Chicago's Western Avenue is the longest continuous urban street in the world. The city is the United States' third-largest convention destination. In 2015, roughly 4% of the population identified as LGBTQ+. While the Chicago Loop is the central business district, Chicago is also a city of neighborhoods. [223], Chicago has a distinctive fine art tradition. Broadway In Chicago offers Broadway-style entertainment at five theaters: the Nederlander Theatre, CIBC Theatre, Cadillac Palace Theatre, Auditorium Building of Roosevelt University, and Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.50. The 2015 year-end crime statistics showed there were 468 murders in Chicago in 2015 compared with 416 the year before, a 12.5% increase, as well as 2,900 shootings13% more than the year prior, and up 29% since 2013. Around two-thirds of the area's 8 million inhabitants are Christians, who read the Bible, according to National Conference for Community and Justice figures. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.1 males. Seated Lincoln), Brioschi's Christopher Columbus, Metrovi's The Bowman and The Spearman, Dallin's Signal of Peace, Fairbanks's The Chicago Lincoln, Boyle's The Alarm, Polasek's memorial to Masaryk, memorials along Solidarity Promenade to Kociuszko, Havliek and Copernicus by Chodzinski, Strachovsk, and Thorvaldsen, a memorial to General Logan by Saint-Gaudens, and Kearney's Moose (W-02-03). In 2015, 26.5 percent of Chicago households were without a car, and increased slightly to 27.5 percent in 2016. [235] Certain Chicago pizza favorites include Lou Malnati's and Giordano's. [204] In 2022, Kellogg's announced that the new spin-off of its snack business will move to the Chicago area,[205] and Google announced a major real estate acquisition and expansion in the Loop.[206]. There were more than 1,061,928 households, of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.1% were married couples living together, 18.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.4% were non-families. He was reelected in 1987 but died of a heart attack soon after. The average land elevation is 579ft (176.5m) above sea level. [321] Each of the big four U.S. television networks, CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox, directly owns and operates a high-definition television station in Chicago (WBBM 2, WLS 7, WMAQ 5 and WFLD 32, respectively). Cubans first migrated to Chicago during the 1950s. Today, the Chicago Park District consists of more than 570 parks with over 8,000 acres (3,200ha) of municipal parkland. Average male age is 32 and average female age is 33, so average state age is 33. [27], The first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was trader Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. [192] The city is the seat of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Bank's Seventh District. Greyhound Lines provides inter-city bus service to and from the city, and Chicago is also the hub for the Midwest network of Megabus (North America). The entertainment and cultural magazine Time Out Chicago and GRAB magazine are also published in the city, as well as local music magazine Chicago Innerview. An informal name for the entire Chicago metropolitan area is "Chicagoland", which generally means the city and all its suburbs. Religion Census, email cliff.grammich@usreligioncensus.org. Prominent Latino cultural attractions found here include Humboldt Park's Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture and the annual Puerto Rican People's Parade, as well as the National Museum of Mexican Art and St. Adalbert's Church in Pilsen. Chicago was named Americas Best Bike City by Bicycling Magazine in 2016. Because of this, ComEd reports indicate that Chicago receives about 75% of its electricity from nuclear power. [351], Electricity for most of northern Illinois is provided by Commonwealth Edison, also known as ComEd. But some of the nations biggest metropolitan areas have a very different look. Would you like to plan a visit to Chicago, or find things to do within your City? The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4, 1837,[35] and for several decades was the world's fastest-growing city. [9] One of the most distinct of these German groups were the Volga Germans, or ethnic Germans having lived along the Volga River in Russia. In the summer of 2016, Navy Pier constructed a DW60 Ferris wheel. Some can be seen from the Kennedy Expressway, other roadways, and public transportation routes, as well as from the neighborhood streets. [citation needed] Highly regarded universities in Chicago and the surrounding area are: the University of Chicago; Northwestern University; Illinois Institute of Technology; Loyola University Chicago; DePaul University; Columbia College Chicago and University of Illinois at Chicago. 