Source: map created by Stephen Von Worley, the Data Pointed blog. Used with permission.
Note: Shades of red are expressing a decline in population density while shades of blue express a population density growth. White reflects no population density (other land uses such as agriculture, industrial, transportation or water).
Density is reflective of the urban spatial structure as well as land use. The Chicago metropolitan area, like all cities, is undergoing processes of land use change, some of them which can be observed through changes in population density. The general pattern observed between 2000 and 2010 is concentric, where the core area of the city has experienced significant declines in population density, with the adjacent ring showing a more mitigated change pattern with clusters of growth and decline. Like most American cities, the outer ring has experienced the most significant growth in density, reflecting suburbanization.