The Champaign-Decatur CSA, also known as East Central Illinois CSA, was a combined statistical area in the U.S. State of Illinois. It was the 104th largest combined statistical area in the U.S. It was composed of four counties, Champaign, Ford, Piatt and Macon.

By 2020 the area had been subdivided such that the city of Decatur was defined separately as a Metropolitan Statistical Area, and the remainder approximately forms the newer Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The area had a population of 344,440 as determined by the 2010 U.S. Census. The area is anchored by the principal cities of Champaign and Decatur and is home to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system. (University students, even those from outside the area, are included in Census figures if they were counted by the federal Census).

Counties Champaign 204,897 Macon 109,278 Piatt 16,433 Ford 13,832

Urban core development Recently, Champaign has seen its skyline go up. At the University of Illinois campus, Memorial Stadium has gone under major renovation and construction of new stands, clubs and luxury suites. In Campustown, a new 24-story highrise apartment building has been completed and is tall. The highrise, called 309 Green, is three stories higher than the older 21-story Tower at Third. The Burnham 310 Project, at 18 stories, which is also taller (in overall height), was finished in the fall of 2008 and includes student luxury apartments and a County Market grocery store. Burnham 310 connects downtown Champaign to Campustown. In the past year (2013–14) four other mixed use buildings (apartments over commercial) have built in Campustown, with heights of 26, 13, 8, and 5 stories. In downtown, the new 9 story M2 on Neil project is completed. M2 has offices, retail, and condos. A Hyatt Place boutique hotel has recently opened in downtown Champaign. These, among other developments, are giving the city a more urban feel.

Outlying areas The outlying parts of the metropolitan area differ from the suburban areas of many other metropolitan areas. Instead of a sprawling suburban skirt that encircles the urban area, the urban area abuts large swaths of farmland, with small to medium-sized villages that originated as farming communities. But, as the willingness of professionals to commute longer distances has increased in recent decades, new residential developments have arisen on their edges, dotting the surrounding landscape. Some of these villages are home to as many as 5,000 residents or more, but most are significantly smaller.

Most of these outlying communities, such as Savoy, Mahomet, St. Joseph, and arguably Rantoul and Monticello as well, are dependent on Champaign and Urbana for economic and infrastructure support. Predominantly, these cities and villages lie in Champaign County. These areas are populated to a substantial extent with commuters who work in Champaign or Urbana, but reside outside of the two cities. Because higher paid professors, doctors and technology professionals who work for the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, the many clinics and hospitals in town, or in the Research Park, are more likely to maintain cars for commuting longer distances and to afford owner-occupied single-family housing, these areas lacking in mass transit and high-density rental projects often have a higher median household income than Champaign or Urbana.

In addition to residential developments in the surrounding, formerly agricultural communities, residential neighborhoods are also growing up in unincorporated areas within a short radius of the city limits, while the cities themselves are also expanding to annex areas of new development. While the annexed areas benefit from municipal services, developments that are willing to forego city sewer systems, libraries and police protection can enjoy the lower tax rates the surrounding townships levy, as fewer services are provided. Areas currently under construction extend as far as around Rising Road west of I-57 and north and east of Willard Airport. Some of this land is in Champaign Township, while some has been annexed to either Champaign or Savoy. Additional land development is occurring north of I-74 in land annexed by both Champaign and Urbana. On the eastern side of the city of Urbana, new business developments such as a Meijer, a planned Menards, and a commercial center with many restaurants and services have broken ground, as well as more suburban housing.

The issue of land development is often hotly contested by local governments. In addition to arguments for and against development, the question of potential annexations, which remove property tax revenues from the surrounding townships while increasing the urban tax base (but also the demands on urban services) is a point of constant strife between the cities and the surrounding townships. On the other hand, the availability of higher-valued housing in areas belonging to the townships or surrounding villages, which is paid for by workers earning their money within the urban infrastructure also represents a movement of potential tax dollars from Champaign and Urbana to their dependent areas.

Tourism and recreation Museums Champaign County Historical Museum. Located in the Historic Cattle Bank built in 1858. Features exhibits on the history of the area and the midwest as a whole. Chanute Aerospace Museum. Showcases Illinois' role in aviation, featuring several hangars of planes on exhibit (Located in nearby Rantoul). Museum of the Grand Prairie. Features historic exhibits on life in the early midwest. Krannert Art Museum. Art Museum featuring both modern and classical art. Many changing exhibits. Orpheum Children's Science Museum. A hands on science museum for children. Spurlock Museum. Over 46,000 artifacts on display focusing around human culture and history throughout the world. Features some of the largest exhibits on Native North American and South American history in the nation. Monticello Railway Museum. Railroad museum with exhibits focused on central Illinois. Main attraction is the operating tourist railroad.