1 non-Hispanic 2 excluding black and Asian Hispanics. As the seat of Cook County (the second-most populous U.S. county), the city is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area, one of the largest in the world. [362], To celebrate the sister cities, Chicago hosts a yearly festival in Daley Plaza, which features cultural acts and food tastings from the other cities. Most of the city's high-rise commercial and residential buildings are close to the waterfront. His accomplishments included improvements to parks and creating incentives for sustainable development, as well as closing Meigs Field in the middle of the night and destroying the runways. Germans have constituted a major portion of ethnic whites in Chicago since the beginning of the city's history. [65][66] In 1883, Chicago's railway managers needed a general time convention, so they developed the standardized system of North American time zones. belief in hell by metro area, Learn More: belief in Hell, Believe, Don't believe, % of adults in the Chicago metro area who identify as, Compare: number of members in ethno-racial group. Over a third of the city population is concentrated in the lakefront neighborhoods from Rogers Park in the north to South Shore in the south. In 1933, Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was fatally wounded in Miami, Florida, during a failed assassination attempt on President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. The South Side contains most of the facilities of the Port of Chicago. The Blackhawks have won six Stanley Cups, including in 2010, 2013, and 2015. Chicago's dedication to invest in better bike infrastructure made biking it safer and more comfortable for everyone in Chicago, regardless of age or ability. [26], In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by the Potawatomi, a Native American tribe who had succeeded the Miami and Sauk and Fox peoples in this region. [105] The Illinois Department of Tourism defines Chicagoland as Cook County without the city of Chicago, and only Lake, DuPage, Kane, and Will counties. [94] Emanuel was sworn in as mayor on May 16, 2011, and won re-election in 2015. Religion Census, email cliff.grammich@usreligioncensus.org. Of the city population, 26.2% were under the age of 18, 11.2% were from 18 to 24, 33.4% were from 25 to 44, 18.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% 65 years of age or older. The Civic Opera House is home to the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Other prevalent European ethnic groups include the Czechs, and Ukrainians. [288] Violent crime rates vary significantly by area of the city, with more economically developed areas having low rates, but other sections have much higher rates of crime. Chicago city, Illinois. [93], On February 23, 2011, former Illinois Congressman and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel won the mayoral election. views about homosexuality by metro area, Learn More: views about homosexuality, Should be accepted, Should be discouraged, % of adults in the Chicago metro area who same-sex marriage, Compare: In 2016, the population of Hispanics exceeded that of Blacks to become Chicago's largest minority group with non-Hispanic Whites representing 32.6% of the population, Hispanics at 29.7% of the population, and Blacks at 29.3% of the population. [131], There are preliminary plans to erect a 1:1scale replica of Wacaw Szymanowski's Art Nouveau statue of Frdric Chopin found in Warsaw's Royal Baths along Chicago's lakefront in addition to a different sculpture commemorating the artist in Chopin Park for the 200th anniversary of Frdric Chopin's birth. [110] The South Side is the largest section of the city, encompassing roughly 60% of the city's land area. How Chicago Gobbled Its Neighbors", "Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise Aboard Chicago's First Lady Cruises", "The Public Art Scene You're Missing in Chicago", "Columnist Irv Kupcinet remembered with statue dedication", "Climate of Chicago Illinois State Climatologist", "Chicago, Illinois Kppen Climate Classification (Weatherbase)", Extreme cold in Midwest will finally begin to ease grasp, At 23 below, Wednesday marked Chicago's 4th coldest temperature recorded, University of Iowa student dies during polar vortex; 7 other deaths linked to wintry blast, "Top 20 Weather Events of the Century for Chicago and Northeast Illinois 19001999", "A Study of Chicago's Significant Tornadoes", "Ask Tom: Does Chicago Get Lake-Effect Snow? views about government aid to the poor by metro area, Learn More: views about government aid to the poor, Does more harm than good, Does more good than harm, % of adults in the Chicago metro area who say abortion should be, Compare: Anarchist and socialist groups played prominent roles in creating very large and highly organized labor actions. While Christians make up between 65% and 75% of adults in most of those metro areas - and people with no religious affiliation generally make up roughly 20-25% of the population - some cities stand out for a variety of reasons. The name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the indigenous Miami-Illinois word shikaakwa for a wild relative of the onion; it is known to botanists as Allium tricoccum and known more commonly as "ramps". The region is prone to severe thunderstorms during the spring and summer which can produce large hail, damaging winds, and occasionally tornadoes. [9] The Great Chicago Fire in 1871 destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless,[10] but Chicago's population continued to grow to 503,000 by 1880 and then doubled to more than a million within the decade. This series gives a picture of county-level religious affiliation nationwide. [17] There are approximately 70,000 Bosnian Americans in Chicago. [245], One of the world's most decorated restaurants and a recipient of three Michelin stars, Alinea is located in Chicago. 