Guides to all 77 of Chicago’s official community areas and the neighborhoods inside them, written for people deciding where to buy or rent. Each one covers the lay of the land, how you get around, the parks, the shopping streets, the housing stock, and which names belong to which.
Tap the map: all 77 official community areas, drawn from the real boundary data. Every one links to its own guide, the numbers follow the official numbering, and the neighborhoods inside each area are listed on its page and on the cards below.
Boundary shapes from the community-areas map on Wikimedia Commons.
Yes. The map at the top of this guide draws all 77 official community areas from the city’s boundary data. Hover or tap one to see its name and number, and tap again to open its guide, with the neighborhoods inside it, the housing stock and the trains. Open the map.
Chicago has 77 official community areas, drawn in the 1920s and used by the city for census counts, planning and school boundaries. Neighborhoods are the names people use: smaller, older and never official. Wicker Park, for example, is a neighborhood inside the West Town community area.
Seventy-seven, numbered from 1 (Rogers Park) to 77 (Edgewater). O’Hare (76) was added in 1956 and Edgewater (77) was split from Uptown in 1980; the rest date from the 1920s.
No. Wicker Park is a neighborhood inside West Town, community area 24, along with Ukrainian Village, East Village, Noble Square, Smith Park and River West.
Rate Field (the old U.S. Cellular Field, and Comiskey Park before that) sits in Armour Square at 35th and Shields. Bridgeport is the neighborhood directly west, across the tracks and Halsted; Bronzeville is east across the Dan Ryan; Chinatown is the north end of Armour Square; Canaryville and Fuller Park are to the south, and McKinley Park a little further west. Most people who want to live near the ballpark end up in Bridgeport or Bronzeville, each within a fifteen-minute walk of the gates.
Chicago has 77 official community areas, drawn by University of Chicago sociologists in the 1920s and kept almost unchanged since (O’Hare was added in 1956 and Edgewater was split from Uptown in 1980). The city reports by them, from census counts to planning and school boundaries. Neighborhoods are the names people use: smaller, older and never official. Wicker Park is a neighborhood inside the West Town community area, the West Loop is inside the Near West Side, Pilsen is most of the Lower West Side. Every card below is one official area, in the official order; the names under it are the neighborhoods inside, each linked to its own guide when we have written one.
Jump to a side: Central · North Side · Far North Side · Northwest Side · West Side · South Side · Southwest Side · Far Southwest Side · Far Southeast Side
Everything between the river and the lake up to North Avenue: River North, the Gold Coast, Streeterville, the Magnificent Mile, Old Town’s south blocks and Goose Island.
Living inside the L’s circle: the six-acre park in the towers, the Riverwalk, and every train there is.
Roosevelt to 26th along the lake: the South Loop south of Roosevelt, Central Station, the Prairie Avenue mansions, Motor Row and the Museum Campus.
The Brown Line, Roscoe Village’s strip, river boathouses, and the Riverview story.
Wrigley Field, the Southport corridor, Belmont Harbor, and the Red and Brown Lines.
The city’s largest park and free zoo, Armitage shopping, DePaul, and rowhouse streets.
Brick bungalows and two-flats, the Blue Line, and the Milwaukee Avenue food strip.
Greystones and two-flats along historic boulevards, the Blue Line, and Milwaukee Avenue.
Street-end beaches, four Red Line stops, the Glenwood arts district, and Loyola on the lake.
Devon Avenue’s world bazaar, Indian Boundary and Warren Parks, and deep blocks of bungalows and Georgians.
The Aragon, the Riviera and the Green Mill, Argyle Street, and Montrose Beach.
Giddings Plaza, the Old Town School, the Brown Line, and Ravenswood’s corridor of makers.
The city’s far corner: one Metra stop, Northwest Highway’s restaurant row, and brick blocks that trade by word of mouth.
The Circle’s curving streets, the 1833 Noble-Seymour-Crippen House, Superdawg, and three Metra stops.
The transit gateway: Blue Line and Metra in one station, the Copernicus Center’s 1930 palace, and the free Paschke museum.
The forest-preserve corner of the city: Sauganash, Edgebrook, Old Edgebrook, Wildwood and Forest Glen, on curving streets under old trees.
A 46-acre nature center with deer, two universities, the landmark Bohemian National gate, and the channel trail.
The Brown Line’s last stops, Kedzie and Lawrence food streets, the river’s North Branch, and brick two-flats.
Schorsch Forest View’s ranches by the preserves, the Cumberland corridor, and the airport that made the map’s island.
Hollywood Beach, the rebuilt Red Line stops, Lakewood Balmoral, and Clark Street in Andersonville.
The bungalow belt, Six Corners, the Copernicus Center, and one-seat rides to O’Hare.
Old Irving’s Victorians, the landmark Villa District, Independence Park, and Blue Line plus Metra in one stop.
Schorsch Village’s Tudors and Georgians, Wright College, big-fieldhouse parks, and both airports close.
The Grand Avenue pocket at the city line: twin park squares split by the railroad, and bungalow blocks most maps skip.
Bungalows and Georgians by the thousand, Riis Park’s 57 acres, and the Belmont-Central crossroads.
Walt Disney’s birthplace on Tripp Avenue, Kelvyn Park, and a rail-wrapped pocket of two-flats and cottages.
The great park and lagoon, Paseo Boricua, boulevard greystones, and the 606’s west end.
The river to Humboldt Park, Bloomingdale to Kinzie: Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, East Village, Noble Square, Smith Park and River West in one official area.
Columbus Park, the Midway Park historic district’s big frame houses, and the Green Line to the Loop.
The park’s west side: Madison-Crawford’s storied crossroads, the Legler library’s revival, and two-flats on the Green Line.
