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Cook County counted 5,225,367 residents in the Census survey, and Chicago holds about half of them. The other half live in nearly 130 villages, towns and cities from Evanston and Skokie in the north, through Cicero, Oak Park and the Northwest and Southwest suburbs, to Harvey and the Calumet area. Unincorporated land is small, 125.8 square miles, but it exists, and much of it sits inside forest preserve land that makes up about 11 percent of the county.
For a marketer the important point is that each area has its own place names, its own highways and its own customers. A plumber in Orland Park rarely competes with a plumber in Evanston, even though both are in Cook County, Illinois. The map below therefore starts with where people actually live and move, not with the county line. The order matters more than the total: a business that covers three areas well will do better than one that covers fourteen thinly.
Inside Chicago
A dense working and visiting district of about 42,550 residents in 2024, bounded by the river, the lake and Roosevelt Road. City Hall, the county government and the Metra terminals at Millennium and LaSalle Street stations make it a daytime market.
Lincoln Park, Lake View, Uptown, Edgewater and Rogers Park each have between about 54,000 and 103,000 residents in the 2024 figures and run up the lakefront. Searches here name neighborhoods and L stops.
The biggest side, with 1,042,363 residents in 2023 and community areas such as Hyde Park, Bronzeville, Chinatown, Back of the Yards and Pullman. It is served by three CTA lines, two Metra lines and Midway.
The smallest side at about 34.7 square miles and nine community areas, including Pilsen, Little Village and Austin. The Eisenhower Expressway and the Blue, Green and Pink lines serve it, and it meets Oak Park and Cicero on its western edge.
Jefferson Park, Portage Park, Edison Park and the O'Hare community area, which has 14,394 residents on 13.34 square miles. O'Hare is about 17 miles from downtown and is the Blue Line terminus.
Addresses and borders
Several quirks of the county affect how a business should describe where it works. Both airports are inside the City of Chicago, so airport addresses are Chicago addresses even though suburbs such as Des Plaines sit right at the O'Hare fence. Cicero is an incorporated town with its own government, not a neighborhood. Oak Park and Evanston are separate places. Some unincorporated parts of Maine Township carry Des Plaines mailing addresses, so a mail address does not tell a customer which municipality they are in.
Anyone building a Cook County coverage map has to handle places that straddle county lines: Schaumburg is in Cook and DuPage counties, and Orland Park is mainly Cook with a small part in Will. When a business covers such a place, its pages should say which part and which side of the line. That level of detail is how local searches get matched to the right page, and it also keeps a Cook County, Illinois business from advertising in an area it does not serve.
Beyond the city line
Evanston sits about 12 miles north of the Loop with 78,110 residents in 2020, and the shoreline chain runs on through Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka and Glencoe. The CTA Purple Line and Metra Union Pacific North serve it.
Skokie had 67,824 residents in 2020 and borders Chicago, Evanston, Lincolnwood, Niles, Morton Grove, Glenview and Wilmette. The Edens Expressway runs along its west side.
Schaumburg had 78,723 residents in 2020 and Arlington Heights 77,676. The belt runs along I-90, I-290 and Metra's Union Pacific Northwest Line, and Barrington Township has the county's highest ground at over 950 feet.
Des Plaines had 60,675 residents in 2020 and sits just north of O'Hare in Maine Township. I-90 and I-294 both pass through, and forest preserve land separates unincorporated pockets from the city.
Cicero had 85,268 residents in 2020 and borders the West Side. Berwyn and Cicero were once part of a larger township, and the CTA Pink Line and Metra BNSF serve the area.
Oak Park had roughly 54,000 residents in 2020 and lies immediately west of Chicago, with five CTA stations and a Metra stop. River Forest shares a chamber of commerce and a high school with it.
Orland Park had 58,703 residents in 2020 and is called the largest city of the Southland. It is about 25 miles southwest of Chicago, with I-80 along its southern border and Tinley Park to the southeast.
The Chicago Southland holds about 2.5 million people, with about 55 communities in Cook County. Harvey had 20,324 residents in 2020 and has Metra Electric stations and a Pace center with eleven bus routes.
A Civic Federation study counted 125.8 square miles of unincorporated land with 126,114 residents, and about 60.26 percent of that land is inside a forest preserve. The county sheriff and the county maintain its roads and policing.
