Chicagoland

The Chicago metropolitan area, or Chicagoland, is the metropolitan area that includes the city of Chicago, Illinois, and its suburbs. With an estimated CSA population of roughly 10 million people and an MSA population of 9.5 million people, it is the third largest metropolitan area in the United States.^[2]

The Chicago metropolitan area has one of the world's largest and most diversified economies, with more than four million employees and generating an annual gross regional product (GRP) of $680 billion in 2017.^[3] The region is home to more than 400 major corporate headquarters, including 31 in the Fortune 500.^[4] For six consecutive years, Chicagoland was ranked the nation's top metropolitan area for corporate relocations.^[5]

There are several definitions of the area, including the areas defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as the Chicago–Naperville-Elgin IL–IN–WI Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and the slightly larger Combined Statistical Area, and the area under the jurisdiction of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) (a metropolitan planning organization).