1985-99
Increase/
Decrease

1985-99
Percent
Change

Language

92-93

93-94

94-95

95-96

96-97

97-98

98-99

1

Spanish

71,653

75,209

82,049

87,484

93,026

97,615

100,213

60,299

151%

2

Polish

4,532

5,705

6,652

6,689

6,300

6,298

6,031

5,199

625%

3

Urdu

1,409

1,516

1,521

1,793

1,751

1,835

1,915

1,462

323%

4

Arabic

1,832

1,740

1,709

1,819

1,774

1,879

1,868

676

57%

5

Serb/Croat/
Bosnian

377

433

589

862

879

1,305

1,800

1,567

673%

6

Gujarati

1,067

1,254

1,283

1,475

1,357

1,443

1,442

972

207%

7

Korean

1,424

1,421

1,406

1,457

1,279

1,291

1,417

250

21%

8

Cantonese

1,143

1,183

1,153

1,246

1,279

1,349

1,400

611

77%

9

Vietnamese

1,370

1,390

1,340

1,351

1,262

1,245

1,208

171

16%

10

Russian

990

1,071

1,099

1,171

1,053

1,112

1,151

1,027

828%

11

Pilipino

1,010

1,091

1,030

1,067

1,001

940

881

394

81%

12

Assyrian

707

788

792

901

868

845

830

35

4%

13

Japanese

735

700

722

704

691

675

709

260

58%

14

Romanian

783

699

530

520

511

495

483

176

57%

15

Mandarin

449

433

439

430

399

353

442

282

176%

16

Lao

513

505

484

439

468

461

431

(502)

-54%

17

Albanian

173

192

188

228

255

376

419

344

459%

18

Hindi

325

324

282

289

286

317

334

43

15%

19

Cambodian

577

535

478

445

401

351

304

(512)

-63%

20

Bulgarian

56

83

107

137

125

193

304

303

30300%

21

Malayalam

216

234

238

301

299

287

300

203

209%

22

Greek

441

421

342

326

275

269

282

(564)

-67%

23

Ukrainian

130

123

144

176

170

243

268

250

1389%

24

Italian

387

377

366

333

315

304

265

(416)

-61%

25

French

113

116

117

160

159

186

203

82

68%

26

Panjabi

115

132

140

160

159

209

194

126

185%

27

German

143

137

136

121

143

130

157

(45)

-22%

28

Lithuanian

33

28

48

67

84

120

140

133

1900%

29

Thai

141

141

125

110

109

107

126

4

3%

30

Haitian Creole

211

165

173

90

83

122

116

(45)

-28%

31

Portuguese

118

108

99

121

128

120

114

70

159%

32

Telugu (Telegu)

57

62

70

84

60

68

102

76

292%

Other

1,241

1,321

1,233

1,343

1,295

1,490

1,454

425

41%

Total

94,471

99,637

107,084

113,899

118,244

124,033

127,303

73,356

136%

Chicago

55,986

57,964

60,126

63,053

66,595

67,935

67,179

32,479

94%

Downstate

38,485

41,673

46,958

50,846

51,649

56,098

60,124

40,877

212%

By County:

Cook

72,726

75,731

80,857

85,174

88,116

92,468

93,217

51,012

121%

Suburban Cook

16,740

17,767

20,731

22,121

21,521

24,533

26,038

18,533

247%

Kane

7,677

8,545

9,306

10,109

10,890

10,844

11,935

8,059

208%

DuPage

4,504

4,973

5,718

6,090

6,106

6,438

7,024

4,929

235%

Lake

4,694

5,385

5,356

5,957

6,290

6,794

6,870

4,558

197%

Will

1,058

894

1,256

1,378

1,389

1,442

1,631

791

94%

Other

3,812

4,109

4,591

5,191

5,453

6,047

6,626

4,007

153%