The mix of ethnic groups in Chicago has varied over the history of the city, resulting in a diverse community in the twenty-first century. The changes in the ethnicity of the population have reflected the history and mass America, as well as internal demographic changes. The groups have been important in the development of the city as well as players in occasional conflicts.
Twenty-first century As of the 2010 census,American Community Survey: Chicago city . Retrieved March 6, 2011. there were 2,695,598 people with 1,045,560 households residing within Chicago. More than half the population of the state of Illinois lives in the Chicago metropolitan area. Chicago is also one of the US's most densely populated major cities. The racial composition of the city was: 45.0% White (31.7% non-Hispanic whites); 32.9% Black or African American; 13.4% from some other race; 5.5% Asian (1.6% Chinese, 1.1% Indian, 1.1% Filipino, 0.4% Korean, 0.3% Pakistani, 0.3% Vietnamese, 0.2% Japanese, 0.1% Thai); 2.7% from two or more races; 0.5% American Indian. Chicago has a Hispanic or Latino population of 28.9%. (Its members may belong to any race; 21.4% Mexican, 3.8% Puerto Rican, 0.7% Guatemalan, 0.6% Ecuadorian, 0.3% Cuban, 0.3% Colombian, 0.2% Honduran, 0.2% Salvadoran, 0.2% Peruvian) The Guatemalan and Peruvian communities have grown substantially in the 2000s, and some estimates give higher percentages.
Ethnic groups Black/African Americans
Tanzanians Most Tanzanians who have arrived in the United States since 1986 have chosen to settle in Chicago. Many of them are students and professionals who came to the city to pursue an advanced degree or work for an employer that sponsored their entry into the United States. Some of the Tanzanians have returned to their home country a few years after arriving in the U. S.
Religion plays an active role in the lives of many Tanzanian Americans in Chicago.
Nigerians More than 30,000 Nigerians live in Chicago. Nigerians are Chicago's largest African community.
Haitians Approximately 10,000–22,000 Haitians live in the Chicago area.
Other Black/African American groups Other Black or African American groups present in Chicago include Ethiopians, Ghanaians, Kenyans, South Africans, Ivorians, Senegalese, Angolans, Somalis, Cameroonians, Togolese, Eritreans, Zimbabweans, Malians, Sierra Leoneans, Sudanese, Zambians, Gambians, Guineans, and Jamaicans.
Hispanic and Latino Americans Nearly two million Hispanic live in metropolitan Chicago, representing in excess of 20% of the region's total population and constituting the third largest Hispanic community in the United States. Like other regions of the nation, Chicago Hispanic are the fastest growing segment of the overall population, increasing 25% in the last decade, and are, not surprisingly, beginning to wield enormous economic and political clout as their numbers grow. About 20% of Chicago's Hispanics also happen to be undocumented migrants. Mexicans make up the largest portion of the Hispanic population in Chicago at 79.2%, with Puerto Ricans the second largest, Central Americans the third largest, and Ecuadorians, the fourth largest, Cubans the fifth, Colombians the sixth, and Peruvians the seventh largest.
Mexicans
Puerto Ricans
Cubans There is a substantial Cuban population in Chicago. Cubans first migrated to Chicago during the 1950s.
Dominicans There is a small community of Dominicans in Chicago. They are concentrated in the Humboldt Park neighborhood and Chicago's Northwest Side. Dominican families have lived in Chicago since 1966.
Ecuadorians Ecuadorians are one of the largest Latin American group in Chicago. Ecuadorian presence in the city dates back to the mid-twentieth century.
Guatemalans Chicago has a significant Guatemalan population.
Salvadorans Chicago's Salvadoran population is concentrated in the North Side neighborhoods of Rogers Park, Albany Park, Logan Square, and Edgewater.
Venezuelans There is a Venezuelan community in Chicago. A large number of Venezuelans arrived in Chicago in 2022 due to Operation Lone Star's bussing program, which brought over 51,000 migrants to Chicago, many of whom were Venezuelan.
Other Latin American groups Other groups of Latin Americans present in Chicago include Brazilians, Chileans, Uruguayans, Costa Ricans, Paraguayans, Bolivians, Nicaraguans, Peruvians, Argentinians, Colombians, and Hondurans.
White Americans Chicago has one of the largest Central/Eastern European and/or Slavic immigrant populations in the nation. The largest amongst this particular group are the Poles. Polish is the second-most spoken foreign language in Chicago behind Spanish.
Albanian Americans Approximately 20,000 Albanians live in Chicago.
Armenian Americans As of 2006 the Armenian population is located in the far northwest of Chicago and in the Chicago suburbs. Waukegan, Illinois has a significant Armenian population. For a period its mayor was Armenian.Cutler, p. 197. The initial settlement of Armenians was in West Pullman on the Far South Side. In the early 1900s Armenians fleeing persecution from Turks arrived in Chicago. In the middle of the twentieth century, some Armenians in Chicago favored Armenian independence and some favored the Soviet Union.Cutler, p. 196. Additional Armenians arrived after Armenia's 1991 independence from the Soviet Union.Cutler, p. 196-197. Most Chicago area Armenians are businesspeople. Irving wrote that "they dominate the imported rug market."
Bosnian Americans Chicago is the home to the largest Bosnian population outside Europe.
Bulgarians Chicago is home to one of the largest Bulgarian immigrant populations outside Bulgaria, with an estimated 20,000–25,000 residents. The community is supported by institutions like St. John of Rila Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the John Atanasoff Bulgarian School, which help preserve language, culture, and traditions.