250 live music venues including the world-renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera, and Joffrey Ballet. The Bears play their home games at Soldier Field. Were also the home of renowned artists including Louis Armstrong, Jennifer Hudson, Earth, Wind and Fire, Chance the Rapper, Common Smashing Pumpkins, Rise Against,Muddy Waters, and Kanye West. This dialect can also be found in other cities bordering the Great Lakes such as Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Rochester, New York, and most prominently features a rearrangement of certain vowel sounds, such as the short 'a' sound as in "cat", which can sound more like "kyet" to outsiders. The Chicago Tribune, which coined the term, includes the city of Chicago, the rest of Cook County, and eight nearby Illinois counties: Lake, McHenry, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Grundy, Will and Kankakee, and three counties in Indiana: Lake, Porter and LaPorte. [209] Chicago also ranks third in the U.S. (behind Las Vegas and Orlando) in number of conventions hosted annually. [158], In the 1920s and 1930s, the great majority of African Americans moving to Chicago settled in a socalled "Black Belt" on the city's South Side. The label first found success with Ministry, with the release of the cold life single, which entered the US Dance charts in 1982. The organization established chapters in Gary, Indiana, in 1913, and Butte, Montana, in 1916, and is the oldest existing Muslim organization in the United States. The Kennedy and Dan Ryan Expressways are the busiest state maintained routes in the entire state of Illinois.[334]. Frank Gehry's detailed, stainless steel band shell, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, hosts the classical Grant Park Music Festival concert series. frequency of meditation by metro area, Learn More: frequency of meditation, At least once a week, Seldom/never, % of adults in the Chicago metro area who feel a sense of spiritual peace and wellbeing, Compare: The Exposition drew 27.5million visitors, and is considered the most influential world's fair in history. On the shore of Lake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. Among the 17 largest metropolitan areas, New Yorks Jewish share is matched only by Miami (9%). 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But this analysis does not include smaller cities, such as Salt Lake City, that may have a larger proportion of Mormons. [74], The ratification of the 18th amendment to the Constitution in 1919 made the production and sale (including exportation) of alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States. (formerly ImprovOlympic). [109] The North Side is the most-densely-populated residential section of the city, and many high-rises are located on this side of the city along the lakefront. [140][143] Most of the city's rainfall is brought by thunderstorms, averaging 38 a year. [361] In some cases, these exchanges have led to further informal collaborations, such as the academic relationship between the Buehler Center on Aging, Health & Society at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University and the Institute of Gerontology of Ukraine (originally of the Soviet Union), that was originally established as part of the Chicago-Kyiv sister cities program.[363]. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. frequency of prayer by metro area, Learn More: frequency of prayer, At least daily, Weekly, Seldom/never, % of adults in the Chicago metro area who attend prayer group, Compare: [233], Chicago lays claim to a large number of regional specialties that reflect the city's ethnic and working-class roots. [citation needed], Lakeview is home to Boystown, the city's large LGBT nightlife and culture center. The department also reported 762 murders in Chicago for the year 2016, a total that marked a 62.79% increase in homicides from 2015. Only the WASPs hated the Irish, and the WASPs all lived on the North Shore. ), Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, Other Congregationalist (Evangelical Trad. [126] Multiple kinds and scales of houses, townhouses, condominiums, and apartment buildings can be found throughout Chicago. [295] In 2011, Chicago's murders fell another 1.2% to 431 (a rate of 15.94 per 100,000). At least three short periods in the history of Chicago have had a lasting influence on American literature. With a population of 2,746,388 in the 2020 census,[7] it is also the most populous city in the Midwest. Judaism has at least 261,000 adherents which is 3% of the population, making it the second largest religion. Dutch Wheels, a world renowned company that manufactures ferris wheels, was selected to design the new wheel. Industrial districts, such as some areas on the South Side, the areas