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Census 2000: Social, Economic, & Housing Highlights from
the
Profiles of General Demographic
Characteristics issued
May 14, 2002
On May 14, 2002 the U.S. Bureau of
the Census released the first summaries of the responses to the "long form"
version of the Census 2000 questionnaire for counties, whole places and townships
in Illinois. The new information covers topics ranging from educational
attainment to ancestry, employment status to income and poverty, and from
the number of rooms in homes and apartments to the monthly costs of housing.
This new information both confirms much of what we
suspected and reveals
a few surprises about changes in the six county northeastern Illinois region
from 1990 to 2000.
The average time it takes to get to work increased from 1990 to 2000
with the most substantial increases being recorded for municipalities in
south Cook, northern Lake and northwest Will counties;
meanwhile, city of Chicago residents saw their average commute to work
time increase from 31.5 minutes in 1990 to 35 minutes in 2000.
The proportion of commuters traveling to work alone in
their cars increased from 66% to 69%; on work days, an
astounding 2.6 million northeastern Illinois residents drove alone to work - an increase of 264,000
from 1990.
At the same time, carpooling
to work dropped from 12% to 11% regionwide,
although the number of workers commuting in carpools
did increase in Kane, Lake,
McHenry and Will counties.
Public transportation use as a means to get to work
fell from 15% to 13% in our metro area -
and in the city of
Chicago the number of public transportation riders
declined by 40,000,
accounting for nearly all of the regional decline of 41,000.
The number of households in the city of Chicago
with two or more cars rose by 42,000 from 1990 to 2000; overall, 49% of the region’s households had two or more cars available
- and in the
suburbs the share was 61%.
The number of people working at home increased by 31,000 (to only
3% of all workers) representing an increase of 42% from 1990;
Persons living in poverty increased by nearly 33,000; the poverty
population in the city of Chicago fell by 35,500 while suburban Cook County gained
over 35,000 and the remaining suburban counties gained 33,000; overall the
poverty rate in northeastern Illinois fell slightly from 11.3% to 10.6%.
Median household incomes generally increased across the entire region;
after correction for inflation, these ranged from 12% increase in Will
County to 3% in DuPage; the increase in Chicago of 9% contrasts with a 1%
decline in the prior decade.
- Because of its strong gain in median household
income and its reduction in poverty, Chicago was one of only four large
cities in the U.S. where the so-called "prosperity gap" between the
suburbs and the central city narrowed between 1990 and 2000; the other
cities were Seattle, Miami, and San Francisco.
During the 1980s, real gross rent (after inflation correction)
increased by nearly 21% for the region; this far outran the increases in
real household income (1%) and home values (5%); the situation for the
1990s was much different with increases in home values
well beyond those for income and
rent; the contrasts for the costs of rental housing are notable – for
example, in the 1980s rent increased by 21% in Cook and DuPage counties;
the comparable real increases for the 1990s was only
1% in Cook and 10% in
DuPage.
During the decade the percentage of households spending 35% or more of
their income for housing increased from 21% to 22%; while a higher
proportion of renters vs. owners felt this burden on their income, during
the decade the share of renters spending 35% or more of income fell from
31% in 1990 to 29% in 2000; the comparable figures for owners was 13% in
1990 and 18% in 2000.
Regionwide, the population aged 25 and older holding a college degree
increased from 24.5% in 1990 to 30.2% in 2000.
The increase in the foreign born population accounted for 65% of the
region’s total population growth; there are now over
1.4 million foreign born residents in northeastern Illinois, with 45% of
them having moved to the region between 1990 and 2000.
To view or download Census 2000 profiles that contain
summaries of the "long-form" social, economic, and housing data for each
county, political township, and municipality in northeastern Illinois,
please go to
http://www.nipc.org/forecasting/GDP4-counties/gdp_profiles_1.htm.
To view or download a
Microsoft Excel file with these same data items in one
file for all counties, townships, and municipalities in northeastern
Illinois, please go to
http://www.nipc.org/dp234_2000.htm.
The Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) is a Coordinating
Member of the Illinois State Data Center. In this role, the Commission works
with the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs of the State of
Illinois, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois State University and Northern Illinois
University in providing census data to residents, public officials,
businesses, not-for-profit organizations and institutions in Illinois. For
more information about the Census, contact NIPC at 312-454-0400, ext 607.
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