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Where am ILOCATED

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area

The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area is made up of 13 counties in Illinois and Indiana; the largest are Cook County, DuPage County, and Lake County. About 9,434,123 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 0.2% fewer than in April 2020.

Cook County, centralDeKalb County, outlyingDuPage County, centralGrundy County, outlyingKane County, centralKendall County, centralLake County, centralMcHenry County, centralWill County, centralJasper County, outlyingLake County, centralNewton County, outlyingPorter County, centralChicagoNapervilleElgin
Central Outlying 13 counties in Illinois and Indiana
Population, July 2025
9,434,123 0.2% fewer than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
Counties
13: 9 central, 4 outlying
Land area
6,923 sq mi (17,931 km²)
Time zone
Central TimeUTC-06:00 in January; UTC-05:00 in July
States
Illinois, Indiana
Combined statistical area
Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI
CBSA code
16980
Open this area in the metro area finder

Counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area, largest first

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025Share of the area
Cook CountyIllinoisCentral5,194,62555.1%
DuPage CountyIllinoisCentral934,2989.9%
Lake CountyIllinoisCentral719,3397.6%
Will CountyIllinoisCentral712,2537.5%
Kane CountyIllinoisCentral525,7575.6%
Lake CountyIndianaCentral504,6125.3%
McHenry CountyIllinoisCentral317,7513.4%
Porter CountyIndianaCentral176,0491.9%
Kendall CountyIllinoisCentral145,4701.5%
DeKalb CountyIllinoisOutlying101,8351.1%
Grundy CountyIllinoisOutlying54,0520.6%
Jasper CountyIndianaOutlying33,8940.4%
Newton CountyIndianaOutlying14,1880.2%

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 people. An outlying county is in the area because of commuting: at least a quarter of its workers have jobs in the central counties, or at least a quarter of the people working there live in them. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal cities, largest first

  1. Chicago2,711,226 people
  2. Naperville150,692 people
  3. Elgin114,934 people
  4. Schaumburg76,868 people
  5. Evanston76,340 people
  6. Bolingbrook74,096 people
  7. Skokie66,219 people
  8. Des Plaines59,156 people
  9. Downers Grove50,054 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Metropolitan divisions

The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area is big enough to be split into 4 metropolitan divisions, each a job center with the counties that commute to it.

Part of the Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other 4 areas in this one, largest first:

  1. Kenosha, WI Metro Area168,448 people
  2. Ottawa, IL Micro Area145,902 people
  3. Michigan City-La Porte, IN Metro Area111,294 people
  4. Kankakee, IL Metro Area105,525 people

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. Michigan City-La Porte, IN Metro Area43 mi east
  2. Kankakee, IL Metro Area52 mi south
  3. Kenosha, WI Metro Area53 mi north
  4. Ottawa, IL Micro Area68 mi southwest
  5. Rochelle, IL Micro Area71 mi west
  6. Niles, MI Metro Area74 mi east
  7. Rockford, IL Metro Area77 mi northwest
  8. Pontiac, IL Micro Area82 mi southwest
  9. Whitewater-Elkhorn, WI Micro Area87 mi northwest
  10. Monticello, IN Micro Area89 mi southeast
  11. Dixon, IL Micro Area92 mi west
  12. Holland, MI Micro Area103 mi northeast
All 13
  1. Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area108 mi southeast

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