along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, and the Northwest Indiana area are clustered. The strength of the party in the city is partly a consequence of Illinois state politics, where the Republicans have come to represent rural and farm concerns while the Democrats support urban issues such as Chicago's public school funding. [264], Chicago has also entered into esports with the creation of the Chicago Huntsmen, a professional Call of Duty team that participates within the CDL. Since 1999, Judge Mathis also films his syndicated arbitration-based reality court show at the NBC Tower. A popular modification is the Comboan Italian beef sandwich with the addition of an Italian sausage. [25] According to his diary of late September 1687: when we arrived at the said place called "Chicagou" which, according to what we were able to learn of it, has taken this name because of the quantity of garlic which grows in the forests in this region. [70][71], During World War I and the 1920s there was a major expansion in industry. From 1989 until May 16, 2011, Chicago was under the leadership of its longest-serving mayor, Richard M. Daley, the son of Richard J. Daley. Of the total population in 1900, more than 77% were either foreign-born or born in the United States of foreign parentage. [108] The three sides of the city are represented on the Flag of Chicago by three horizontal white stripes. [98][99], Chicago's history and economy are closely tied to its proximity to Lake Michigan. Richie Stanley and Richard H.Taylor. The Museum Campus joins the southern section of Grant Park, which includes the renowned Art Institute of Chicago. Israelis began coming to Chicago in the 1970s during a period of . [132], The city lies within the typical hot-summer humid continental climate (Kppen: Dfa), and experiences four distinct seasons. [citation needed] There are also the private Chicago Academy for the Arts, a high school focused on six different categories of the arts and the public Chicago High School for the Arts, a high school focused on five categories (visual arts, theatre, musical theatre, dance, and music) of the arts. In 2005, O'Hare was the world's busiest airport by aircraft movements and the second-busiest by total passenger traffic. From the 1950s through 1970s, American poetry continued to evolve in Chicago. In addition to Boeing, which located its headquarters in Chicago in 2001, and United Airlines in 2011, GE Transportation moved its offices to the city in 2013 and GE Healthcare moved its HQ to the city in 2016, as did ThyssenKrupp North America, and agriculture giant Archer Daniels Midland. Students at the University of Chicago identify with various faith practices or do not actively identify with any faith practices at all. In each case, at least three-in-ten are evangelical Protestants (including 38% in Dallas). [citation needed], The government of the City of Chicago is divided into executive and legislative branches. Chicago is home to NetherRealm Studios, the developers of the Mortal Kombat series. [283] This was higher than in New York City and Los Angeles, the two largest cities in the United States, which have lower murder rates and lower total homicides. The Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the most recognized basketball teams in the world. He is commonly known as the "Founder of Chicago". He defeated Douglas in the general election, and this set the stage for the American Civil War. The Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine is in Downers Grove. The Chicago Marathon is one of six World Marathon Majors. Purchase this important reference work thatincludes maps and charts. Those with skills in demand couldand often didstay. Information on Chicago, Ill. economy, government, culture, state map and flag, major cities, . The median income for a household in the city was $38,625 in 2000, and the median income for a family was $46,748. [11] The River North Gallery District features the nation's largest concentration of contemporary art galleries outside of New York City. The two teams have faced each other in a World Series only once: in 1906, when the White Sox, known as the "Hitless Wonders," defeated the Cubs, 42. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. By the time of the official census count in 1990, it was overtaken by Los Angeles as the United States' second largest city. Expand. A flourishing independent rock music culture brought forth Chicago indie. [118], The destruction caused by the Great Chicago Fire led to the largest building boom in the history of the nation. [17] The economy of Chicago is diverse, with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. 2.41. