Chicago and Chicagoland Question (Waukegan, North Chicago: to live in, delivery, estimate)

[linicx]

This is something I've been curious about for a long time.

From the southern most suburb to the northern most suburb, how many miles does Chicago/Cook County/Chjicagoland follow the shoreline of Lake Michigan? My guess is 100 or more - and it does not inclue nearby states..

For me Chicagoland was always a rather vague term used by media and weather forecasters to describe a vague area, I suppose it was made up of several counties and perhaps other states in the broadcast or delivery area.

Enlighten me. I want to drive it. It has to take a couple hours.

Thanks.

[Avengerfire]

It depends if you count Indiana,Michigan,and/or Wisconsin and from what town in you start from and end.

[Drover]

Using the technical, Census Bureau definition of the Chicago metropolitan area, the "Chicagoland" shoreline runs from Kenosha to Town of Pines IN (immediately west of Michigan City), which I would estimate to be roughly 100 to 120 miles. If you use the Combined Statistical Area instead of the Metropolitan Statistical Area, it would also include Michigan City as well, adding about another 10 miles of shoreline.

[Mr Downtown]

Chicagoland has no defined boundaries. The Chicago Tribune invented the term in the 1920s to describe the area influenced by Chicago, and in which the newspaper was widely circulated. Roving reporter articles sometimes referred to Chicagoland as the area within 150 miles of Tribune Tower—but obviously Milwaukeeans would never have considered themselves to live in Chicagoland.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by linicx

This is something I've been curious about for a long time.

From the southern most suburb to the northern most suburb, how many miles does Chicago/Cook County/Chjicagoland follow the shoreline of Lake Michigan? My guess is 100 or more - and it does not inclue nearby states..

For me Chicagoland was always a rather vague term used by media and weather forecasters to describe a vague area, I suppose it was made up of several counties and perhaps other states in the broadcast or delivery area.

Enlighten me. I want to drive it. It has to take a couple hours.

Thanks.

Not sure how I would define this. The furthest northern suburb is probably Lake Forest which is 31 miles north of the loop.

I have no idea what the furthest south suburb is, however, we actually drove to the Indiana Dunes on the south along the lake. You are in Indiana along the lakefront pretty quickly. Calumet Park is still in Chicago and the Indiana border is only a few miles from that.

Dorothy

[chicagojlo]

I would include Lake Bluff on the north end!

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by chicagojlo

I would include Lake Bluff on the north end!

No way. Lake Bluff is not the northernmost end of Chicagoland. Kenosha, or at least Gurnee/Zion would be that.

[Chicago60614]

It's confusing on the north end because there are small breaks around the Wisconsin border, but really you can drive up the lakefront and be in "the city" all the way up through Milwaukee.

I guess I would say the Illinois/Wisconsin border has a cutoff of development around Winthrop Harbor. Really though, go 2 miles north of there and you're getting into Kenosha, go 2-3 miles north of there and you enter Racine, and then go 3-4 miles north of there and you're in the Milwaukee suburbs.

On the south end you can go around the lake until around Indiana Dunes when you have a break in development, and then it picks up again at Michigan City up to New Buffalo.

So if you're going on a development side of things where you could say you're in a more urban region with traffic and development as opposed to a flat out rural/small town area, you could really go along the lakefront from New Buffalo to the northern stretches of Milwaukee and except for maybe 10 miles total, be in an area of development. That's roughly 180 miles. It's certainly not URBAN and all built up - but you could rationally say you're within the Chicago-Milwaukee area.

If you're just saying solidly Chicagoland, then I'd say Chesterton, Indiana to Winthrop Harbor, Illinois. A little under 100 miles.

Either way it goes far beyond Lake Forest! Then you'd be missing North Chicago, Waukegan, Great America, Gurnee Mills, etc. That's all solidly Chicagoland.