The Changing Face of Chicagoland Communities

Metropolitan Chicago is a vital and dynamic region whose towns and neighborhoods have experienced significant changes over the decades. Immigration, economic growth, fluctuations in the job market, and the rise and fall of various industries continue to make change a constant feature of communities throughout Chicagoland.

Chicago Fact Finder documents patterns of demographic and socioeconomic change throughout Chicagoland along with the contributions of its racially and ethnically diverse population to the vitality of its towns and neighborhoods. Chicago Fact Finder is also an important resource for identifying communities in Chicago and in suburban Cook County with the greatest unmet needs–where investments for economic growth and in high quality social and educational services are most urgently required.

Among the most important changes documented by Chicago Fact Finder is the dramatic increase in the Latino population. Latinos now comprise more than 26% of all residents in the City of Chicago and 34% of the city’s children. Without the influx of Latinos, the population of Chicago would have decreased between 1990 and 2000. Nevertheless, nearly half of Chicagoland Latinos live outside of the City of Chicago, where the Latino population is growing most rapidly. Chicago Fact Finder pinpoints where that growth is occurring along with its social and economic correlates.

Institute for Latino Studies Research Reports and Papers on Latinos in Metropolitan Chicago

Latino Civic and Community Involvement: Findings from the Chicago-Area Survey
December, 2006
Timothy Ready, Roger Knight, and Sung Chun

The State of Latino Chicago: This is Home Now
November, 2005
Tim Ready and Allert Brown-Gort

Measuring the Minority Education Gap in Metropolitan Chicago
July, 2005
The Institute for Latino Studies with support from the Joyce Foundation

The Economic Progress of US- and Foreign-Born Mexicans in Metro Chicago: Indications from the United States Census (780k)
May, 2005
Rob Paral and Timothy Ready

Mexican Women in Chicago: A Report to the Secretaría De Desarrollo Social De México (1.54MB)
January, 2005
Allert Brown-Gort, John Koval and Timothy Ready

Latino-Origin Populations Revisited: Estimating the Latino-Origin Group Populations at the National Level and for Selected States, Counties, Cities, and Metro Chicago (1.1MB)
January, 2005
Sung Chun

School Segregation by Race and Poverty in Metropolitan Chicago (176k)
December, 2003
Martha Zurita and Timothy Ready

Strategies for Success: Cicero Education Forum Summary (1.24MB)
March, 2004
Sylvia Puente, Martha Zurita, Eva Serrano, Verónica Castro

Bordering the Mainstream: A Needs Assessment of Latinos in Berwyn and Cicero (912k)
January, 2002
Institute for Latino Studies

Latino Demographic Growth in Metropolitan Chicago (1.9MB)
December, 2004
Rob Paral, Timothy Ready, Sung Chun, Wei Sun

In Search of Economic Parity: The Mexican Labor Force in Chicago (918k)
March, 2004
John P. Koval

Latino Population in Illinois and Metropolitan Chicago: Young and Growing Fast! (222k)
May, 2003
Martha Zurita

Summary PowerPoint Presentations

The Educational Pipeline of Chicago Area Latinos, 2000 (275k)
March, 2005
Timothy Ready

*Chicago Area Latinos–An Overview (319K)

Series: Social Indicators for Racial and Ethnic Group


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