Technical Notes and Definitions

Definitions
Geographic Areas
Racial/Ethnic Categories
Data Sources

Definitions
With few exceptions, the definitions of terms used in Chicago Fact Finder are the same as those used by the United States Census. For a complete listing of terms used in the Census and their definitions, please refer to the Census Bureau’s glossary for Census 2000 at: http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html and then click on “Glossary” in the upper right corner of the page.

See below for definitions and usages that are specific to Chicago Fact Finder.

English-speaking ability of persons who speak other languages: The Census asks whether a person speaks a language other than English at home. Responses to this question represent either the person’s own perception of his or her English-language ability or, in the case of most children, the perception of another household member. There are four categories: speak English very well, speak English well, speak English not well, and don’t speak English at all. Data for children, 7-15 years-old, are provided separately from data on the English- speaking ability of the population at large.

Industry: Although the 1990 and the 2000 Census data are not strictly comparable, we rearranged some categories in the 1990 Census industry data to match the categories in the 2000 Census industry data. We used the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to make the categories as comparable as possible.

Work status: There are four categories: 1) full time full year refers to people who work 35 or more hours per week for 50 to 52 weeks; 2) full time part year includes people who work 35 or more hours per week for less than 50 weeks; 3) part time full year refer, to people who work less than 35 hours per week for 50 to 52 weeks; and 4) part time part year consists of people who work less than 35 hours per week for less than 50 weeks.

Means of transportation: We combined the Census categories into three categories: used a car, truck, or van; used public transportation; and worked at home. We excluded bicycles, motorcycles, and walking.

Geographic Areas
Chicago Fact Finder provides detailed information about the city of Chicago, Cook County, and five other suburban counties in the Chicago metropolitan area – DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will. A key feature of Chicago Fact Finder is that it also provides detailed information for each of the 77 community areas in the City of Chicago and for 59 towns and villages in Cook County where there are at least 1,000 Latinos or where Latinos are at least 10% of the population (Census 2000). There are comparable data for 55 Cook County towns and villages for 1990.

In order to get community level information for the 77 Chicago community areas, we aggregated data at the census tract level. The census tracts that make up each of the 77 communities were obtained from the City of Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development. These tracts have remained unchanged in the last decade. Aggregation for median value data such as median household income, median household monthly rent, and median housing value were calculated using Gini software provided by the Census Bureau.

Changes since 2000:

It is inevitable that significant demographic changes will have occurred since 2000, when the most recent census data used in Chicago Fact Finder were collected. These changes are most notable when examining data at the community level.

For example, the Chicago Housing Authority has demolished more than ten thousand low income housing units in the following communities: Near West Side; Douglas; Oakland; Fuller Park; New City; Grand Boulevard; Near North Side; North Lawndale; East Garfield Park; Armour Square; and Washington Park. Many of the predominantly African-American residents of these units have relocated as a result.

Racial/Ethnic Categories
Categories used for Population Counts. A unique feature of Chicago Fact Finder is that data are separately enumerated for racial and ethnic groups in the various urban and suburban communities of metropolitan Chicago. For each of these communities, Chicago Fact Finder provides complete and non-duplicated population counts under the following categories:

Categories Used with Social and Economic Data. Chicago Fact Finder also makes available a wide array of social and economic data for racial and ethnic groups. The racial and ethnic categories used when enumerating social and economic data are slightly different from those described above for reasons described in the Data Sources section, below. The racial and ethnic categories used for social and economic data are:

The terms Latino and Hispanic are used interchangeably by the Census. Chicago Fact Finder uses the term Latino for all persons who indicated on the Census that they were of Hispanic or Latino origin. Latinos may be of any race.

The category “Other, non-Latino” used in Chicago Fact Finder population counts contains information about the small number of Chicago-area residents who indicated that they were “American Indians/Alaska Natives” or of “Two or More Races.” In Census 2000, only 0.2% of metropolitan Chicago residents indicated that they were American Indians/Alaska Natives, and 2.2% stated that they were of two or more races. Approximately one-third of those who indicated that they were of two or more races also stated that they were of Hispanic or Latino origin; they are enumerated as Latinos in Chicago Fact Finder. Also, 8.2% of Chicago area residents indicated that they were of “Some Other Race.” Nearly all (98.5%) of these individuals also indicated that they were Latino and are enumerated as Latinos in Chicago Fact Finder.

All non-Latino individuals from these racial groups (“American Indian/Alaska Native,” “Two or More Races,” and “Some Other Race”) are enumerated at “Other, non-Latino” in Chicago Fact Finder’s Population Counts. Chicago Fact Finder does not provide any social or economic data for persons in the “Other, non-Latino” category.

Data Sources

Data for Chicago Fact Finder are derived from the 2000 and 1990 Census summary files. Population and housing data are from the SF1 files of the 2000 Census and the STF1 files of the 1990 Census. Social and economic data are from the SF3 files of the 2000 Census and the STF4 files of the 1990 Census.

The SF1 and STF1 files are based on data from the Census short-forms that are completed by all respondents in each decennial census. SF3 and STF4 data are derived from long-form survey data that were solicited from approximately one-sixth of all Census respondents in both 2000 and 1990.

The simple population counts by race and ethnicity described above are from SF1 files of Census 2000 and the STF1 files of the 1990 Census. All social and economic data in Chicago Fact Finder that are enumerated by race and ethnicity are derived from the SF3 files of Census 2000 and STF4 files of the 1990 Census.

The STF4 files of 1990 contain more detailed information by race and ethnicity than are available from SF3 files of 2000. Both the SF3 and STF4 files provide social and economic information about Latinos and whites who are not of Latino origin. However, only the STF4 data for 1990 differentiate blacks and Asians who are of Latino origin from those who are not. As a consequence, social and economic information about the 1.1% of the blacks in metropolitan Chicago who indicated that they were of Latino origin in 2000 is included in the dataset describing blacks as well as that for Latinos. Similarly, social and economic information about the 0.7% of Asians who indicated that they were of Latino origin in 2000 is included in the dataset describing Asians as well as that for Latinos.

Chicago Fact Finder uses the SF3 files as the source for social and economic data for 2000 because the more detailed SF4 files (comparable to the 1990 STF4 files) were not available when Chicago Fact Finder was under development.

Select another map

Home | City of Chicago | Cook County | Six-County Metro Area