How do you define Chicagoland?

[dvferyance]

I was wondering how is the best way to define Chicagoland. it was originally consisted of Cook, Lake, Du Page, Kane and Will counties. Over the years it has expanded beyond that. Some say that even places as far out as Rockford, South Bend, Benton Harbor and La Salle-Puru are part of it. But I think that's a stretch any thoughts?

[Max Rockatansky]

I think people say Benton Harbor, MI since most people there tend to follow the Chicago sports teams versus Detroit.  For me the eastern end was always Gary, Indiana.  The sudden shift to heavy industrial landscape is something that I always associated with Chicago and the surrounding area.

[pianocello]

For me, it goes as far north as Waukegan, as far northwest as McHenry/Crystal Lake. The cities on the Fox down to Oswego are part of Chicagoland (Elgin, St. Charles, Aurora), but not much further west than that. As far southwest as Joliet and cities along US-30 to Merrillville would be considered part of it. In NWI, I would consider the eastern end to be the Lake/Porter county line, but some might disagree. As a resident (part-time) of Valparaiso, I would consider it outside Chicagoland, but extremely close.

[dvferyance]

For me, it goes as far north as Waukegan, as far northwest as McHenry/Crystal Lake. The cities on the Fox down to Oswego are part of Chicagoland (Elgin, St. Charles, Aurora), but not much further west than that. As far southwest as Joliet and cities along US-30 to Merrillville would be considered part of it. In NWI, I would consider the eastern end to be the Lake/Porter county line, but some might disagree. As a resident (part-time) of Valparaiso, I would consider it outside Chicagoland, but extremely close.

I would say that's about right but some say it's even bigger than that.

[Brandon]

Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Will, and Lake and Porter in NW Indiana.  Counties that I would consider peripheral, and may be part of Chicagoland, or may not, YMMV, include: Kankakee, Grundy, and DeKalb.  If you're in Minooka, then Grundy is, if you're in Morris, then Grundy isn't.  Same thing for Manteno versus Kankakee.  Kenosha County, WI is a border county between Chicagoland and Milwaukeeland.

[dvferyance]

Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Will, and Lake and Porter in NW Indiana.  Counties that I would consider peripheral, and may be part of Chicagoland, or may not, YMMV, include: Kankakee, Grundy, and DeKalb.  If you're in Minooka, then Grundy is, if you're in Morris, then Grundy isn't.  Same thing for Manteno versus Kankakee.  Kenosha County, WI is a border county between Chicagoland and Milwaukeeland.

Milwaukeeland? Never heard of that term before. Some would say La Porte, Newton and Jasper counties in Indiana are part of it. I can see the argument for La Porte but not Newton and Jasper. De Kalb county is not a part of Chicagoland there is absolutely nothing out there that connects it with Chicagoland. Grundy perhaps Kankakee I would say not. But then again some even consider Barrien County Michigan a part of it.

[paulthemapguy]

For me, it goes as far north as Waukegan, as far northwest as McHenry/Crystal Lake. The cities on the Fox down to Oswego are part of Chicagoland (Elgin, St. Charles, Aurora), but not much further west than that. As far southwest as Joliet and cities along US-30 to Merrillville would be considered part of it. In NWI, I would consider the eastern end to be the Lake/Porter county line, but some might disagree. As a resident (part-time) of Valparaiso, I would consider it outside Chicagoland, but extremely close.

This is amazingly close to how I would define it.  Growing up in Oswego, I always believed my home to be the absolute edge of the Chicagoland area.  More or less, if the arterial roads have a speed limit of 55, you're not in Chicagoland anymore.

[SteveG1988]

As a truck driver i define it as follows.

i-80 forms the bottom of the chicagoland area for me, out to i-55 where it crosses the Des Plaines. IL-59 north to 90 for the western border. This is for traffic snarls by the way... so yeah, As far north as the 94/294 split for the Tri-State  with IL-68 forming the extreme northern border. once you are on 94 north of 294 you are pretty much out of traffic issues going north.Going East, Lake Station IN. That is the farthest east i say chicagoland goes. Once east of there or south of there on 65 traffic drops off quickly.

[DandyDan]

When I lived in St. Charles in my high school years, I always felt like going west of IL 47 meant I was out of Chicagoland.  When I went to college at NIU, I felt like I was going out to college in a city with it's own identity, although one closely tied with Chicago.  OTOH, when I went to NIU, we had both the Chicago and the Rockford TV stations.  Going to my grandpa's in La Salle County was half in suburbia and then out in the country once we got on IL 71 going SW from Yorkville.  La Salle County should never be counted as part of Chicagoland.  I think going west on I-80, it ends at Morris, so in short, I think IL 47 is the unofficial west border of Chicagoland.  Of course, my time ended there 20 years ago, so it may all be different now.

