While metro Chicago’s overall population has remained relatively stagnant over the last few years, it’s been a much different picture for some racial or ethnic groups, according to new population estimates released from the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday.
The Census Bureau revises its population estimates every year since the most recent once-in-a-decade census in 2020, and the figures are calculated based upon three core components of population change: births, deaths and migration. This latest release of census estimates offers breakdowns by age, race, ethnicity and gender.
WBEZ took a deep dive into the latest release of data. Below are three main takeaways.
1. Asian and Latino population growth
Metro Chicago’s Asian population is growing faster than any other racial or ethnic group, Census Bureau estimates show. Of the estimated 9.4 million people in the Chicago metropolitan statistical area in 2024, roughly 764,000 are Asian — almost 80,000 more than in 2020, data show. During that span, the Hispanic population also grew from about 2.22 million to more than 2.32 million. Meanwhile, the metro area’s white and Black populations both declined. White population fell from 4.83 million to 4.64 million, and the Black population declined from about 1.56 million to 1.50 million.
The Chicago metro area includes 14 counties: nine in northeast Illinois, four in Northwest Indiana, and one in southeast Wisconsin.
2. A diverse Asian population
Most Asian residents in the Chicago area are first-generation immigrants who are from a wide range of countries.
About two in every three Asian residents in metro Chicago were born outside of the U.S, according to a WBEZ analysis of the most recent Census Bureau estimates by place of birth from the University of Minnesota.
The combined total of immigrants from India and the Philippines make up more than half the population of foreign-born Asian residents, with those countries accounting for 33% and 21% of the foreign-born population, respectively. Other countries from which tens of thousands of Chicago-area Asian immigrants hail include China, Korea, Pakistan and Vietnam.
3. Younger Chicago-area residents are mostly nonwhite
A breakdown by age, race and ethnicity shows that in 2024, the majority of Chicago-area residents under 55 are nonwhite, while the majority of residents 55 years or older are white.
Racial and ethnic diversity is greatest among the youngest residents. Roughly 40% of Chicago-area residents under 25 are white, 32% are Latino, 16% are Black, 8% are Asian and 3% are multiracial.
Amy Qin is WBEZ’s data reporter.
