The neighborhoods of Chicago are less well-defined than Chicago's seventy-seven community areas. These community area designations are not governmental, but are based on the names given by the Social Science Research Committee at the University of Chicago in the 1920s for purposes of a long-term population study. The ever-changing nature of a city means that a few of the designations given in the 1920s may not still be in common use. There are around 213 named neighborhoods in the city today.
Chicago's neighborhoods change as a result of gentrification and immigration; it contains some of the most culturally rich communities in the United States. Each neighborhood maintains a strong identity and because of this, two different neighborhoods could seem like different parts of the world. One neighborhood might have multi-million dollar condominiums with a yuppie population, and another bordering neighborhood could have an impoverished immigrant ethnic contingency with street side fruit and vegetable marketplaces.
Listed below are Chicago's neighborhoods, given within Chicago's 77 well-defined community areas. Residents and realtors tend to assign new names as neighorhoods evolve. Often, two residents of the same neighborhood, even the same block, will describe different neighborhood boundaries, which may be based on zip codes, ethnic groupings, or simply personal opinion.
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Far North side
Rogers Park (01)
Incorporated: No (1893)
Roger's Park is a quaint village dominated by St. Ignatius College (a Jesuit university founded in 1878). Composed primarily of Catholic immigrants from Germany and Luxembourg, the predominantly agricultural town produces hay, cucumbers (for pickles), and onions.
West Rodger's Park (02)
Incorporated: No (1893)
Actually part of Roger's Park, the predominantly Protestant German immigrants who call this town home remain in perpetual conflict over open lands between the two settlements in a feud known as the Cabbage War.
Uptown (03)
Incorporated: Yes (1890)
Officially, the northernmost boundary of the city of Chicago, Uptown is the terminus of the northern railway lines from the city. Originally a small settlement clustered around the Uptown Store on Broadway, the village now houses the opulent summer homes of the downtown elite.
Until recently, Edgewater was a verdant woodland populated with scattered celery farms. Recently, however, John Lewis Cochran has begun developing this pastoral setting into residential subdivisions for the wealthy. It has recently become a wonder as the only electrically-lighted suburban development of Chicago.
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