West Chicagoland and North Chicagoland Populations ? (Yorkville, Detroit: for sale, to buy, living in)

[STL Guy]

Greetings, on craigslist I see I can post a car for sale in either West or North Chicagoland. Does anyone know the populations of each of these areas? My thinking is that these two areas would be high pop. centers, relatively prosperous, and more likely to need a car than someone living in downtown Chicago. Thanks in advance for any input.

[Ditto97]

Can you be a little more specific? I'm a little confused by your question! Chicagoland usually defines the suburbs of Chicago, so West and North Chicagoland would basically mean the suburbs in those directions. Yes, the suburbs have high populations and a car is usually a necessity. The populations of each suburb will differ.

[deeman7]

There are also the Northwest Suburbs to choose from and the south suburbs. Both of which have considerable population.


The default search when people look to buy on craigslist is for all of the Chicago area to be included in the search, only if a person filters on their own will they limit their search to a particular area.


The location is supposed to be where the seller is located

[STL Guy]

I wish I could be more specific but I'm also confused by the craigslist geographic distinctions. Here is how the Chicago page for craigslist reads: chicago chc nch wcl sox nwi nwc

Link is here: https://chicago.craigslist.org/

If I hover over nch or wcl I see north chicagoland and west chicagoland. But when I try a google pop. search for these areas it comes up less than 30,000. For example, here: https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=...71.oLzMJ4cbaNY

[Ditto97]

Originally Posted by STL Guy

I wish I could be more specific but I'm also confused by the craigslist geographic distinctions. Here is how the Chicago page for craigslist reads: chicago chc nch wcl sox nwi nwc

Link is here: https://chicago.craigslist.org/

If I hover over nch or wcl I see north chicagoland and west chicagoland. But when I try a google pop. search for these areas it comes up less than 30,000. For example, here: https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=...71.oLzMJ4cbaNY

Ah yes, the areas listed on Craigslist are: Chicago - chc (City of Chicago), nch (North Chicagoland), wcl (West Chicagoland), nwi (Northwest Indiana), sox (south Chicagoland), nwc (Northwest suburbs).

In your example you gave, west Chicagoland means all suburbs west of Chicago. North Chicagoland means all suburbs north of Chicago. There are, however, two towns with similar names: North Chicago (Lake County, IL) and West Chicago (DuPage County, IL). West Chicagoland and North Chicagoland is an all-encompassing term of all suburbs in that direction, whereas North Chicago and West Chicago specifically are actual towns. West Chicagoland /= West Chicago, North Chicagoland /= North Chicago. North Chicago is a PART of North Chicagoland, and West Chicago is a PART of West Chicagoland.

If you click on the specific ad on craigslist, it should say what specific town in, for example, West Chicagoland the car is being sold. So under "automotive," the second option offers repair service at a specific company and it says at the end: (Yorkville). That means that specific option is located in the west Chicagoland area, but in the suburb of Yorkville. Does that make sense? Sorry for the wordiness!

[STL Guy]

Wow thanks Deeman7. I just post under "all chicago" and I'm covered for the 6 geographic areas.

I do see the "nwc" for northwest suburbs but don't see the south suburbs. Can you link me to the craigslist south suburb page? The south in particular would be closer to St. Louis.

Already posted in Stl but had only a few replies from teenagers. Thinking Chicago would be a better market for my car. Would have tried cities closer to Stl but as you may know craigslist has gotten into posting fees for every car ad now.

[STL Guy]

Makes perfect sense and thanks Ditto97. Craigslist just divides regions its own way so hard for an outsider to get population numbers. But the "all chicago" option saves me from having to choose a region and guess the population.

[jfre81]

The question is where "Chicagoland" ends in either direction.

I'd say your best bet selling a car would be the north or west burbs though. Of course it depends on where they're coming to get it.

The south burbs aren't really much closer if any to STL than the rest of Chicagoland. Still looking at a long drive for a used car when there are plenty closer by.

Last time I tried to sell a car the Craigslist/FB marketplace way, I was living on the edge of southwest Detroit. Nobody with money was going to come there to look at a car, and the people who did come look wanted a perfectly running and looking car for $500.

[STL Guy]

Hey jfre81 I'm in a similar situation. Getting lots of teens and parents of teens calling me. The car needs brake lines but they just wanna get in and drive it. I had one guy up in Chicago find my ad on the St. Louis craigslist site. So that's where I got the idea to post in Chicagoland. It used to be free but now for 5 bucks you get a 30 day ad. Figure I can't go too wrong.