Parks and recreation Champaign Park District features many parks, hiking trails, and biking trails in the city of Champaign. Urbana Park District includes exercise and biking trails, Crystal Lake, a sculpture park, and other public facilities in the city of Urbana. Robert Allerton Park a private estate donated to the University consisting of a large manor house (now a conference center), formal gardens, and natural woodlands and prairie. Open to the public. Local Macon County park resources include Lake Decatur, Lincoln Trail Homestead State Memorial, Rock Springs Conservation Area, Fort Daniel Conservation Area, Sand Creek Recreation Area, Griswold Conservation Area, Friends Creek Regional Park, and Spitler Woods State Natural Area. The Decatur Park District resources include 2,000 acres of park land, an indoor sports center, Decatur Airport, three golf courses, softball, soccer and tennis complexes, athletic fields, a community aquatic center, AZA-accredited zoo, and a banquet, food & beverage business. Decatur, at one time was dubbed "Park City U.S.A." because it had more parks per person that any other city in the country.

Colleges and universities The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is located jointly in Urbana and Champaign and is the flagship campus for the University of Illinois system. Parkland College is a community college located in Champaign. Millikin University (enrollment 2,400), a four-year institution of higher education, has a campus founded by James Millikin and was originally affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Richland Community College (enrollment 3,500) is a comprehensive community college. It also hosts the biannual Farm Progress Show.

Health The Champaign-Decatur Metro area is home to two hospitals, the Carle Foundation Hospital, and Provena Covenant Medical Center, with a combined total of over 550 physicians. Both hospitals are located less than a mile apart on University Avenue in Urbana. Both hospitals provide various specialized services, and Carle Hospital currently has a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, a Level I Trauma Center, and a medical helicopter service. Both hospitals are currently having to face the fact that their tax-exempt statuses are being revoked by the State of Illinois.

Carle Foundation Physician Services, formerly Carle Clinic Association until its purchase by The Carle Foundation in 2010. maintains several locations next to the hospital as well as other locations within C-U and other East Central Illinois cities. Christie Clinic, another smaller multispeciality group practice, is headquartered in downtown Champaign. They are largely affiliated with Provena Covenant Medical Center but are not as closely linked as their Carle counterparts.

Both hospitals and clinics are affiliated with the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana, part of the larger University of Illinois College of Medicine, which has campuses in Chicago, Peoria, Rockford, and Urbana. The College has a teaching presence at both hospitals, although the facilities are somewhat more extensive at Carle Foundation Hospital.

Arts and culture

The Champaign-Decatur CSA Area is home to many theatres. The University is home to three theatre venues; Foellinger Auditorium, Assembly Hall and the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. While the Assembly Hall is primarily a campus basketball and concert arena, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts is considered to be one of the nation's top venues for performance and hosts over 400 performances annually. Built in 1969, the Krannert Center's facilities cover over four acres (16,000 m2) of land, and features four theatres and an amphitheatre.

The Historic Virginia Theatre in downtown Champaign is a public venue owned by the city of Champaign and administered by the Champaign Park District. It is best known for hosting Roger Ebert's Film Festival which occurs annually during the last week of April. It features a variety of performances from community theatre with the Champaign Urbana Theatre Company, to post box-office showings of popular films, current artistic films, live musical performances (both orchestral and popular), and other types of shows. First commissioned in 1921, it originally served as a venue for both film and live performances, but became primarily a movie house in the 1950s. Occasional live events were held during the 1970s and 1980s, including a live production of "Oh, Calcutta" and performances by George Benson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Missing Persons, and the Indigo Girls. GKC Corporation closed the Virginia as a movie house on February 13, 1992, with the final regular film being Steve Martin's "Father of the Bride". The theatre once again began holding regular live performances when it was leased to local gospel singer David Wyper in 1992. The Champaign-Urbana Theatre Company was formed to perform major musicals and opened their first season with "The Music Man" that June. Control passed to the Virginia Theatre group in 1996 and the theatre became a non-profit public venue. The Champaign Park District assumed control of the facilities in 2000. Its original Wurlitzer theatre pipe organVirginia Theatre Wurlitzer. Theatreorgans.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-17. has been maintained by Warren York since 1988 and is still played regularly.