Roads and rail
| Route | What it joins and what it means for coverage |
|---|---|
| I-94 and I-90 (Edens, Kennedy and the Northwest Tollway) | Tie the north and northwest suburbs to the Loop and to O'Hare. A business near Skokie or Des Plaines can reach both ends in one trip. |
| I-290 (Eisenhower) and Illinois Route 53 | The main route through the West Side and Oak Park, running out along Schaumburg's eastern edge. It pairs the near west suburbs with the Northwest. |
| I-55 (Stevenson) and I-294 (Tri-State) | The Stevenson joins the South and Southwest Sides with the western and southwestern suburbs, and the Tri-State links Des Plaines to the south. |
| I-57, I-80 and I-355 | The south and southwest spine, with I-57 near Harvey and I-80 forming Orland Park's southern border. |
| CTA L system | Eight lines, with the Blue Line running 24 hours from O'Hare to the Loop and Forest Park. A customer without a car moves along these lines, not the expressways. |
| Metra commuter rail | Eleven lines and 242 stations carried 37,950,100 riders in 2025 to Union Station, Ogilvie, LaSalle Street and Millennium Station. A business near a station reaches commuters who never see its street. |
| Airports and the port | O'Hare, Midway and the Port of Chicago at Calumet Harbor bring non-residents and freight into the county and sit inside the city limits. |
Where to start
| If your base is | Cover first | Add next | Leave for later |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loop or North Side | Your own side plus the neighboring North Side communities | Evanston and Skokie along the Purple Line and the Edens | Southwest suburbs |
| South Side or the Southland | Your own community area or village | Neighboring Southland communities along I-57 | North Shore |
| West Side, Cicero or Oak Park | The area you sit in plus the Cicero, Berwyn and Oak Park border | The Eisenhower corridor and the near north | Far southwest |
| Northwest suburbs | Schaumburg, Arlington Heights and Palatine | Des Plaines and the O'Hare edge | South suburbs |
| Southwest suburbs | Orland Park, Tinley Park and nearby villages | The Calumet area along I-80 and I-57 | North Shore |
| Airport edge | Des Plaines, the O'Hare community area and the nearest Northwest Side neighborhoods | The Northwest suburbs and Far North Side | Southland |
Places that pull people in
| Place | Where | Why a marketer cares |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois Medical District | Near West Side | More than 29,000 employees and about 50,000 daily visitors across four hospitals draw patients, families and staff from across the county. |
| Northwestern University | Evanston | A 240 acre campus that sets term-time demand in Evanston and the North Shore. |
| University of Chicago | Hyde Park | A South Side anchor for students, hospital staff and visitors. |
| Governors State and the south suburban colleges | University Park, Palos Hills, Chicago Heights and South Holland | Community colleges and a university spread across the south and southwest suburbs. |
| O'Hare and Midway airports | Northwest and Southwest Sides | Travelers searching for lodging, rides and urgent services arrive here, and the airport addresses sit inside Chicago. |
| Woodfield Mall area | Schaumburg | A retail and office center opened in 1971, and the village lists it as its top employer. |
| Forest Preserves of Cook County | Countywide | About 70,000 acres and the zoo and botanic garden pull weekend traffic into suburban areas. |
Drawing your own map
Pick the address your crews or customers start from, and note its side of Chicago or its suburb belt.
Their villages and Chicago sides tell you where you already win, which areas are your first ring.
Choose the next two areas along the same expressway or rail line, not a random list.
Each area gets a page and a Google Maps profile setup that matches how people search there.
After a few months, look at where inquiries came from and extend one more area at a time.
Questions
Coverage planning is part of the monthly plan, not a separate fee: RankGuarantee™ landing pages are $495 a month, Organic Growth starts at $1,495 a month and paid ads management starts at $895 a month, with ad spend separate. No setup fee, no contract.
Usually not at first. Chicago and the suburbs are different markets with different place names, rail lines and travel patterns. Starting with your own side and its nearest neighbors usually gives clearer results than one broad campaign, and it keeps your first reports easy to read. Later you can add the other half one area at a time.
Most owners begin with two or three and add one at a time. The right number depends on your trade, your travel radius and how many jobs your crews can really take on, and we adjust it after we see the first few months of data. Covering fewer areas well usually beats covering many thinly.
Because they move customers who do not live nearby. The Illinois Medical District alone has about 50,000 daily visitors, and both airports sit inside the city, so they are demand sources that spread across the whole county. A business that serves hospital families or travelers plans around them, not just around home addresses.
It is small and scattered, 125.8 square miles, and often sits beside a village or a forest preserve. Pages for those areas should name the nearest municipality and say plainly which pockets you serve, since mail addresses can be misleading. Most businesses treat these pockets as part of the nearest village rather than as a separate market.
Both. Schaumburg sits partly in DuPage County, so a business there should say which side it serves. A Cook County, Illinois page can mention it, but the DuPage portion calls for its own page and its own Google Maps setup, and Orland Park has a similar small piece in Will County.
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Get in Touch
Name your base and the three places you most want to reach. We will draw the order to cover them. Call 610-825-4363 or email hello@getphound.com.