26-Oct-21 – The population of the Loop is “booming and diversifying,” according to a new report by the organization tasked with attracting people to the Loop and accelerating its economic recovery.

Chicago Loop Alliance says 42,298 people now live in the Loop, a 44.5 percent increase from 2010. If you count the Near North Side, Near South Side, and Near West Side, 244,455 people live downtown, representing 8.9 percent of Chicago’s population but in just 4.6 percent of the city’s total geographic area.

CLA says over the past 30 years, downtown Chicago has grown faster than the downtown area of any other American city.

“The pandemic showed us the importance of the Loop continuing to trend toward a mixed-use district with a healthy residential population to support the storefront economy,” said Chicago Loop Alliance President/CEO Michael Edwards (left). “This is a trend we’ve seen in downtown Chicago for years, but the Census data puts hard numbers to the idea and shows just how fast this residential growth is happening – faster than any other Chicago neighborhood.”

All racial and ethnic groups recorded population gains, says CLA, particularly Asian and Hispanic residents. The number of Asian residents increased by 87.8 percent. Hispanic residents increased by 74.2 percent.

Ben Creamer, co-founder and managing broker of Downtown Apartment Company, says there has been “a healthy recovery” of the downtown rental market. He says more leases for Loop apartments have been signed since January 2021 than in all of 2020. Rental prices, he says, have increased 17 to 29 percent, depending on the size of the apartment.

“We continue to see tremendous job growth in the city’s urban core,” said Creamer (right), “and that has led to an influx in relocations from out of state, as well as a higher-than-normal demand from locals looking for apartment homes located in the heart of the city.” He says a common thread among renters driving the growth is the desire to live close to restaurants and work, even if they are not in the office every day.