Chicago Metro Area Counties

13 counties · 9.4 million people (2025) · 6,923 sq mi

The Chicago metro area (officially the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area) has 13 counties in Illinois and Indiana, with 9,434,123 people in 2025. Cook County is the most populous.

Map of the 13 counties of the Chicago metro area with county names and major cities
The 13 counties of the Chicago metro area (yellow) with the largest cities. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).
PDF (Letter) 267 KBPNG (2400 px) 159 KB

The 13 counties of the Chicago metro area

Sorted by population. 9 are central counties (the urban core); the others are outlying counties tied to it by commuting.

CountyStateCounty seatPopulation 2025Change since 2020Land area (sq mi)Type
Cook CountyIllinoisChicago5,194,625−1.6%945Central
DuPage CountyIllinoisWheaton934,298+0.1%328Central
Lake CountyIllinoisWaukegan719,339+0.7%444Central
Will CountyIllinoisJoliet712,253+2.1%836Central
Kane CountyIllinoisGeneva525,757+1.8%519Central
Lake CountyIndianaCrown Point504,612+1.2%499Central
McHenry CountyIllinoisWoodstock317,751+2.4%603Central
Porter CountyIndianaValparaiso176,049+1.6%418Central
Kendall CountyIllinoisYorkville145,470+10.3%320Central
DeKalb CountyIllinoisSycamore101,835+1.3%631Outlying
Grundy CountyIllinoisMorris54,052+2.8%418Outlying
Jasper CountyIndianaRensselaer33,894+2.9%560Outlying
Newton CountyIndianaKentland14,188+2.6%402Outlying

The metro area is part of the larger Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI Combined Statistical Area.

Printable map

The PDF is a vector file for Letter paper; the PNG is 2400 pixels wide. Both are free to use with a credit to WhichCounty.

County maps of Illinois and Indiana

Other metro areas

Sources