Metro area · Illinois

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is a metropolitan area of 13 counties in Illinois, Indiana, home to 9,434,123 residents. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area has a quality-of-life score of 66 out of 100 (high), ranking #312 of 925 US metro and micro areas. Among metro and micro areas based in Illinois it ranks #9 of 28. It ranks best on public transit commuters (high), distance to an emergency room (low) and access to exercise opportunities (high). It ranks worst on days with unhealthy air (high), effective property tax rate (high) and average commute time (high).

66High
Quality-of-life score
#312 of 925 metro and micro areas
Illinois
#9 of 28 in IL
Population
9,434,123 (2025)
Land area
6,923 mi²
Density
1,362.7 /mi²
CBSA code
16980

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 69 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map
Location of Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US metro and micro areas.

  • Safety37#578/924
  • Economy78#203/925
  • Housing22#720/925
  • Health94#58/925
  • Healthcare87#119/923
  • Environment3#894/917
  • Education80#185/925
  • Infrastructure78#206/925
  • Community53#431/925
  • Leisure & amenities74#237/925

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area ranks highest and lowest among US metro and micro areas (score = percentile, 100 = best).

Strengths

Weaknesses

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Metro and micro areas like Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

Federal contract spending

Federal grants & assistance

Grants, loans (counted at their subsidy cost), direct payments and insurance, by fiscal year of the action (USAspending.gov, FABS). Reported apart from contracts and never added to them.

Counties in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

Whole counties, as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates the area. Federal spending below is the exact sum of these counties.

  1. Cook CountyCentral county555,194,625
  2. DuPage CountyCentral county91934,298
  3. Lake CountyCentral county86719,339
  4. Will CountyCentral county77712,253
  5. Kane CountyCentral county70525,757
  6. Lake CountyCentral county39504,612
  7. McHenry CountyCentral county85317,751
  8. Porter CountyCentral county74176,049
  9. Kendall CountyCentral county76145,470
  10. DeKalb CountyOutlying county61101,835
  11. Grundy CountyOutlying county7754,052
  12. Jasper CountyOutlying county6533,894
  13. Newton CountyOutlying county3514,188

States

The share of the area's residents living in each state.

Principal cities

The cities the area is named for.

  1. BolingbrookPrincipal city74,096
  2. ChicagoPrincipal city2,711,226
  3. Des PlainesPrincipal city59,156
  4. Downers GrovePrincipal city50,054
  5. ElginPrincipal city114,934
  6. EvanstonPrincipal city76,340
  7. NapervillePrincipal city150,692
  8. SchaumburgPrincipal city76,868
  9. SkokiePrincipal city66,219

Largest cities and towns

By population, for places with most of their residents in the area.

  1. Chicago2,711,226
  2. Aurora179,898
  3. Naperville150,692
  4. Joliet150,445
  5. Elgin114,934
  6. Waukegan89,076
  7. Cicero82,797
  8. Schaumburg76,868
  9. Hammond76,768
  10. Evanston76,340
  11. Arlington Heights76,005
  12. Bolingbrook74,096
  13. Gary68,113
  14. Palatine66,293
  15. Skokie66,219
  16. Des Plaines59,156
  17. Orland Park57,916
  18. Oak Lawn56,861
  19. Berwyn55,595
  20. Mount Prospect55,472
  21. Tinley Park54,842
  22. Wheaton53,557
  23. Oak Park53,292
  24. Hoffman Estates51,175

Other metro and micro areas in Illinois

Areas based in Illinois, best score first.

Neighboring metro and micro areas

Places that share a border, best score first.

Similar metro and micro areas

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

JSON · /api/v1/places/M16980