U.S. Census: Data and analysis of Chicago and Illinois' people

Arab American community in Chicago says data from new racial category could help address disparities

The federal change to how Arab Americans will be identified in future census surveys comes after Illinois passed a law that added Middle Eastern or North African as a distinct racial category.

By Elvia Malagón

The upper left corner of a census form with “United States Census 2020” printed on it.

Other Views

U.S. Census says I’m ‘white,’ but I’m not

The census doesn’t tell us the number of individuals in the U.S. who trace their ancestry to countries in the Middle East, North Africa or Southwest Asia. The classification of this population as “white” has created a form of systematic invisibility.

By Sarah Abboud

Asistentes ondean banderas en el desfile de Independencia de México en la Calle 26 de La Villita el 16 de septiembre de 2023. | Pat Nabong/Archivos Sun-Times

La Voz Chicago

1 de cada 5 personas en Chicago es de origen mexicano, censo

El grupo constituye la mayoría de los que se identifican como hispanos o latinos en Chicago, según el análisis de WBEZ.

By Amy Qin

Chicago skyline, seen from 31st Street bridge over DuSable Lake Shore Drive in July 2020.

U.S. Census

Cook County population drop second-worst in country

The county lost an estimated 68,000 people. Only Los Angeles County lost more.

By Michael Loria

Members of the Aden Community Center, a Bridgeview-based nonprofit that caters to Arab American communities of Chicago, rallied outside Trump International Hotel in 2017.

Metro/State

Arab Americans aren’t ‘white,’ study authors tell Census

A new study from UIC documents inequities Arab Americans face in the Chicago area and recommends government agencies use Middle Eastern/North African to identify the fast-growing demographic group.

By Esther Yoon-Ji Kang

A person fills out forms for the 2020 Census.

U.S. Census

Census redefines ‘rural’ and ‘urban,’ surprising some Illinois officials

With funding and grants potentially on the line, some village administrators aren’t sure what to expect in the years to come.

By Violet Miller

Marc Madero and his granddaughter, Ashley Golbeck, play on the swing at Loyola Beach Playground in the Rogers Park neighborhood on April 12, 2022.

Year In Review 2022

How we told the story of ‘Little Chicago’

As Sun-Times journalists dug into 2020 U.S. census data about the city, we searched for the neighborhood that most closely reflected Chicago’s racial makeup. We found it on the Far North Side.

By Pat Nabong and Elvia Malagón

An aerial view of Rogers Park looking south.

In Rogers Park, glimpses of a neighborhood that reflects Chicago’s diversity more than any other

By Elvia Malagón and Pat Nabong

2020 census, race and origin, immigrants, Latinos, Middle East, North Africa

Columnists

Too many eagerly accepted wildly erroneous census undercount in Illinois

The Census Bureau admitted last week that it had screwed up Illinois’ decennial headcount, and the state actually grew by about 250,000 people.

By Rich Miller

Chicago Skyline as seen from 31st Street Bridge over Lake Shore Drive in 2020.

U.S. Census

Boom, not bust? Illinois undercounted in 2020 census, actually grew to 13 million — largest population ever

A U.S. Census Bureau report released Thursday shows rather than losing population, Illinois gained more than 250,000 residents between 2010 and 2020. That’s roughly the equivalent of not counting anyone in Aurora — Illinois’ second largest city — and the entire city of Decatur.

By Manny Ramos and Mitchell Armentrout

U.S. Census

What the 2020 U.S. Census tells us about how Chicago has changed

Stories from the Sun-Times’ series looking at what the 2020 Census tells us about how Chicago has changed.

By Matt Moore

The Consumers Building, 220 S State St., (left), and the Century Building (right), 202 S. State St., would be demolished by the federal government as part of a security plan for the neighboring Dirksen Federal Building.

Letters to the Editor

Green space, open-air market are better options than keeping Loop skyscrapers

We have an opportunity to be proactive and allow the community to engage with federal agencies now to use that space for its best and highest purpose.

By Letters to the Editor

Dorene Wiese, president of the American Indian Association of Illinois and a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, outside Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Andersonville that’s home to the association’s offices.

More Chicago residents in 2020 Census identify as Native American

By Elvia Malagón

Melodi Serna (right), executive director of the American Indian Center, who is from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Oneida Nation, hugs Nizhoni Ward, who is from the Navajo and Choctaw Nations and recently was crowned Miss Indian Chicago during a round dance gathering at the center in Albany Park.

As Chicago’s Native American population grows, more efforts are underway to build community

By Elvia Malagón

My grandfather Sam Steinberg outside his sign shop in the Bronx. Finding him in the 1950 census took a bit of creative mapwork.

Columnists

Tracking down the family and the famous

The National Archives unlocked the U.S. Census for 1950 on Friday. Poking around is fun, if you know how to look.

By Neil Steinberg

Betty MacFarlane, executive secretary to the general manager A.M. Quarles of Executive House, watches a ship pass under Chicago bridges in the 1950s.

U.S. Census

1950 Census records made public, offering ‘unique peek into our nation’s past’ — and into the homes of Grandma and Grandpa

The records - contained in a free database - will help genealogists, historians and anyone interested in learning more about their own family ancestry.

By Manny Ramos

Letters to the Editor

Census undercount is another sign of racism

Not only do we have to contend with a maddening COVID-19 virus, we must also deal with the constant manifestation of the ongoing pernicious American sin of racism.

By Letters to the Editor

Signs advertising the 2020 Census were posted near South Sacramento Drive and West Roosevelt Road on the Southwest Side in September 2020.

Editorials

As feared, 2020 Census undercounted Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans

Activists and elected leaders reeling from the statistics are already strategizing how to minimize the impact of the undercounts. Those efforts should continue.

By CST Editorial Board

U.S. Census

Chicago’s Latino population spreads out, Census shows

Latinos are the second largest racial group in the city of Chicago, in Cook County, and in the State of Illinois.

By Jackie Serrato

This Sunday, April 5, 2020, photo shows an envelope containing a 2020 census letter mailed to a U.S. resident in Detroit.

U.S. Census

US population growth at lowest rate in pandemic’s 1st year

The United States grew by only 0.1%, with only an additional 392,665 added to the U.S. population, from July 2020 to July 2021, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

By Associated Press