Croatian Americans There is a Croatian presence in Chicago.
Czech Americans
English Americans The English have been a significant presence in the city since the early nineteenth century.
Circa 2017 the placement of Dyson's US headquarters in Chicago was a factor that caused British nationals to come to Chicago. The Chicago Tribune stated that British citizens are scattered throughout the metropolitan area rather than being concentrated in a particular place. A Baird & Warner real estate agent, Jim Kinney, stated that suburbs to the west were popular with "middle management" while higher levels of employees had preferences for the Chicago North Shore.
French and French Canadians The Midwest region was under French jurisdiction under New France. However, French cultural presence diminished greatly after the Treaty of Paris in 1763, which ended French rule in North America. In the 1870s, some French Canadian families moved to the Brighton Park neighborhood. Interest in French culture was maintained by Chicago society, many of whom traveled frequently to France and would eventually found the Alliance Française de Chicago in 1897.
German Americans
Greek Americans
Around 150,000 Greeks live in Chicago.
Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Palos Hills operates a parochial elementary school, Koraes Elementary School, which has the History of Greece and the Greek language in its curriculum.
Irish Americans
Italian Americans
Jewish Americans
Latvian Americans Approximately 4,000 Latvians live in Chicago. Propelled by a desire for economic and political change from hardships in the Russian Empire, Latvians began arriving in Chicago in the late nineteenth century.
Lithuanian Americans
Polish Americans
Swedish Americans
Welsh Americans
Other White ethnic groups Bulgarians began to arrive in Chicago in the 1870s.
Greeks began arriving in Chicago in the 1840s.
Hungarians emigrated to Chicago at the end of the nineteenth century.
Other European ethnic groups in Chicago are Croatians, French, Slovaks, Macedonians, Estonians, Latvians, Slovenes, Dutch, Spaniards Norwegians, Romanians, Belgians, Portuguese, Luxembourgers, Cypriots, Danish, Georgian, Icelandic, and Finnish.
Arab and Middle Eastern Americans
Assyrian Americans According to the 2000 U.S. census, Chicago is home to 15,683 Assyrians. This is believed to be the largest Assyrian population in the United States. The Assyrians in Chicago settled in Albany Park, Edgewater, Rogers Park, and Uptown. In the suburbs, Assyrians have settled Morton Grove, Niles, and Skokie.Cutler, p. 193, 196.
The first Assyrian church in Chicago opened in 1917 in the Near North Side.Cutler, p. 193.
The Assyrian American Association was established in 1917. It is located at 1618 West Devon Avenue, two blocks east of the Assyrian Pentecostal Church.
Iranian Americans In 2006 there were perhaps as many as 25,000 Chicago area Iranians, including about 6,000 in the Chicago city limits. Iranian ethnic groups represented include Persians, Kurds, Turks, Azeris, and Lurs. Many Iranians live in Uptown. Reza's, which Irving described as one of the most famous Iranian restaurants in Chicago, is in Uptown. Some Iranians operate restaurants and small retail stores, some work in professions, and some work as taxi drivers. Religious groups represented include Muslims and Bahá'í. The Bahá'í temple is in Wilmette, Illinois.
Palestinian Americans As of 2006, there are about 8,500 Arabs in the Chicago metropolitan area, with most of them being Palestinian. Chicago Lawn has one main area of Palestinian settlement, and Albany Park has the other. In the latter, many are Christian. As of 2006 several southwestern suburbs including Bridgeview, Hickory Hills, and Oak Lawn had Arab populations;Cutler, p. 198. Robin Amer of WBEZ stated in 2013 that Bridgeview, Oak Lawn, and Orland Park had Arab populations, with Bridgeview having the most established Arab community. Many Arabs arrived to Chicago after the Arab-Israeli wars occurred.
, the Chicago area has the largest Palestinian American population in the U.S., and that Chicago-area Palestinian-origin people made up 25% of all Palestinian-originating persons in the U.S. In 1995 there were 85,000 persons of Palestinian origin in the Chicago area, making up about 60% of the Arab Americans there; at that time about 50% of the Chicago-area ethnic Palestinians were born in the U.S. The West Bank is the main source of Palestinian immigration into Chicago, and specifically most of the Palestinian people in the Chicago area have origins in Beitunia. Many of them immigrated as extended families. Palestinian Christians began settling a section of Chicago's North Side in the 1960s. In the 1970s Muslim Palestinians settled Chicago Lawn and Gage Park, and by the 1980s moved into the following southwest Cook County communities: Alsip, Bridgeview, Burbank, Hickory Hills, Oak Lawn, and Palos Hills. An Arab commercial area opened in Albany Park in the 1970s.
Syrian Americans In the late 19th century, people from Ottoman Syria, including Muslims from modern day Palestinian territories and historical Palestine and Christians from modern-day Lebanon and Syria, moved to Chicago; at the time people in all three groups were called "Syrians"."Palestinians." Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved on January 17, 2017. Many Syrians who moved to Chicago originally were street peddlers. As time passed, they opened linen, carpet, and other luxury good stores; wholesale stores; and dry goods retail stores. In 1893 Syrians who wished to sell products at the Columbian Exposition began arriving to Chicago. 30 Syrian families lived in Chicago at the time World War II started. Until World War II Muslims from the Palestine area living in Chicago were almost all male, and they sent money to relatives in the Middle East and returned to their mother country to retire. Palestinian Christians began moving to the Chicago area in the 1960s. After the Six-Day War in 1967 additional Syrians moved to Chicago.