Progress Measures

• The region’s labor force grew by 7.7% during the 1990s. The unemployment rate for the region fell to 4.1% in 1999 from a high of 7.4% in 1992.
• The average annual wage is more than 20% above the national average.
• The number of corporate headquarters with 500 or more employees has grown by 16% during the 1990s. However, the number peaked in 1997 and has declined in 1998 and 1999.
• Value-added per employee, a measure of productivity, has grown 2.1% annually since 1989, outpacing the national average. Nine of the region’s 15 major industry sectors also outpaced the national average for their respective sectors in value-added.
• Despite an average influx of about 40,000 foreign-born immigrants each year since 1990, the region has an annual net migration loss because about 60,000 area residents move elsewhere each year.

Progress Measures

• Venture capital investments in Chicago-region firms tripled from $387 million in 1998 to $1.19 billion in 1999, but the region’s share of national venture capital investment has hovered around 2% for each of the past six years.
• During the 1990s there was a 156% increase in the number of “gazelle” companies, those with annual sales of over $1 million and annual growth rates greater than 20% in each of the last four years. The region’s share of the nation’s fast-growth companies has remained steady at just under 3%.

Progress Measure

• From 1970 to 1990, the amount of urbanized land in the region increased nearly eight times faster than the rate of population growth. But between 1990 and 1995, population grew faster than the growth of urbanized land in DuPage, McHenry, Will and Lake Counties.

Progress Measures

• Only 9% of new housing constructed between 1990 and 1995 was built within one-half mile of a Metra or CTA train station. Before 1990, about 46% of all housing was constructed within walking distance of a rail station.
• The share of new jobs located near transit stations declined from 49% in 1990 to 46% in 1995.
• Drivers experience at least 44 hours of traffic delay due to congestion each year, an increase from 31 hours in 1990.
• Transit ridership overall is at its highest level since 1994, and on a per-capita basis, ridership shows a recent gain after a long period of decline.
• Between 1990 and 1999, non-stop international flights from the region increased 95%.

Progress Measures

• Two-thirds of homes sold in the Chicago region in 1999 were affordable to buyers earning the region’s median income, up from 59% in 1995. However, houses in many sections of the region are not affordable to buyers earning a median income.
• More than one-third of the region’s one million rental households are considered “rent burdened” because the renters pay more than 30% of their monthly income in rent.
• The region had a net loss of more than 46,000 rental units between 1990 and 1998 despite strong job growth.

Progress Measures

• Per capita income has shown steady annual growth, and growth between 1990 and 1998 was nearly double the national rate.
• During most of the 1990s, annual income for low-income households in the region rose at three times the national rate.
• An estimated 11.3% of the region’s population lived below the federal poverty level in 1997, a slight increase over 1989.
• The share of people living in concentrated low-income areas in the Chicago region decreased, from 8% in 1980 to an estimated 5.6% in 1999. The number of concentrated high-income census tracts has more than quintupled since 1980.

Progress Measures

• Violent crime dropped 25% in the region during the 1990s but remained above the national rate, while crimes against property decreased 20% in the same period, mirroring the national trend but also remaining above the national rate.
• Sixteen percent of the region’s population does not feel that their neighborhoods are safe for children.

Progress Measures

• Between 1995 and 1998, the share of residents lacking health insurance increased from 13.9% to 18.7%, pushing the region’s uninsured rate above the national average.
• Some 46% of eligible children in the region have been enrolled in KidCare, the state’s health coverage for low-income families. That compares with a statewide enrollment of 68% of the eligible families.
• Infant mortality rates decreased 24% between 1990 and 1997, improving for all racial groups.
• The percentage of pre-school children not immunized for the flu virus declined to 5.8% in 1999, down from 8.8% in 1997.
• The region’s death rate from heart disease decreased 22% between 1990 and 1997, but was still higher than the national rate.

Progress Measures

• Most parents of children under age six read to them every day, but 10% said that they don’t read to their children at all.
• The rate of first births to single mothers under the age of 20 without a high school degree is growing in most parts of the region.

Progress Measures

• Fifty-eight percent of third grade students in the Chicago region met or exceeded state reading standards in 1999, compared to 61% statewide. Forty-two percent of eighth grade students met the state standard in math, compared to 43% statewide. Although the region's average scores are similar to the statewide average, the averages of individual school districts varied dramatically among school districts in the region.
• Between 1991 and 1999, more than 7% of students in public high schools in the region dropped out of school each year.
• Forty-five percent of the region’s 25- to 29-year-olds held at least an associate's degree in 1998, compared to 37% nationally.

Progress Measures

• Since 1972, development within the Chicago region’s 3,749 square miles has claimed 840 square miles of agricultural land, 160 square miles of forests and grasslands and 30 square miles of wetlands and streams.
• The share of the region that is permanently protected open space increased from 5.1% in 1990 to 7% in 2000.
• Measurements of the Chicago region’s air quality vary dramatically from year to year but have shown improvement over levels of the 1980s.
• Sixty-one percent of the region’s stream miles were rated by the State in good condition for the period between 1993 and 1997, compared to 45% a decade ago.