Chicago is an enormous city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 2,895,964 people and 868 constituent neighborhoods, Chicago is the largest community in Illinois.

Unlike some cities, Chicago isn't mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Chicago are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Chicago is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Chicago who work in office and administrative support jobs (16.84%), sales jobs (10.18%), and management occupations (8.08%).

Also of interest is that Chicago has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

In Chicago, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 35.17 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit.

Chicago is a big city, and with that comes lots of benefits. One benefit is that most big cities have public transit, but Chicago really shines when it comes to the extensiveness and use of its public transit system. More than most large American cities, Chicago citizens use public transit daily to get to and from work. And while there are transportation options, most people in Chicago ride the bus. Whereas in some cities one is destined to sit in traffic every morning to get to work and every evening to get home, in Chicago a lot leave their cars at home (if they even choose to own one), and hop a ride on the bus.

Chicago Information and Demographics

The education level of Chicago citizens is substantially higher than the average US city or town, as 25.49% of adults in Chicago have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Chicago in 2000 was $20,175, which is upper middle income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $80,700 for a family of four.

Chicago is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Chicago home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Chicago is White, followed by African-American. Chicago also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 26.03% of the city's residents. Important ancestries of people in Chicago include Polish, Irish, German, and Italian.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Chicago's cultural character, accounting for 21.72% of the city's population.

The most common language spoken in Chicago is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.