Springfield, IL Metro Area

The Springfield, IL metro area is made up of 2 counties in Illinois: Sangamon and Menard. About 206,033 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 1.3% fewer than in April 2020.

Menard County, outlyingSangamon County, centralSpringfield
Central Outlying 2 counties in Illinois
Population, July 2025
206,033 1.3% fewer than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
Counties
2: 1 central, 1 outlying
Land area
1,183 sq mi (3,063 km²)
Time zone
Central TimeUTC-06:00 in January; UTC-05:00 in July
State
Illinois
Combined statistical area
Springfield-Jacksonville-Lincoln, IL
CBSA code
44100

Counties in the Springfield, IL metro area, largest first

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025Share of the area
Sangamon CountyCentral194,17094.2%
Menard CountyOutlying11,8635.8%

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 county, 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 city

  1. Springfield113,330 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.

Part of the Springfield-Jacksonville-Lincoln, IL combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other 3 areas in this one, largest first:

  1. Jacksonville, IL Micro Area37,381 people
  2. Taylorville, IL Micro Area33,443 people
  3. Lincoln, IL Micro Area27,182 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. Taylorville, IL Micro Area24 mi southeast
  2. Lincoln, IL Micro Area29 mi northeast
  3. Jacksonville, IL Micro Area32 mi west
  4. Decatur, IL Metro Area38 mi east
  5. St. Louis, MO-IL Metro Area86 mi south

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 ↗