Chicago travel guide by district
From the towers of the Loop to the ballparks of the North and South Sides and the long lakefront in between. Learn Chicago’s central community areas, find the places worth traveling for, and get to know the city in ten short sections.
- Population
- About 2.7 million (city, 2020)
- Area
- About 606 km² (city)
- Districts
- 77 community areas, 24 mapped by name
- Language
- English
- Founded
- Incorporated as a city in 1837
- Best months
- May to June and September to October
Community areas
Rogers Park
One of the most diverse corners of Chicago, with Loyola University on the lake and a string of small beaches at the ends of its streets.
From Rogers Park at the city line with Evanston down to Woodlawn on the South Side, with the Loop in the middle. Select an area to read it, then play the map and try finding all thirty-one. The twenty-four lakefront and inner-city community areas are named one by one; the rest of the city’s 77 are grouped into the sides Chicagoans know them by, so the map covers the whole city. The second round leaves the city for forty-two suburbs and suburban regions, one unbroken band from the North Shore past O’Hare to the Fox River towns and across the line into Indiana.
A little Chicago before you go
Geography & significance
A city built on a portage.
Chicago grew on a low, marshy divide where a short portage joined the Chicago River, which flows toward Lake Michigan, with the Des Plaines and Illinois rivers leading to the Mississippi. The Illinois and Michigan Canal, opened in 1848, turned that portage into a waterway. In 1900 the Sanitary District of Chicago opened the Sanitary and Ship Canal, which reversed the river so the city's sewage drained toward the Mississippi instead of into Lake Michigan, the source of its drinking water.
The name comes from the Miami-Illinois word shikaakwa, for the wild leek that grew along the river. French explorers wrote it down in the late 1600s, and the wild onion still turns up in the city's lore. With about 2.7 million people in the city and about 9.4 million in its metropolitan area, Chicago is the third-largest city in the United States. It was second for most of the 20th century, until Los Angeles passed it in the 1990 census.
Commonly asked2 questions
- Why did Chicago grow where it did?
- Chicago grew on a low, marshy divide where a short portage joined the Chicago River, which flows toward Lake Michigan, with the Des Plaines and Illinois rivers leading to the Mississippi. The Illinois and Michigan Canal, opened in 1848, turned that portage into a waterway.
- Why does the Chicago River flow away from Lake Michigan?
- In 1900 the Sanitary District of Chicago opened the Sanitary and Ship Canal, which reversed the river so the city's sewage drained toward the Mississippi instead of into Lake Michigan, the source of its drinking water.
The places you came to see
Wrigley Field
The ivy-covered home of the Cubs since 1916, the second-oldest ballpark in the major leagues, with its red marquee and rooftop seats across the street.
Fifteen landmarks, museums, parks and waterfront stops. Essential is our starting shortlist for a first visit; worth a detour helps you go further. These are editorial priorities, not visitor-number rankings.
Keep going one place deeper
When you have had your fill of Chicago, the country around it has a guide of its own, and there are more cities to explore.
District boundaries: City of Chicago Data Portal. Community area boundaries retrieved September 2026, simplified for display. Twenty-four of the city’s 77 community areas are shown by name and the rest grouped into sides. Suburbs from U.S. Census Bureau boundaries. This learning map is not a survey or a boundary authority. Boundary source and license. Guide references: City of Chicago, Choose Chicago, Chicago Transit Authority. Check official attraction sites for current admission and access details. Photographs are from Wikimedia Commons and credited on each one.