Chicago Population Sinks to 1920 Level

wsj ^ | FEBRUARY 16, 2011 | KEVIN HELLIKER

[george76]

A larger-than-expected exodus over the past 10 years reduced the population of Chicago to a level not seen in nearly a century.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday that during the decade ended in 2010, Chicago's population fell 6.9% to 2,695,598 people, fewer than the 2.7 million reported back in 1920.

Blacks remain the most-populous race in Chicago, Mr. Frey said, while the number of whites fell during the decade by about 52,000 to just under 855,000 and Hispanics' ranks rose by about 25,000 to just below 780,000.

The population of Cook County, which is dominated by the city of Chicago, fell 3.4% during the decade. But it remained by far the state's most populous county, with about 5.2 million people.

The explosive growth of suburbs far outside Chicago produced huge gains in neighboring counties. Kane County grew by 27.5%, Will County by nearly 35% and Lake County by 9.2%, while DuPage grew a more modest 1.4%.

This population shift to traditionally conservative counties could alter the balance of power in both the state house and the Illinois congressional delegation.

[EternalVigilance]

Best steak I ever had was at Gibson’s.

Tough admission to make for a native of Omaha.

[dynachrome]

The Eminem ad during the Stupor Bowl made Deee-troit look like a nice place to live.

[nina0113]

Only 2 things are good about Chicago...

What, all the Russian, Polish & German restaurants closed? Those were the best part of the week I spent there on business 15 years ago.

[yobid]

Me and the wife left in 2007. No regrets at all. In fact, we won’t even go there to visit friends. We’ve had enough.

[Borges]

There's that and the beautiful skyline, the lakefront, the various ethnic mini-towns with their great restaurants, the museums, the variegated cultural life...

[catman67]

More like “Liberals are like locusts”!!!

[Borges]

A friend of mine took his daughter to Detroit for an Eminem concert. He said that there is about 1.5 blocks of ‘nice’ in the entire city.

[Clock King]

Gentrification. The wealthy (mostly white) moved into the the “inner-city”, and the poor/working class were pushed out into the suburbs. The suburbs are demographically becoming heavily Hispanic, Black, and recent East European immigrants.

[epithermal]

"In a country that is only 12.1 percent African-American, 30 percent of African-Americans live in Census Block Groups that are 75 percent African-American or more. 75 percent of African-Americans in the country live in only 16 percent of the Census Block Groups in the United States. 50 percent of African-Americans live in Census Block Groups that have a combined African-American and Latino population of 66.85 percent or more (nationally, the latino population is approximately 15.8 percent, so the combined African-American and Latino population is just shy of only 28 percent)." Mapping and analysis of new data documents still-segregated America

[TYVets]

So how can they still produce enough votes to keep the crazies in power here in Illinois???

Kansas City and St Louis controlled politics here in Missouri for many years.

Even with the St Louis dead voting early and often out state Missouri elected enough republicans in 2002 to gain control of both houses of the legislature.

The balance of power can shift. Keep the faith.

[robjna]

To turn a blind eye to the real effect of racial differences and to blame social oppression for the dilemma that has befallen does a dis-service to the real issue.
A history lesson and a review of different countries and racial make up will only lead to the conclusions that will help rectify what nobody wants to address.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

‘It’s a beautiful city with bad leadership’

Like San Francisco, only less beautiful, much poorer, and not so wacky!

[JohnThune2012]

Illinois,Cally and New York are the kind of States that will still vote for Liberals/Dem’s even if they had 50% Unemployment,,,I hope all the conservatives moved to Red&Purple states to make sure Obama loses in 2012!

[erod]

I would move out, but I got too much family here.

[KarlInOhio]

Did Rahm count as a resident during the census or was he a DC resident? :-).

With all the people leaving Chicago, that will just leave more corruption for those who stay.

[dznutz]

I am a lifelong resident of Chicago. Maybe on paper the population has decreased, but I have a hard time believing that the actual population has shrunk. Granted, Daley launched many of the project dwellers outside the city via section 8, the number of undocumented/uncounted illegal aliens makes up for the loss.

Just try driving through Little Village, West Lawn/Chicago Lawn, West Eldson, Garfield Ridge neighborhoods, lots of congestion that was not there 10-15 years ago. Parking in residential neighborhoods is a nightmare with 4-5 cars per household and twice that many living in each house.

I am at ground zero on this one, and I am not seeing a decline in population.

[Vaduz]

Chicago and Detroit the new Columbia.

[Lurker]

Best steak I ever had was at Gibson’s.

Ditto that.

[Disambiguator]

Pass the word: Tennessee SUCKS!

So does Idaho!

[KeyLargo]

Illinois Top 100 Government Pension Payouts 2008-2009

http://www.ntui.org/NTUI/downloads/2009_top_100_pensions.pdf