The suburbs, surrounded by easily annexed flat ground, have been expanding at a tremendous rate since the early 1960s. Settlement patterns in Chicagoland tend to follow those in the city proper: the northern suburbs along the shore of Lake Michigan are comparatively affluent, while the southern suburbs are less so, with lower median incomes and a lower cost of living. The southern portion of Chicagoland is occasionally called Illiana.
Origin
The publisher of the Chicago Tribune, Col. Robert R. McCormick, was an inveterate civic booster. In his view, Chicagoland was the vast region in the center of the country, with Chicago as its economic and cultural capital. In many ways, what McCormick envisioned as Chicagoland is now described by the term flyover country.
The original impetus for the term is long forgotten; the meaning of Chicago metropolitan area is largely perpetuated by advertisers, e.g. "See your Chicagoland Ford dealer".
While the term Chicagoland may stand alone, it is sometime used in phrases like "the Chicagolandarea," "metro Chicagoland" or even "the greater Chicagolandarea." The term is often used by advertisers ("See your Chicagoland Chevy dealer") or by weathercasters ("A major snowstorm is expected in Chicagoland").
