The United States Census Bureau released its latest population estimates for cities across the country, showing some changes for cities in Illinois from 2023 to 2024.
The new estimates reflect population totals as of July 1, 2024, comparing them to estimates released at the mid-way point of the previous year.
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WATCH HEREThe 2024 census estimates showed growth at most large cities across the U.S., including Chicago, with other large cities in Illinois seeing growth as well.
While Chicago remains the state's largest city by a massive margin and Aurora maintains its status as the state's second-largest city, two large Chicago suburbs flip-flopped their positions as the third- and fourth-largest cities in the state.
Naperville, a large suburb located west of Chicago, surpassed southwest suburban Joliet as the state's third-largest city in 2024.
Rockford, the state's largest city outside of the Chicago metropolitan area, remained Illinois' fifth-largest city.
From there, another Chicago suburb, Elgin, takes the reigns at the No. 6 spot, ahead of three larger downstate Illinois cities.
Ranking from No. 7-9 were Springfield, Peoria and Champaign, respectively, with Springfield and Peoria both boasting populations north of 100,000.
Coming in as the tenth-largest city in the state is another Chicago suburb, Waukegan, which saw a very slight population rebound from 2023 to 2024.
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SIGN UP Falling just outside the top town was inner-ring suburban Cicero, with a population of over 6,000 fewer residents than tenth-place Waukegan.
Below is a look at the 10 largest cities in Illinois listed by their estimated 2024 population:
- Chicago: 2,721,308
- Aurora: 180,710
- Naperville: 153,124
- Joliet: 151,837
- Rockford: 147,486
- Elgin: 114,701
- Springfield: 112,949
- Peoria: 111,696
- Champaign: 91,961
- Waukegan: 88,570
More information on the latest estimates can be found here.
