Library Guides: Schooling and Social Inequality (EDSO 23005/33006): Chicago Population Data

Starting Points

City of Chicago Data Portal
Cook County Data Portal
Chicago since 1840 : a time-series data handbook / by Wesley G. Skogan. (1978)
In print and online via HathiTrust
Community Data Snapshots
Summarizes demographics, housing, employment, transportation habits, retail sales, property values, and land use in metropolitan Chicago's 284 municipalities and 77 Community Areas. Raw data can be downloaded from the CMAP Data Hub.

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Summarizes demographics, housing, employment, transportation habits, retail sales, property values, and land use in metropolitan Chicago's 284 municipalities and 77 Community Areas. Raw data can be downloaded from the CMAP Data Hub.

Census Data

U.S. Census and Demographic Data
by Elizabeth Foster Updated Dec 3, 2025 630 views this year

Social Explorer
Social Explorer is a detailed reference tool for current and historical Census data from 1790 to 2010. Data may be generated by browsing maps or building reports.

Social Explorer is a detailed reference tool for current and historical Census data from 1790 to the present. Data may be generated by browsing maps or building reports.
Ancestry Library Edition
Includes census data (for families and individuals), as well as vital records, city directories, and more.

Distributed by ProQuest and powered by Ancestry.com, delivers billions of records in census data, vital records, directories, photos, and more. It's a collection of individuals from North America, the UK, Europe, Australia, and more.

Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses From 1790 to 2000.

Neighborhood Census Data

Chicago's fact books contain data on 77 community areas in the city. Most of the data is compiled from census tract tabulations and other surveys run by local agencies. It is a local community project that traces the historical growth and social environment of Chicago. The last fact book was published in 2003

Other Statistical Sources on Chicago

Chicago Public Schools: School Data
Access to data for Chicago Public Schools

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Includes:
Accountability Reports
Assessment Reports
Demographics
Metrics
Surveys

Publicly available data for all of CPS including test scores and school report cards. Again, studying how closely race and academic performance are related.
--J. Lim
Chicago Health Atlas
A place where you can view citywide information about health trends and take action near you to improve your own health. Provides data citywide, neighborhood, or zip code.
Data Releases
Current data on banks, manufacturing, and the economy for Chicago and the Midwest from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Open City
Open City is a group of volunteers that create apps with open data to improve transparency and citizen understanding of Chicago government.

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Civic apps about Chicago built with open data. A group of volunteers that create apps to improve transparency and citizen understanding of our government.
Homicide in Chicago 1870-1930
Historical homicide data for the City of Chicago, from Northwestern School of Law.
City of Chicago: Geographic Information Systems
The City of Chicago leverages Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to optimize the use of City data in solving difficult business problems.

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