[ET21]

Chicagoland: Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake IL, Lake IN, Porter, McHenry, Kane, Kendall, Grundy.
Added peripheral: Boone, DeKalb, Kankakee, LaPorte.

Mines a little distorted because I've used the NWS Chicago coverage. The WFO adds in Winnebago, Ogle, Lee, LaSalle, Livingston, Ford, Iroquois, Newton, and Jasper. All of those I would not consider. 

[CNGL-Leudimin]

For me, 'Chicagoland' is only the built-up area extending from Chicago, ending at the WI line and including Gary IN and surroundings.

[dvferyance]

Mines a little distorted because I've used the NWS Chicago coverage. The WFO adds in Winnebago, Ogle, Lee, LaSalle, Livingston, Ford, Iroquois, Newton, and Jasper. All of those I would not consider.
[/quote]Even Walworth County WI would make more sense then any of those. At least I can say the Lake Geneva/Genoa City area is starting to become the very northwesternmost point of it in the coming years. Lake Geneva already has a lot of Chicago transplants living up there.

[Super Mateo]

On the south end, I would consider US 30 to be a good guideline for the southern edge, although some places (for example, Crete) would be included. IL 59 might make a good guideline for the western border.

Some define Chicagoland as IL only (at least one ad has said "Chicagoland and NW Indiana"), but I disagree, especially as Hammond shares a border with Chicago. I'd say I-65 would be a good guideline for the east.

I'm not as familiar with the north suburbs, so I can't really give a good answer for that.

[Stratuscaster]

Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Will, and Lake and Porter in NW Indiana.  Counties that I would consider peripheral, and may be part of Chicagoland, or may not, YMMV, include: Kankakee, Grundy, and DeKalb.  If you're in Minooka, then Grundy is, if you're in Morris, then Grundy isn't.  Same thing for Manteno versus Kankakee.  Kenosha County, WI is a border county between Chicagoland and Milwaukeeland.

This is likely the most accurate for me, too.

Boone, DeKalb, LaSalle, Grundy, and Kankakee County form the "Collar Counties" that surround Chicagoland.

[DandyDan]

Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Will, and Lake and Porter in NW Indiana.  Counties that I would consider peripheral, and may be part of Chicagoland, or may not, YMMV, include: Kankakee, Grundy, and DeKalb.  If you're in Minooka, then Grundy is, if you're in Morris, then Grundy isn't.  Same thing for Manteno versus Kankakee.  Kenosha County, WI is a border county between Chicagoland and Milwaukeeland.

This is likely the most accurate for me, too.

Boone, DeKalb, LaSalle, Grundy, and Kankakee County form the "Collar Counties" that surround Chicagoland.

I always considered Belvidere and the rest of Boone County part of the Rockford area.  But then again, some people apparently think Rockford is part of the Chicago area, a notion I find laughable, but they do call their airport Chicago Rockford International Airport.

[paulthemapguy]

Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Will, and Lake and Porter in NW Indiana.  Counties that I would consider peripheral, and may be part of Chicagoland, or may not, YMMV, include: Kankakee, Grundy, and DeKalb.  If you're in Minooka, then Grundy is, if you're in Morris, then Grundy isn't.  Same thing for Manteno versus Kankakee.  Kenosha County, WI is a border county between Chicagoland and Milwaukeeland.

This is likely the most accurate for me, too.

Boone, DeKalb, LaSalle, Grundy, and Kankakee County form the "Collar Counties" that surround Chicagoland.

I always considered Belvidere and the rest of Boone County part of the Rockford area.  But then again, some people apparently think Rockford is part of the Chicago area, a notion I find laughable, but they do call their airport Chicago Rockford International Airport.

I agree with you.  The naming of the airport is merely a ploy to get residents from the actual Chicagoland area to use the airport and give them some business.  And even so, I'm still pretty sure they don't get much.

[NWI_Irish96]

I would define Chicagoland as McHenry, Lake, DeKalb, Kane, Du Page, Cook, La Salle, Kendall, Grundy, Will, Kankakee in Illinois, Kenosha in WI and Lake and Porter in IN.

[Revive 755]

On the south end, I would consider US 30 to be a good guideline for the southern edge, although some places (for example, Crete) would be included. IL 59 might make a good guideline for the western border.

