Community areas in Chicago

Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas.[1] These areas are well-defined and static. Census data are tied to the community areas, and they serve as the basis for a variety of urban planning initiatives on both the local and regional levels.

The Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago defined seventy-five community areas during the late 1920s. At the time, these community areas corresponded roughly to neighborhoods within the city. In the 1950s, with the city's annexations for O'Hare airport, a seventy-sixth community area was added. Other than the creation of the seventy-seventh community area in 1980 (by separating #77 Edgewater from #3 Uptown), boundaries have never been revised to reflect change but instead have been kept relatively stable to allow comparisons of these areas over time.

Although many community areas contain more than one neighborhood and may share the name of some of the neighborhoods. Community areas may encompass groups of neighborhoods. In some cases, the character of the community area is independent of that of the individual neighborhoods it comprises.

A full list in numerical order and map is available below.

Areas

Community areas in the City of Chicago

Flag of the City of Chicago

Following is a list of the community areas by number (see map):

01	Rogers Park	21	Avondale	41	Hyde Park	61	New City
02	West Ridge	22	Logan Square	42	Woodlawn	62	West Elsdon
03	Uptown	23	Humboldt Park	43	South Shore	63	Gage Park
04	Lincoln Square	24	West Town	44	Chatham	64	Clearing
05	North Center	25	Austin	45	Avalon Park	65	West Lawn
06	Lake View	26	West Garfield Park	46	South Chicago	66	Chicago Lawn
07	Lincoln Park	27	East Garfield Park	47	Burnside	67	West Englewood
08	Near North Side	28	Near West Side	48	Calumet Heights	68	Englewood
09	Edison Park	29	North Lawndale	49	Roseland	69	Greater Grand Crossing
10	Norwood Park	30	South Lawndale	50	Pullman	70	Ashburn
11	Jefferson Park	31	Lower West Side	51	South Deering	71	Auburn Gresham
12	Forest Glen	32	Loop	52	East Side	72	Beverly
13	North Park	33	Near South Side	53	West Pullman	73	Washington Heights
14	Albany Park	34	Armour Square	54	Riverdale	74	Mount Greenwood
15	Portage Park	35	Douglas	55	Hegewisch	75	Morgan Park
16	Irving Park	36	Oakland	56	Garfield Ridge	76	O'Hare
17	Dunning	37	Fuller Park	57	Archer Heights	77	Edgewater
18	Montclare	38	Grand Boulevard	58	Brighton Park
19	Belmont Cragin	39	Kenwood	59	McKinley Park
20	Hermosa	40	Washington Park	60	Bridgeport

Community areas by sides

Community areas by side

The Loop, Near North and Near South (Downtown)

Main article: Chicago Loop

The center city area covers about 3 square miles (7.8 km²), lying somewhat roughly between Chicago Avenue (800N) on the north, Lake Michigan on the east, Roosevelt Road (1200S) on the south and DesPlaines (650W) Avenue on the west, serves as the city's commercial hub. The area known as The Loop, is a portion of downtown originally named for it once having been located within a circuit of cable cars. Today the name reflects the elevated train Loop which follows roughly the same path as the original cable cars. Many of downtown's commercial, cultural, and financial institutions are located in the Loop. The current CTA Elevated Loop follows Wells St on the West, Van Buren St on the South, Wabash St on the East, and Lake St on the North. River North contains the Magnificent Mile. The center area is home to Grant Park, skyscrapers, museums, shopping and the city's largest parades: the annual Christmas, Thanksgiving and the Chicago Saint Patrick's Day Parades, which is always held the Saturday prior to Saint Patrick's Day, unless the holiday falls on a Saturday in which case the parade is held that day. The Chicago Bears also play here.

North Side

The city's North Side (extending north of downtown along the lakefront) is the most densely populated residential section of the city. It contains public parkland (such as Lincoln Park) and beaches stretching for miles along Lake Michigan to the city's northern border. It also includes Eastern European and other ethnic enclaves. Much of the North Side has benefited from an economic boom which began in the 1990s. It is noted for being the home of the Chicago Cubs.

South Side

Main article: South Side, Chicago

The South Side (extending south of downtown along Lake Michigan) is the largest section of the city, encompassing roughly 60% of the city's land area. The section along the lake is marked with public parkland and beaches. The South Side has a higher ratio of single-family homes and also contains most of the city's industry. It is home to the Chicago White Sox.

Along with being the largest section of the city in terms of geography, the South Side is also home to one of the city's largest parades: the annual Bud Billiken Day parade, which is held during the second weekend of August and celebrates children returning to school.

