Lithuanians in the Chicago area

Part of a series on
Ethnic groups in Chicago
July 4th parade with marchers carrying a 'Lithuania' banner followed by a Lithuanian flag in the West Pullman area of Chicago, circa 1950
The Union Stockyards were at one time a significant employer of Chicago's Lithuanian community. Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle, revolves around the life of a Lithuanian immigrant working the Stockyards named Jurgis Rudkus.

Lithuanians in Chicago and the nearby metropolitan area are a prominent group within the "Windy City" whose presence goes back over a hundred years. Today the Chicago area possesses the largest Lithuanian community outside Lithuania,[1] who have dubbed the city as Little Lithuania, and many Lithuanian Americans refer to it as the second capital of Lithuania. Lithuanian Americans from Chicago have had a significant impact on politics in both the United States and Lithuania. Census estimates as of 2023 number the Lithuanian population in the Chicago metropolitan area at 59,359.[2] The population is currently declining, influenced partially by Lithuania's 2004 entry into the EU, which has led a decrease in new arrivals to the United States.[3][4]

  1. ^ Čikagos aidas. The Lithuanian Market. Retrieved on 2008-09-04
  2. ^ "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved 2024-10-03.
  3. ^ "Once important diaspora centre, Lithuanian community in Chicago is shrinking". lrt.lt. 2023-03-13. Retrieved 2023-05-23.
  4. ^ "A brief history of Lithuanian migration to the US - Lithuanian Citizenship". www.lithuaniancitizenship.com. 2022-10-23. Retrieved 2024-10-03.