Race and ethnicity
According to 2024 U.S. Census Bureau estimates (with Hispanics allocated amongst the various racial groups), Illinois' population was 60.2% White, 13.2% Black or African American, 0.8% Native American or Alaskan Native, 6.4% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 8.7% Some Other Race, and 10.7% from two or more races. The white population continues to remain the largest racial category in Illinois. Under this methodology, Hispanics are allocated amongst the various racial groups and primarily identify as Some Other Race (43.0%) or Multiracial (35.6%) with the remainder identifying as White (16.0%), Black (1.5%), American Indian and Alaskan Native (3.7%), Asian (0.3%), and Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (0.1%). By ethnicity, 19.4% of the total population is Hispanic-Latino (of any race) and 80.6% is Non-Hispanic (of any race). Illinois has the largest share of Hispanic residents in the Midwest, with over 37% of Hispanics in the region living in Illinois.
If treated as a separate category, Hispanics are the largest minority group in Illinois, making up nearly a fifth of the population. About 75% of the state's Hispanic population is Mexican-American, numbering 1,794,369 and making up 14.3% of the total population of the state. Illinois is home to the largest population of Mexican descent in the US outside of the Western United States. The second largest Hispanic group in Illinois are Puerto Ricans, numbering 211,676 and making up 9% of the Hispanic population and 1.7% of the total population. The state is also home to significant Central American and South American communities, including 44,373 Guatemalan-Americans, 41,047 Ecuadorian-Americans, and 42,101 Colombian-Americans. Hispanics are the second fastest growing demographic in Illinois after Asians, growing by 15% between 2010 and 2020, while the overall population of the state declined.
The vast majority of Hispanics in Illinois live in Chicago or the surrounding suburbs, with 786,464 Hispanics living in the city of Chicago itself, making up nearly a third of the city's population. Many large suburbs of Chicago, including Aurora, Berwyn, Cicero, Elgin, and Waukegan have either a majority or plurality Hispanic population. The county with the highest share of Hispanic residents in the state, at 33.5% of the population, is Kane County, located on the western edge of the Chicago suburbs and including the cities of Elgin and Aurora. Hispanics have the lowest per-capita income of any major ethnic or racial group in Illinois, at $28,541. However, the Hispanic poverty rate, at 14.1%, is lower than that of Black residents, who have a poverty rate of 23%. Hispanic residents are the youngest demographic group in Illinois, with a median age of 30.7.
While those of Hispanic ethnicity are not distinguished between total and partial Hispanic origin, 2021 estimates show that almost 10% of the state's Hispanic population also reported a non-Spanish European ancestry, with this group making up 1.7% of the state's total population.
Black Americans form the second largest minority group in Illinois. In 2023, 1,922,259 Illinoisans identified as Black alone or in combination, making up 15.3% of the states population. Of this population, 1,643,638 (13.1%) are non-Hispanic Black alone, while 28,321 identify as Afro-Latino, and 250,300 identify as Black in combination with any other race. While most of the state's Black population identifies as African-American, there are also 45,393 people of West Indian descent and 43,911 of Nigerian descent in the state. A majority of the state's Black population resides in the Chicago metropolitan area, with 42% living in Chicago itself.
According to a study from the Brookings Institution, the Chicago area has the third highest level of black-white residential segregation in the United States. While some areas, including many neighborhoods on the city's west side and south side, as well as many suburbs in the Chicago Southland, are majority Black, most neighborhoods on the north and northwest sides of Chicago, as well as most of the northern and southwestern suburbs of the city, have very small Black populations.
Outside of Chicagoland, urban areas in Southern and Central Illinois, including the Metro East, Peoria, Springfield, and Decatur also have significant Black populations. The counties with the highest share of Black residents in Illinois are Pulaski and Alexander County, located at the southern tip of the state along the banks of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in the region known as "Little Egypt", with Black residents making up 32% of the population in both counties.
The per-capita income of Black residents, at $30,295, is the second lowest of all major ethnic or racial groups in the state, after Hispanics of any race. However, Black Illinoisans have the highest overall poverty rate of all groups in the state, at 23%. The median age of Black residents in Illinois is 36.8 years.
Illinois has a long history of milestones regarding African American involvement in politics. It was the first state to elect a Black person to the U.S. House of Representatives in the post-reconstruction era, with the election of Oscar De Priest in 1928. It was also the first state to elect a Black woman to the US Senate, with the election of Carol Moseley Braun in 1992. Illinois senator Barack Obama would become the first Black president of the United States following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.
The third largest minority group in Illinois are Asian-Americans. In 2023, 894,048 Illinoisans identified as being Asian alone or in combination, making up 7.1% of the state's population. 756,661 identified as Asian alone, making up 6.0% of the population. The state's Asian-American population has grown rapidly in recent decades, from only 2.5% of the total population in 1990, to over 7% in 2023.
About 37% of the state's Asian population is of South Asian origin, 31% are East Asian, 29% are Southeast Asian (Mostly Filipino), 1% are Central Asian, and 2% are of 'unspecified' Asian origins. The largest specific Asian groups in the state are Indian (277,961), Filipino (184,508), Chinese (160,880), Korean (67,452), and Pakistani (50,508). About 85% of the state's Asian-American population identifies as Asian alone, while 15% identify as multiracial. Illinoisans of South Asian ancestry are significantly less likely than other Asian-Americans in the state to report multiracial ancestry, with 94% of Indian-Americans and 90% of Pakistani-Americans in the state identifying as Asian alone, compared to 82% of Chinese-American residents, 73% of Filipino-American residents, and only 44% of the state's 33,000 Japanese-American residents.
