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.

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

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

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.

Population totals for groupings commonly used in other datasets.

Not all values are available for all years.

Note that because the "Citywide" rows roll up the values from the individual ZIP Codes and the "Age 0-4," "Age 5-11," "Age 12-17," "Age 5+," "Age 18+," and "Age 65+" columns overlap other age categories, as well as each other in some cases, care should be taken in summing values to avoid accidental double-counting. The "Age 5-11" and "Age 12-17" columns only include children who live in households.

Data Sources: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates (ZIP Code) and 1-year estimates (Citywide). The U.S. Census Bureau did not release standard 1-year estimates from the 2020 ACS. In 2020 only, 5-year estimates were used for the Citywide estimates.

Population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau by U.S. Census Block.

Comprehensive demographic dataset for Ford City, Chicago, IL, US including population statistics, household income, housing units, education levels, employment data, and transportation with year-over-year changes.

Selected variables from the most recent 5 year ACS Community Survey (Released 2023) aggregated by Ward. Additional years will be added as they become available. The underlying algorithm to create the dataset calculates the percent of a census tract that falls within the boundaries of a given ward. Given that census tracts and ward boundaries are not aligned, these figures should be considered an estimate. Total Population in this Dataset: 2,649,803 Total Population of Chicago reported by ACS 2023: 2,664,452 % Difference: %-0.55 There are different approaches in common use for displaying Hispanic or Latino population counts. In this dataset, following the approach taken by the Census Bureau, a person who identifies as Hispanic or Latino will also be counted in the race category with which they identify. However, again following the Census Bureau data, there is also a column for White Not Hispanic or Latino. The City of Chicago is actively soliciting community input on how best to represent race, ethnicity, and related concepts in its data and policy. Every dataset, including this one, has a "Contact dataset owner" link in the Actions menu. You can use it to offer any input you wish to share or to indicate if you would be interested in participating in live discussions the City may host. Code can be found here: https://github.com/Chicago/5-Year-ACS-Survey-Data Ward Shapefile: https://data.cityofchicago.org/Facilities-Geographic-Boundaries/Boundaries-Wards-2023-Map/cdf7-bgn3 Census Area Python Package Documentation: https://census-area.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html

Comprehensive demographic dataset for Fifth City, Chicago, IL, US including population statistics, household income, housing units, education levels, employment data, and transportation with year-over-year changes.

U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts statistics for Chicago city, Illinois. QuickFacts data are derived from: Population Estimates, American Community Survey, Census of Population and Housing, Current Population Survey, Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, State and County Housing Unit Estimates, County Business Patterns, Nonemployer Statistics, Economic Census, Survey of Business Owners, Building Permits.

A dataset listing Illinois cities by population for 2024.

U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts statistics for West Chicago city, Illinois. QuickFacts data are derived from: Population Estimates, American Community Survey, Census of Population and Housing, Current Population Survey, Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, State and County Housing Unit Estimates, County Business Patterns, Nonemployer Statistics, Economic Census, Survey of Business Owners, Building Permits.

Graduated color map of population density in Chicago in 2010, data from U.S. Census

Chicago Population Density in 2010

This dataset contains a selection of six socioeconomic indicators of public health significance and a “hardship index,” by Chicago community area, for the years 2008 – 2012. The indicators are the percent of occupied housing units with more than one person per room (i.e., crowded housing); the percent of households living below the federal poverty level; the percent of persons in the labor force over the age of 16 years that are unemployed; the percent of persons over the age of 25 years without a high school diploma; the percent of the population under 18 or over 64 years of age (i.e., dependency); and per capita income. Indicators for Chicago as a whole are provided in the final row of the table. See the full dataset description for more information at: https://data.cityofchicago.org/api/views/fwb8-6aw5/files/A5KBlegGR2nWI1jgP6pjJl32CTPwPbkl9KU3FxlZk-A?download=true&filename=P:\EPI\OEPHI\MATERIALS\REFERENCES\ECONOMIC_INDICATORS\Dataset_Description_socioeconomic_indicators_2012_FOR_PORTAL_ONLY.pdf

This statistic shows the top 25 cities in the United States with the highest resident population as of July 1, 2022. There were about 8.34 million people living in New York City as of July 2022.

This EnviroAtlas dataset demonstrates the effect of changes in pollution concentration on local populations in 6409 block groups in the Chicago Metro Region. The US EPA's Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP) was used to estimate the incidence of adverse health effects (i.e., mortality and morbidity) and associated monetary value that result from changes in pollution concentrations for Will, DuPage, McHenry, Kendall, Cook, Lake, and Kane counties, Illinois and LaPorte, Lake, and Porter counties Indiana. Incidence and value estimates for the block groups are calculated using i-Tree models (www.itreetools.org), local weather data, pollution data, and U.S. Census derived population data. This dataset was produced by the USDA Forest Service with support from The Davey Tree Expert Company to support research and online mapping activities related to EnviroAtlas. EnviroAtlas (https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas) allows the user to interact with a web-based, easy-to-use, mapping application to view and analyze multiple ecosystem services for the contiguous United States. The dataset is available as downloadable data (https://edg.epa.gov/data/Public/ORD/EnviroAtlas) or as an EnviroAtlas map service. Additional descriptive information about each attribute in this dataset can be found in its associated EnviroAtlas Fact Sheet (https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas/enviroatlas-fact-sheets).

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.

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.

This study was a 2-year evaluation of the City of Chicago Domestic Violence Help Line. The Help Line was a unique telephone service functioning as a clearinghouse for all domestic violence victim services in the Chicago metropolitan area. The service was toll-free, multi-lingual, confidential, and operated 24-hours, 7 days a week. The purpose of the Help Line was to connect domestic violence victims to specialized services through direct referrals and three-way phone linkages. In order to conduct a comprehensive evaluation, the perspective of a broad range of users of the Help Line was sought. Telephone interviews were conducted with domestic violence victim callers to the Help Line over the course of one year (Part 1 - Victims Data). Telephone interviews were also conducted with domestic violence service providers (Part 2 - Providers Data). As the largest referral source into the Help Line, Chicago Police Officers completed a written survey about their experiences with the Help Line (Part 3 - Police Data). Finally, to explore the general awareness of the Help Line, members of the District Advisory Committees across the city were surveyed (Part 4 - District Advisory Committee (DAC) Data). The Part 1 (Victims Data) data file contains 399 cases and 277 variables. The Part 2 (Providers Data) data file contains 74 cases and 137 variables. The Part 3 (Police Data) data file contains 1,205 cases and 128 variables. The Part 4 (District Advisory Committee (DAC) Data) data file contains 357 cases and 105 variables.