I disagree with the western border, given the amount of growth west of IL 59.  If I wanted to define the western border based on a road, I would go with around the Randall Road/Orchard Road corridor or a US 12/IL 31/IL 120/IL 47/IL 71/IL 126/Ridge Road line.

For entering Chicagoland via I-55, I generally think of the fuzzy boundary being around the IL 113 interchange since this is where there seems to be a decent increase in residential development.  For I-57, I would say around the Monee Exit (Exit 335).  Via I-94 or the Indiana Toll Road I would say the interchange connecting I-94 to the Toll Road.

[hbelkins]

Has dzlsabe weighed in on this yet? I'm sure he will have some cogent and rational thoughts on the topic. 

[dvferyance]

On the south end, I would consider US 30 to be a good guideline for the southern edge, although some places (for example, Crete) would be included. IL 59 might make a good guideline for the western border.

I disagree with the western border, given the amount of growth west of IL 59.  If I wanted to define the western border based on a road, I would go with around the Randall Road/Orchard Road corridor or a US 12/IL 31/IL 120/IL 47/IL 71/IL 126/Ridge Road line.

For entering Chicagoland via I-55, I generally think of the fuzzy boundary being around the IL 113 interchange since this is where there seems to be a decent increase in residential development.  For I-57, I would say around the Monee Exit (Exit 335).  Via I-94 or the Indiana Toll Road I would say the interchange connecting I-94 to the Toll Road.

For I-55 I would say Arsenal Rd For I-57 it would be Sauk Trail and for I-65 US 231.

[ET21]

Mines a little distorted because I've used the NWS Chicago coverage. The WFO adds in Winnebago, Ogle, Lee, LaSalle, Livingston, Ford, Iroquois, Newton, and Jasper. All of those I would not consider.

Even Walworth County WI would make more sense then any of those. At least I can say the Lake Geneva/Genoa City area is starting to become the very northwesternmost point of it in the coming years. Lake Geneva already has a lot of Chicago transplants living up there.
[/quote]

Wisconsin is tricky. You could honestly mark that as a gray area, being influenced by both Milwaukee and Chicago. Rock and Walworth may also have a small Madison influence as well

[slorydn1]

I grew up in the NW suburbs back in the 80's and for us Chicagoland was pretty much from a line drawn from the Wisconsin border down through Elgin, Aurora (etc.) all the way down to about Morris and then the line heads east from there to the Indiana state line. We didn't consider NW Indiana as part of Chicagoland. As somone else stated above, a lot of that came from car commercials.


"....so head on down to your Chicagoland and/or Northwest Indiana (Chevy/Ford/Dodge/Toyota/Honda) dealer now!!!!" (some would say and, some would say or, but all would mention the 2 locales as separate entities).


At least, that's the way it was back then, I haven't been back since June of '91 so I am not sure how its done now.

[corco]

I lived in Geneva throughout the 1990s, and we considered ourselves the very edge of Chicagoland because that's where the last Metra stop was. By that logic, it looks like it goes out to Elburn now, so I'd consider Elburn/IL 47 to be the west edge of Chicagoland.

[paulthemapguy]

On the south end, I would consider US 30 to be a good guideline for the southern edge, although some places (for example, Crete) would be included. IL 59 might make a good guideline for the western border.

I disagree with the western border, given the amount of growth west of IL 59.  If I wanted to define the western border based on a road, I would go with around the Randall Road/Orchard Road corridor or a US 12/IL 31/IL 120/IL 47/IL 71/IL 126/Ridge Road line.

For entering Chicagoland via I-55, I generally think of the fuzzy boundary being around the IL 113 interchange since this is where there seems to be a decent increase in residential development.  For I-57, I would say around the Monee Exit (Exit 335).  Via I-94 or the Indiana Toll Road I would say the interchange connecting I-94 to the Toll Road.

For I-55 I would say Arsenal Rd For I-57 it would be Sauk Trail and for I-65 US 231.

Incidentally, Arsenal Rd is where the speed limit goes from 65 to 70.  So maybe you could define Chicagoland as the area where the Interstate speed limits are below 70 

[dvferyance]

I lived in Geneva throughout the 1990s, and we considered ourselves the very edge of Chicagoland because that's where the last Metra stop was. By that logic, it looks like it goes out to Elburn now, so I'd consider Elburn/IL 47 to be the west edge of Chicagoland.

Kind of but IL-47 is still mainly rural in most places other than around Huntley. I consider the boundary Randall Rd with a few zig zaging a couple miles west in some places. There is still farmland between Elburn and Geneva. Just keep in mind with the metra aurgument it also goes all the way out to Harvard as well which is pretty far out.