Community areas of Chicago

During the 19th century wards were used by the Census Bureau for data at the level below cities. Ernest Burgess, a colleague of Park's who shared his thinking, was crucial in creating and naming the community areas. After the community areas were introduced, the University of Chicago Press published data sorted by them from the 1920 and 1930 Censuses, The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning continues this work by periodically publishing "Community Snapshots" of the community areas and suburbs, the most recent being data from 2018 published . Only two major changes have occurred in the boundaries of the community areas. Edgewater was separated from Uptown in 1980 as residents considered being joined to it a detriment to obtaining aid for local improvements. In addition to these two there have been minor changes due to further annexations and additions to the Lake Michigan shoreline. ==Use and reception==

The areas are used for statistical and planning purposes by such professions as assessors, charities, and reporters. Shortly after their development they were used for all kinds of statistics, including movie theater distribution and juvenile delinquency. Although developed by the University of Chicago, they have been used by other universities in the Chicago area, as well as by the city and regional planners. They have contributed to Chicago's reputation as the "city of neighborhoods", and are argued to break up an intimidating city into more manageable pieces. Chicago was an early adopter of such a system, and most cities in the United States still lacked analogous divisions. The areas do not necessarily correspond to popular imagination of the neighborhoods. For example, the Pilsen and Back of the Yards neighborhoods are much better known than their respective community areas Lower West Side and New City. In the case of New City this was a deliberate choice; Burgess opted for the less common "New City" to name the area as "Back of the Yards" carried a stigma after the publication of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1904), which made the area notorious for its poor living conditions. Some of these discrepancies are due to names that were common at the time of the adoption of community areas but have since been supplanted by others. The static nature of area boundaries is one of their benefits, but is also problematic at times such as when expressways were built in the mid-20th century and divided neighborhoods without area boundaries adapting. The concept of a "natural area" that underpinned Park's and Burgess's thinking has also been challenged. ==List of community areas==

==Community Area Demographics==

Data as of 2023 ==Other geographic divisions==

, three of the stripes reflect the traditional "sides" of the city. | alt=Five horizontal stripes, arranged from top to bottom white, blue, white, blue, and white. The middle white stripe is the widest, occupying roughly a third of the flag's height, while the other four stripes are roughly equal in width. There are four red six-pointed stars in the middle white stripe. Chicago is traditionally divided into the three "sides" of the North Side, West Side, and South Side by the Chicago River. These three sides are represented by the white stripes on the Flag of Chicago. The city is also divided into 50 wards for the purpose of electing one alderman each to the Chicago City Council. These wards have at times generated identities similar to neighborhoods. Unlike community areas, wards are adjusted decennially to account for population shifts. Another method of neighborhood nomenclature in heavily Catholic neighborhoods of Chicago has been to refer to communities in terms of parishes. For example, one might say, "I live in St. Gertrude's, but he is from Saint Ita's." ==Notes==