IRS tax-return migration files show where Cook County movers actually land: 39 percent stay in Illinois, a third go to the collar counties, and the named Florida counties draw under 6 percent. Four cuts of the data, including the income test of the wealth-flight claim.
The Census Bureau's current estimates show Illinois gaining population in 2023, 2024, and 2025 - and all six Chicagoland counties growing since 2023. We computed the numbers from the Bureau's files, including the 57,000-person revision that explains why the shrinking-Illinois story never got updated.
We compared weekday entries at all 144 L stations, January-May 2026 vs the same months of 2019. Systemwide the L runs at 62% - but Cermak-Chinatown and Morgan in Fulton Market beat their 2019 numbers, while the Loop's office subway stops sit at 41-51%. Original KCM analysis with the full method.
Every UP-NW station town from Park Ridge to Harvard, plus the corridor's no-station communities — 23 towns with current Census population, home value, and income figures. Companion to our west suburbs reference.
Search interest in South Shore is up 22% since the Obama Presidential Center opened. Six years ago, the neighborhood was cut from the housing-protection ordinance that covers Woodlawn. Here's the evidence, and its limits.
Two competing ordinances would rewrite Chicago renting for the first time since the 1980s. Both build a rental registry. They split on whether your landlord needs a reason not to renew your lease.
Chicago-area search interest in Logan Square jumped 25% in eight weeks while new-construction permits run 48% ahead of last year. Two datasets, one direction — and what it means if you're apartment hunting.
Zillow's new research says the national housing deficit finally stopped growing — and its worst-shortage rankings are all coastal metros. What Chicago's absence from those lists does and doesn't mean for anyone weighing a move.
Grant Park sits on top of more rail than almost any festival site in America. What's confirmed for July 30-August 2, what last year's service plan looked like, and when the 2026 announcements should land.
We pulled every new-construction permit from Chicago's open data portal: citywide activity is up 4.8%, the Near West Side leads by a wide margin, and two West Side neighborhoods cracked the top ten.
