large compared to the estimate. Not sure which municipality or Chicago community area you want? Explore a community's data in the interactive dashboard.Are you looking for the PDF versions? Find and download the print-friendly Community Data Snapshots from the agency website.