Chicago Southland

Chicago Southland
Region
Orland Square in Orland Park, Illinois
Largest City	Orland Park
Population	2.5 million

The Chicago Southland is a region comprising the south and southwest suburbs of the City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. Home to roughly 2.5 million residents, this region has been known as the Southland by the local populace and regional media for over 20 years.^[1] Despite this relatively recent term, some older native Southlanders and current local advertisements colloquially refer to the Southland as the Southside, meaning on the southern side/border of Chicago as extended into the suburbs since some of them previously lived on Chicago's Southside but moved to the suburbs during post WWII white flight.

There is great racial and economic diversity in the Southland, with low and middle income areas to the north and higher income areas farther south and west.^{[citation needed]}

The southland is home to much of the region's Black suburban population, with the overwhelming majority residing along Interstate 57, east to the Bishop Ford Expressway and the Indiana state border.^[2] The south suburbs are also home to the highest black homeownership rates in the country, with five of its communities ranked in the top ten in 2018.^[3]

The region is also home to a high Polish, Lithuanian, Palestinian, Irish, Dutch, German, and Mexican population.^{[citation needed]}