People and culture of Illinois

The culture of the State of Illinois varies highly based on location within the state. The Chicago area, which is a sprawling city, has a very metropolitan culture. Chicago is also home to many performing arts including theatre and opera. Downstate Illinois is very rural, with fertile prairie cultivated in corn and soybeans. Society often revolves around the churches. Southern Illinois is hilly and deeply forested, generally organized in small groups who form within localities, and often keep to themselves.

Generally, the culture in Illinois follows the traditional American values system.

Demographics

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2004 the population of Illinois was 12,713,634. This includes 1,682,900 foreign-born (13.3%).

At the northern edge of the state on Lake Michigan lies Chicago, the nation's third largest city. In 2000, 23.3% of the population lived in the city of Chicago, 43.3% in Cook County and 65.6% in Illinois's part of the Chicago metropolitan area, the leading industrial and transportation center in the region, which includes Will, DuPage, and Lake Counties as well as Cook County. The rest of the population lives in the smaller cities and in the rural areas that dot the state's plains and valleys.

The racial makeup of the state is as follows:
*67.8% White
*15.1% Black
*12.3% Latino
*3.4% Asian
*0.2% American Indian
*1.9% Mixed Race

The top five ancestry groups in Illinois are: German (19.6%), African American (15.1%), Irish (12.2%), Latino-Hispanic (9.2%), Polish (7.5%).

Nearly three in ten whites in Illinois claimed at least partial German ancestry on the Census, making the Germans the largest ancestry group in the state. Blacks are present in large numbers in the city of Chicago, East St. Louis, and the southern tip of the state. Residents of American and British ancestry are especially concentrated in the southeastern part of the state. Metropolitan Chicago has the greatest numbers of people of Irish, Mexican, and Polish ancestry.

7.1% of Illinois' population were reported as under 5, 26.1% under 18, and 12.1% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51% of the population.

Religion

Protestants are the largest religious group in Illinois, however unlike the other Midwestern states, Illinois is not overwhelmingly Protestant (less than half of the people identify themselves as Protestants). Roman Catholics, who are heavily concentrated in and around Chicago, account for 30% of the population.

The religious affiliations of the people of Illinois are:
*Christian – 80%
**Protestant – 49%
***Baptist – 12%
***Lutheran – 7%
***Methodist – 7%
***Presbyterian – 3%
***Other Protestant or general Protestant – 20%
**Roman Catholic – 30%
**Other Christian – 1%
*Other Religions – 4%
*Non-Religious – 16%