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. [189] The Chicago metropolitan area has the third-largest science and engineering work force of any metropolitan area in the nation. The vast majority of Chicago Hispanics are of Mexican descent. Chicago's theater community spawned modern improvisational theater, and includes the prominent groups The Second City and I.O. [31], After the War of 1812, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. Experience Chicagos most notable music festivals including the Chicago Blues Festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival, Lollapalooza, Pitchfork Music Festival and Riot Fest. [193] Academically, Chicago has been influential through the Chicago school of economics, which fielded some 12 Nobel Prize winners. Behind the pavilion's stage is the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, an indoor venue for mid-sized performing arts companies, including the Chicago Opera Theater and Music of the Baroque. [261], The Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL) began play in 1926, and are one of the "Original Six" teams of the NHL. [280], The city is home of former United States President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama; Barack Obama was formerly a state legislator representing Chicago and later a US senator. [311], Chicago high school rankings are determined by the average test scores on state achievement tests. [117] Other notable streets include Michigan Avenue, State Street, Oak, Rush, Clark Street, and Belmont Avenue. [14] The Southwest Side is home to the largest concentration of Gorals (Carpathian highlanders) outside Europe. Religion Census is your source for religious data at the county level. [citation needed], The Great Migration, which had been on pause due to the Depression, resumed at an even faster pace in the second wave, as hundreds of thousands of blacks from the South arrived in the city to work in the steel mills, railroads, and shipping yards. From the grand historic downtown theatres to those tucked away in a neighborhood storefront or church basement, audiences will find theatre of the highest quality throughout the city. [93] The area was shut down for three days and some buildings did not reopen for weeks; losses were estimated at $1.95billion. North Halsted Street is the main thoroughfare of Boystown. It also contains the University of Chicago, ranked one of the world's top ten universities,[218] and the Museum of Science and Industry. [182], The first two Parliament of the World's Religions in 1893 and 1993 were held in Chicago. According to U.S. Census Bureau, 48.53 percent of the Chicago population is male and 51.47 percent are female. ), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Other Episcopalian/Anglican (Mainline Trad. [citation needed], More representational and portrait statuary includes a number of works by Lorado Taft (Fountain of Time, The Crusader, Eternal Silence, and the Heald Square Monument completed by Crunelle), French's Statue of the Republic, Edward Kemys's Lions, Saint-Gaudens's Abraham Lincoln: The Man (a.k.a. [303], Chicago began experiencing a massive surge in carjackings after 2019, and at least 1,415 such crimes took place in the city in 2020. Chicago nicknames or aliases (official or unofficial): Chi-Town, City in a Garden, The City of the Big Shoulders, The City . Religion in Chicago, Illinois 59.9% of the people in Chicago are religious: - 3.5% are Baptist - 0.4% are Episcopalian - 38.7% are Catholic - 1.9% are Lutheran - 1.4% are Methodist - 1.2% are Pentecostal - 1.7% are Presbyterian - 0.3% are Church of Jesus Christ - 5.1% are another Christian faith - 1.1% are Judaism - 0.6% are an eastern faith . [119] Today, Chicago's skyline is among the world's tallest and densest. [75] Chicago was the location of the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, when Al Capone sent men to gun down members of a rival gang, North Side, led by Bugs Moran. 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Within the span of forty years, the city's population grew from slightly under 30,000 to over 1 million by 1890. [171][172], Chicago became a "de jure" sanctuary city in 2012 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council passed the Welcoming City Ordinance. The Irish are still very active in the city's politics. He created Lincoln Park by closing a cemetery filled with shallow graves, and in 1867, in response to an outbreak of cholera he helped establish a new Chicago Board of Health. Among the nations biggest metro areas, Phoenix has one of the highest concentrations of Mormons (6%). The tunnels filled with 250million US gallons (1,000,000m3) of water, affecting buildings throughout the district and forcing a shutdown of electrical power. (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main [28][29][30], In 1795, following the victory of the new United States in the Northwest Indian War, an area that was to be part of Chicago was turned over to the US for a military post by native tribes in accordance with the Treaty of Greenville. [citation needed] The record label later signed many prominent industrial acts, with the most notable being: My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, KMFDM, Front Line Assembly and Front 242. WGN America eventually became NewsNation in 2021. attendance at prayer groups by metro area, Learn More: frequency of participation in prayer, scripture study or religious education groups, At least once a week, Seldom/never, % of adults in the Chicago metro area who meditate, Compare: Since 1968, the Joseph Jefferson Awards are given annually to acknowledge excellence in theater in the Chicago area.