Population and Employment Forecast for 2030 by Quarter Section for the City of Chicago

Marie V. Bousfield, City of Chicago, Department of Planning and Development

For transportation planning, the City of Chicago has recently prepared population and employment forecasts by quarter section for 2030. The forecast includes a regional and citywide analysis of the components of population and housing change covering the 1970-2000 period. The citywide forecast uses the cohort component method by race and Hispanic origin. The quarter section population forecast uses a modified housing unit method while the employment forecast uses vacant land and zoning districts. Population and employment densities derived from the 2000 Census and from administrative data are projected into the future. Both the population and employment forecast rely on estimates of development potential made by local experts. The recording of expected developments was done with GIS software called Paint the Town. It streamlines the process of recording the proposed developments and constantly updates the quarter section forecasts.