The Conservatory’s gardens under glass, the gilded fieldhouse dome, two L lines, and greystones coming back.
Kinzie to 16th, the river to the old rail line: the West Loop and Fulton Market, Greektown, Little Italy, University Village, Tri-Taylor and the medical district.
K-Town’s historic greystone rows, Douglass Park, the Sears tower that started it all, and three Pink Line stops.
The 26th Street corridor and the blocks around it: Little Village and Marshall Square, the largest Mexican community in the Midwest.
Pilsen, East Pilsen and the Heart of Chicago: 18th Street, the murals, Thalia Hall and the Pink Line, between 16th and the canal.
Chinatown, the blocks around the Sox park and Armour Square itself, between 18th and Pershing along the Dan Ryan.
Bronzeville’s north half: the Mies campus, the private parks of Groveland and Woodland, and three rides downtown.
The landmark Oakland District’s 1880s cottages, the 41st Street bridge to the lakefront, and blocks rebuilt with care.
The half-mile-wide sliver by the Ryan: a dignified old park, Eden Place’s prairie, and entry-priced cottages.
Bronzeville’s heart: King Drive’s greystones, 47th and King’s storied corner, and the 1897 Forum coming back to life.
The mansion district: landmark blocks between 48th and 50th, KAM Isaiah Israel’s dome, and North Kenwood’s restored rows.
The 372-acre Olmsted park, the DuSable Museum, the Fountain of Time, and greystones by the boulevard.
Historic housing between two great parks and the lake, anchored by the University of Chicago.
Greystones and two-flats between the Midway and Jackson Park, with the Obama Presidential Center rising on Stony Island.
The Cultural Center’s lakefront campus, the Jackson Park Highlands, Rainbow Beach, and Metra every few blocks.
Palmisano Park’s quarry hill, the Ramova, the art centers, and the Orange Line to Midway.
Oak Woods’ storied graves, 75th Street barbecue, the rail-crossing story, and brick built for keeping.
Post-war brick ranches, the Orange Line at Midway, Archer Avenue, and the easiest highway exits in the city.
The Archer Avenue diagonal: the Polish Highlanders’ hall, Curie’s campus, and two-flats inside Orange Line range.
Bungalows and two-flats off Archer, Orange Line stops at Kedzie and Pulaski, and the historic manufacturing district.
The first great neighborhood park, the CMD’s landmark clock tower, Marz on Iron Street, and the Orange Line at 35th.
Pershing to Garfield, Western to the rail yards: Back of the Yards and Canaryville, the blocks that fed the stockyards for a century.
The bungalow grid with its own Orange Line corner: Pasteur Park, 55th Street, and twenty minutes to the Loop.
Kept bungalow grids, the Orange Line at Pulaski, and 55th Street’s food corridors.
Midway’s south shoulder: the great rail clearing yard, wartime Chrysler Village’s curving pocket, and calm ranch grids.
The kept bungalow grid by Midway: West Lawn Park’s busy fieldhouse, and Ford City’s bomber-plant-to-big-box story.
Marquette Park’s 300-plus acres, the bungalow belt around it, and 63rd Street’s long run.
Ogden Park’s Olmsted acres, Lindblom’s landmark campus, working farm rows, and cottages at first-foothold prices.
Hamilton Park’s landmark fieldhouse, Kennedy-King’s campus, two L lines, and first-foothold prices.
Post-war brick ranches and Georgians on calm grids, with two SouthWest Service stops of its own.
Unbroken bungalow rows, the rebuilding 79th Street corridor, St. Sabina, and Foster Park.
The Ridge’s hilltop houses, a real castle, Metra’s Rock Island stops, and Western Avenue’s long shelf of shops.
Owner-kept brick between the ridge and the Ryan, two Rock Island stops, and the Woodson Library’s great archive.
The city’s farthest corner: a 72-acre working student farm, the 111th Street strip, and brick blocks of city workers.
Victorians on the Ridge’s south end, brick Georgians to the county line, Rock Island stops, and a working farm on 111th.
Mid-century brick ranches on manicured blocks, 79th Street’s corridor, Tuley Park, and two rail lines.
The kept grid with its own Metra stop: century-standard bungalows, the fieldhouse at its center, and Marynook’s curves.
The South Works site’s next chapter, Steelworkers Park’s ore walls, Calumet Park’s beach, and entry-priced brick.
The Triangle: three rail lines, the sideburns general’s name, and a few calm brick streets inside.
Pill Hill’s mid-century showpieces on the ridge, kept bungalow blocks, the Metra Electric and the Skyway.
Generous-lot housing, Palmer Park, Michigan Avenue’s historic mile, and the Red Line extension on its way.
A national park around a planned town of 1880s rowhouses, the Clock Tower, and the Metra Electric.
The largest community area on the map: Big Marsh’s bike park, Jeffery Manor’s curving rows, and steel history.
Between the river and the state line: Calumet Park’s lakefront acres, Ewing’s strip, the bridges, and the steel story.
The factory district’s second acts: a vast solar farm, the Major Taylor Trail, and brick houses on generous lots.
The far edge on the Little Calumet: Eden Green’s planned community, Golden Gate, Altgeld’s history, and Beaubien Woods.
The 1883 model town by Wolf Lake: electric trains, marsh and prairie on three sides, and small-town loyalty.
Want a deeper dive on a favorite pocket, a sub-neighborhood, a landmark district, a single great block? Tell us and we will put it next in line.
We keep a primer on ten suburbs worth knowing first, organized by the train lines that define them: Evanston, Wilmette, Skokie, Park Ridge, Arlington Heights, Oak Park, Riverside, Berwyn, La Grange and Oak Lawn.
The suburbs, briefly