The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s (CMAP) Community Data Snapshots summarize demographic, housing, employment, transportation, land use, revenue, and water data in northeastern Illinois. Each year, CMAP updates these snapshots for the region’s 7 counties (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will), 284 communities, and 77 Chicago community areas. Explore some of your community’s data in the visualization below, or view a PDF of the entire snapshot. You also can download the original files from the CMAP Data Hub.

Community Data Snapshots

Data files

Resources

Share your data

CMAP’s toolkit includes text and graphics — including customizable graphics — you can use on your social media, newsletter, and website to share this useful data.

About the data

Snapshot data comes from multiple sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the Illinois Department of Employment Security, the Illinois Department of Revenue, CMAP, and more. All details can be found under individual tables in the PDF reports.

The primary data source is the most recent American Community Survey (ACS), and its five-year estimates. For data derived from the ACS, the Community Data Snapshots use terminology based on the ACS subject definitions. Note that the American Community Survey is a sample-based data product. The margins of error for low-population communities are often large compared to the estimate.

Why isn’t my Chicago neighborhood included?

CMAP uses Chicago’s community areas — the official borders the city uses to collect data — to make the neighborhood-scale snapshots. These are static boundaries used for analyzing population data in Chicago since the 1920s. Neighborhoods are much more fluid and can change depending on the year and depending on who you ask.

Are the municipalities that extend beyond the CMAP region included?

Values derived from any U.S. Census Bureau data products represent municipalities partially in CMAP’s region. However, values derived from CMAP analyses are generally restricted to geographies that fall within the CMAP regional boundaries. Specifically, values representing the General Land Use, Equalized Assessed Value, Water Supply only represent the portion of each municipality that falls within the seven-county CMAP region.

How were regional values calculated?

Regional values are estimated by aggregating ACS data for the seven counties that compose the CMAP region. These counties are Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will.

How was county level data summarized if there are some municipalities located in more than one county?

County data is presented for the CMAP county containing the largest portion of the municipality’s population, as of 2020 decennial census.

What is the best approach for historical data comparisons?

When using multiple releases of the snapshots, please don’t compare overlapping ACS five-year estimates. The Census Bureau provides specific guidance for when it is appropriate to compare ACS data across time. Please contact CMAP staff if you have additional questions.

Do you want to know more about the data?

Fill out our data request form or contact us with your questions.

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