The South Side has two of Chicago's largest public parks. Jackson Park, which hosted the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, is currently the site of the Museum of Science and Industry. The park stretches along the lakefront, linking the neighborhoods of Hyde Park and South Shore. Washington Park, which is connected to Jackson Park by the Midway Plaisance, was considered as the primary site of the Olympic Stadium for the 2016 Summer Olympics, had Chicago won the bid.

West Side

The West Side (extending west of downtown) is made up of neighborhoods such as Austin, Lawndale, Garfield Park, West Town, and Humboldt Park among others. Some neighborhoods, particularly Garfield Park and Lawndale, have had long-term socio-economic problems. Other West Side neighborhoods, especially those closer to downtown, have been undergoing gentrification. It is home to the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks.

Major parks on the West Side include Douglas Park, Garfield Park, and Humboldt Park. Garfield Park Conservatory houses one of the largest collections of tropical plants of any U.S. city. Cultural attractions on the West Side include Humboldt Park's Puerto Rican Day festival, and the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen.

Alternate geographic breakdowns

Parishes

Another method of neighborhood nomenclature in heavily Catholic neighborhoods of Chicago has been to refer to communities in terms of parishes. For example, one might say, "I live in St. Gertrude's, but he's from Saint Ita's." Some of these designations have come into common parlance as developers have used them to market new gentrifying areas such as "St. Ben's", a neighborhood found on the Chicago Realtor Association's official Chicago Neighborhood map. Chicago's 'Polish Patches' are also named after the historically Polish church located in the vicinity.

Wards

Since 1923, the City of Chicago has been divided into 50 City Council Aldermanic wards.^[1] Each of the 50 areas is represented on the City council by one Alderman and in many social, political and economic contexts, it is reasonable to describe what part of Chicago one is from by who one's alderman is or what ward one lives in. However, using wards as the basis for comparing areas of the city over time has limited utility, due to the fact that the wards need to be redistricted every ten years. The current ward boundaries are mapped here.

Far North side

Chicago's far north side communities.

Rogers Park (01)

• Rogers Park

West Ridge (02)

Arcadia Terrace

Peterson Park

West Rogers Park

Uptown (03)

Buena Park

Margate Park

Sheridan Park

Uptown

Lincoln Square (04)

Lincoln Square

Ravenswood

Ravenswood Gardens

Rockwell Crossing

Edison Park (09)

• Edison Park

Norwood Park (10)

Big Oaks

Norwood Park East

Norwood Park West

Old Norwood Park

Oriole Park

Union Ridge

Jefferson Park (11)

Gladstone Park

Jefferson Park

Forest Glen (12)

Edgebrook

Forest Glen

Old Edgebrook

South Edgebrook

Sauganash

Wildwood

North Park (13)

Brynford Park	Hollywood Park	North Park
Pulaski Park	River's Edge	Sauganash Woods

Albany Park (14)

Albany Park

Mayfair

North Mayfair

Ravenswood Manor

O'Hare (76)

O'Hare

Schorsch Forest View

Edgewater (77)

Andersonville

Edgewater

Edgewater Glen

Edgewater Beach

Magnolia Glen

Lakewood/Balmoral

North side

Chicago's north side communities.

North Center (05)

Horner Park

North Center

Roscoe Village

Lake View (06)

Lake View East

Graceland West

Lake View

South East Ravenswood

Wrigleyville

Lincoln Park (07)

West DePaul	Old Town Triangle	Park West
Lincoln Park	Ranch Triangle	Sheffield Neighbors	Wrightwood Neighbors

Avondale (21)

Avondale

Logan Square (22)

Logan Square

Bucktown

Palmer Square

Northwest side

Chicago's northwest side communities.

Portage Park (15)

• Portage Park

Irving Park (16)

Irving Park

Kilbourn Park

Old Irving Park

South Old Irving Park

The Villa

Dunning (17)

Belmont Heights

Belmont Terrace

Dunning

Irving Woods

Schorsch Village

Montclare (18)

• Montclare

Belmont Cragin (19)

Belmont Central

Cragin

Hanson Park

Hermosa (20)

Belmont Gardens

Hermosa

Kelvyn Park

Central, Near North, and Near South sides

Downtown Chicago including near north and near south side communities.

Near North Side (08)

Cabrini–Green	The Gold Coast	Goose Island	Magnificent Mile
Near North Side	Old Town	River North	River West	Streeterville

Loop (32)

The Loop

Near East Side

West Loop Gate

Near South Side (33)

Dearborn Park

Printer's Row

South Loop

Prairie Avenue Historic District

West side

Chicago's west & near west side communities.