The overwhelming majority of the state's Asian population resides in the Chicago metropolitan area, mostly in suburban areas. Suburban DuPage County has the highest share of Asian residents in the state, at 14.7%. While Asians aren't the majority in any municipality within Illinois, they make up a significant share of the population (between 20 and 40%) in multiple western and northern suburbs of Chicago, including Naperville, Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, Skokie, Niles, and Morton Grove. Additionally, the Chicago community area of Armour Square, which includes the city's Chinatown neighborhood, is majority Asian at 63.7% of the population. Asian residents have the highest per-capita income of any major ethnic or racial group in the state, at $54,122, and the second lowest poverty rate, after non-Hispanic whites, at 10.4%. The median age of single-race Asian residents in Illinois is 38.9 years. Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth, of Thai descent, is one of only three Asian Americans currently serving in the US Senate.
In 2023, 271,494 Illinoisans identified as Native American alone or in combination, making up 2.2% of the state's population. 184,155 Illinoisans identified as Native American in combination with any other race, while 87,339 identified as being Native American alone. Over 80% of the state's Native American population also identified as being Hispanic or Latino, with only 12,385, or 0.1% of the population, identifying as non-Hispanic Native American alone. According to the 2023 American Community Survey, the largest self-identified Indigenous groups in the state were Aztec (53,815) and Maya (17,866). The largest non-Latin American Indigenous groups in the state were Blackfeet (8,674) and Navajo (3,950).
The state has a very small number of Pacific Islanders, numbering 17,982 and making only 0.1% of the population in 2023. The majority of Pacific Islanders in the state identify as multiracial, with only 5,852 identifying as Pacific Islander alone. The largest Pacific Islander groups in the state are Native Hawaiians (6,362), Samoans (2,211), and Chamorros (1,519).
In 2023, 7,260,529 Illinoisans identified as non-Hispanic white alone, making up 57.9% of the population. Although a majority of white residents in the state live in the Chicago area, the counties with the highest percent share of white population are all located in rural areas with smaller populations, with non-Hispanic white people making up over 80 or 90% of the population in most non-urban counties in the state.
In the Chicago metro area, the white population is located mostly in suburban areas, with non-Hispanic white residents making up a majority of the population (between 53% and 75%) in every metropolitan county other than Cook County, while making up only 31.7% of the population in the city of Chicago itself. Within Chicago, there is significant racial segregation, with the white population concentrated primarily on the North Side of the city, while many predominantly African-American or Hispanic neighborhoods on the West Side and South Side of the city have almost no non-Hispanic white residents.
The largest European ancestry reported in Illinois is German. 1,983,050 Illinoisans, or 15.8% of the total population, identify with German ancestry, making it the single largest ancestry group in the state. German ancestry predominates among the white population in every county in northern Illinois, as well as most counties in the southwestern part of the state, while English-Americans, making up 6.8% of Illinois' population, predominate in most of the southeastern counties. The state's white population also includes a large number of Irish (10.5%), Polish (6.1%), and Italian-Americans (5.5%), with these groups concentrated mainly in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Illinois' Polish-American population of 761,948 is the highest out of any state. The state is also home to a significant population of other Eastern European ethnicities, also largely concentrated around the Chicago area, including 86,814 Russians, 83,679 Czechs, 71,279 Ukrainians, and 35,407 Croatians.
Most Illinoisans who report any European ancestry identify with multiple ancestries. Those of partial descent make up the majority of most European ancestry groups in Illinois, including 58% of Polish-Americans, 68% of English-Americans, 69% of German-Americans, and 75% of Irish-Americans in the state. Of all European ancestries numbering over 50,000 in Illinois, those identifying solely with that ancestry are only a majority among the state's 71,279 Ukrainian-Americans, with two thirds of this group identifying as Ukrainian alone.
Along with white residents reporting multiple European ancestries, about 3% of the state's population identifies as non-Hispanic white in combination with another racial group. Additionally, while those of Hispanic ethnicity are not distinguished between total and partial Hispanic origin, an estimated 1.7% of Illinois' population are Hispanics who report a non-Spanish European ancestry.
Non-Hispanic whites have the second highest per-capita income of any racial group in the state, at $53,591, just slightly below that of Asians. The white poverty rate, at only 8.3%, is the lowest of all major racial or ethnic groups in the state, including Asians. The median age of non-Hispanic white residents is the oldest of all racial or ethnic groups in the state, at 44.2 years.
The state is home to a significant Middle Eastern population, with 101,464 people (0.8% of the population) identifying as Arab. 71,422, (0.6% of the population) identify as Arab alone. The highest concentration of Arab-Americans in the state are found in the southern suburbs of Chicago, in the towns of Brigeview, Oak Lawn, Palos Hills, and Hickory Hills, where they make up between 5–12% of the population.
Illinois has the largest Palestinian population in the United States. According to census estimates, 19,255 Illinoisans have Palestinian ancestry, while other estimates place the population of Palestinian descent in the Chicago area as high as 85,000.
As of 2023, 50% of Illinois's population younger than age 18 were minorities. This marks an increase from 2010, when 47% of children in the state were minorities, and 2000, when 41% were minorities. (Note: Children born to white Hispanics or to a sole full or partial minority parent are counted as minorities. Arabs are classified as white in census data.).
The state's most populous ethnic group, non-Hispanic white, has declined from 83.5% in 1970 to 58.5% in 2022. Almost 60% of Illinois' minority population, including over 67% of the black population, lives in Cook County, while the county includes about 40% of the state's total population. Cook County, which is home to Chicago, is the only majority-minority county within Illinois, with non-Hispanic whites making up a plurality of 40.4% of the population. Despite being the most ethnically diverse state in the Midwest, urban areas in Illinois have had a persistently high level of racial segregation, with a study from the Brookings Institution finding that the Chicago area has the third highest level of black-white residential segregation out of all major metropolitan areas in the United States.
