is a common name for the Chicago Metropolitan Area in the USA . Chicagoland comprises the city of Chicago and the nine surrounding counties in the state of Illinois , five in Indiana , and one in 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 .
The Chicago Consolidated Statistical Area (or, in full, the Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City CSA) had a population of 9,312,554, according to the most recent census in 2000. Based upon county estimates released in March 2006 from the Census Bureau, the population by 2005 had increased to 9,661,840. The metro area is comprised of ten Illinois counties ( Cook , DuPage , Lake , Will , Kane , McHenry , Kankakee , DeKalb , Kendall , and Grundy ), five Indiana counties ( Lake , Porter , Jasper , Newton , and LaPorte ), and one Wisconsin county ( Kenosha ). The Greater Chicagoland area is the third largest urban center in the United States, and 1 in every 30 Americans call it home. Chicagoland runs together with Milwaukee and Racine in Wisconsin, creating a Megalopolis region, and in the coming years will probably find its urban area combining with nearby urban centers like Rockford , South Bend , and Benton Harbor . More ambitiously, by mid-century, Chicago may find itself anchoring a largely unbroken urban horseshoe shaped metro area spanning from Green Bay, Wisconsin to Grand Rapids, Michigan .
The suburbs, surrounded by easily annexed flat ground, have been expanding at a tremendous rate since the early 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 .
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 .
While the term Chicagoland may stand alone, it is sometime used in phrases like "the Chicagoland area," "metro Chicagoland" or even "the greater Chicagoland area." The term is often used by advertisers ("See your Chicagoland Ford dealer") or by weathercasters ("A major snowstorm is expected in Chicagoland"). It is rarely used outside the area, as people from Chicago or the surrounding suburbs would likely name "Chicago" or their specific suburb to define their town of origin to an outsider.
Within the boundary of the 16-county Chicago Consolidated Statistical Area lies the Chicago urban area, as well as 27 smaller urban areas and clusters.
The formerly distinct urban areas of Aurora, Elgin, Joliet, and Waukegan were absorbed into the Chicago UA as of the 2000 census.
^ The Round Lake Beach-McHenry-Grayslake, IL-WI UA extends into Walworth County, WI, which lies (for the moment) outside the Chicago CSA.
^^ The Michigan City-LaPorte, IN-MI UA extends into Berrien County, MI, which lies (for the moment) outside the Chicago CSA.
^^^ The Genoa City, WI-IL UA extends into Walworth County, WI, which lies (for the moment) outside the Chicago CSA.
- [http://www.chicagolandchamber.org/home.asp Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce]
- Category at Webring
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