Humboldt Park (23)

West Humboldt Park

Humboldt Park

West Town (24)

East Ukrainian Village

Noble Square

Ukrainian Village

West Town

Wicker Park

Austin (25)

North Austin

South Austin

Galewood

The Island

West Garfield Park (26)

• West Garfield Park

East Garfield Park (27)

East Garfield Park

Fifth City

Near West Side (28)

Greektown

University Village-Little Italy

Medical Center

Near West Side

Tri-Taylor

North Lawndale (29)

Lawndale

Homan Square

Douglas Park

South Lawndale (30)

Little Village

Lower West Side (31)

East Pilsen

Heart of Chicago

Heart of Italy

Pilsen

South side

Chicago's south side communities.

Armour Square (34)

Stateway Gardens

Chinatown

Wentworth Gardens

Douglas (35)

Groveland Park

Lake Meadows

the Gap

Prairie Shores

South Commons

Oakland (36)

• Oakland

Fuller Park (37)

• Fuller Park

Grand Boulevard (38)

Bronzeville

Grand Boulevard

Kenwood (39)

North Kenwood

Kenwood

Washington Park (40)

• Washington Park

Hyde Park (41)

East Hyde Park

Hyde Park

Woodlawn (42)

West Woodlawn

Woodlawn

South Shore (43)

Jackson Park Highlands

South Shore

Bridgeport (60)

• Bridgeport

Greater Grand Crossing (69)

Grand Crossing

Parkway Gardens

Park Manor

Southwest side

Chicago's southwest side communities.

Garfield Ridge (56)

Garfield Ridge

Le Claire Courts

Sleepy Hollow

Vittum Park

Archer Heights (57)

• Archer Heights

Brighton Park (58)

• Brighton Park

McKinley Park (59)

• McKinley Park

New City (61)

Back of the Yards

Canaryville

West Elsdon (62)

• West Elsdon

Gage Park (63)

• Gage Park

Clearing (64)

Clearing East

Clearing West

Chrysler Village

West Lawn (65)

Ford City

West Lawn

Chicago Lawn (66)

Chicago Lawn

Lithuanian Plaza

Marquette Park

West Englewood (67)

• West Englewood

Englewood (68)

• Englewood

Far Southeast side

Chicago's far southeast side communities.

Chatham (44)

Chatham

East Chatham

West Chatham

West Chesterfield

Avalon Park (45)

Avalon Park

Marynook

Stony Island Park

South Chicago (46)

The Bush

South Chicago

Burnside (47)

• Burnside

Calumet Heights (48)

Calumet Heights

Pill Hill

Roseland (49)

Fernwood

Rosemoor

Roseland

Pullman (50)

Cottage Grove Heights

London Towne

Pullman

South Deering (51)

Jeffrey Manor

South Deering

Trumbull Park

East Side (52)

• East Side

West Pullman (53)

• West Pullman

Riverdale (54)

Altgeld Gardens

Eden Green

Golden Gate

Riverdale

Hegewisch (55)

Harbour Point Estates

Hegewisch

Far Southwest side

Chicago's far southwest side communities.

Ashburn (70)

Ashburn

Beverly View

Mary Crest

Parkview

Scottsdale

Wrightwood

Auburn Gresham (71)

Winnecona Parkway

Gresham

Beverly (72)

Beverly

East Beverly

West Beverly

Washington Heights (73)

Brainerd

Longwood Manor

Princeton Park

Washington Heights

Mount Greenwood (74)

Mount Greenwood

Mount Greenwood Heights

Talley's Corner

Morgan Park (75)

Beverly Woods

Kennedy Park

Morgan Park

West Morgan Park

See also

Chicago portal

• Neighborhoods in Chicago

References

1. ^ "Encyclopedia of Chicago Government, City of Chicago". Chicago Historical Society. http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/532.html. Retrieved 2007-01-18. 

External links

• City of Chicago Department of Community Development
  • Community Area Demographics
  • Community Area Maps
• City of Chicago Website
  • City of Chicago Community areas Map
  • City of Chicago Neighborhood Map
  • Aldermanic Wards for City of Chicago Map
• Chicago Area Geographic Information Study (CAGIS)
• Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission
  • Census 2000 Chicago Community Area Profiles
• MCIC (Metro Chicago Information Center)
  • Metro Chicago Facts Online