Geographies:
Wards:
The City of Chicago is divided into fifty legislative districts or wards. Each district is represented by an alderman who is elected by their constituency to serve a four year term. In addition to representing the interests of their ward residents, together the fifty aldermen comprise the Chicago City Council, which serves as the legislative branch of government of the City of Chicago.
The legislative powers of the City Council are granted by the state legislature and by home rule provisions of the Illinois constitution. Within specified limits, the City Council has the general authority to exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs including, but not limited to, the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals and welfare; to license; to tax; and to incur debt.
The Census, taken every ten years, aims to get an updated count of area residents. By December 1st in the year after the Census, the Chicago City Council’s ward boundaries must be re-drawn through a process called Redistricting to reflect the population demonstrated in the Census. The City is divided into 50 wards, which must be compact, contiguous, and of substantially equal population with an acceptable deviation to respect established communities of interest, among other legal considerations.
Redistricting can be a powerful tool wielded by legislators and lobbyists to Influence the balance of power in local government. When census data is released every decade, local governments are required by law to redraw district boundaries to reflect population shifts. However, redistricting is often used as a gerrymandering tool to protect a candidate or party in one community, while leaving others with little power.
- Sarah Fister Gale, The Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago
“One City, 50 Wards: Does the City That Works Really Work?“, a joint series from Crain’s Chicago Business and the University of Chicago Center for Effective Government, explores the connections between how Chicago’s city government is designed, how it functions, and how it performs. You can learn more and read other articles from the series here.
The U.S. Census does not have "wards" as a geography. To utilize their data, you can compare census tracts with the ward boundaries. They do not match perfectly, but it is possible to make approximations by combining several tracts as a way of gathering demographic data.
Race and income demographics for each ward provided by The Douglas Institute: Website, Data portal
"Originating from a partnership with Food & Water Watch Chicago, this map displays demographic information for Chicago by ward. As there is currently no central, up-to-date demographics dataset for Chicago wards, this tool was custom-built by mapping census block groups to wards and aggregating census data."
