WBEZ: How many Chicagoans were born in the city?

There are many neighborhoods in our city that have seen generations of various families maintain their home in their community. And yes, I'm sure Chatham is one example among many in our city. This article from Chicago Public Radio explores this future.

Tracy Miller noticed something about Chicago when she moved here nine years ago. “I meet many people who say they are native Chicagoans,” she says. “It seems like there are more natives still residing here than in other cities I have lived in.”

Miller came here from Austin, Texas. Before that, she’d lived in Dallas and Los Angeles. In all of those cities, she says, “Everybody is from somewhere else.” But Chicago seemed different. That prompted her to ask Curious City:

“How many people live here who were born here, and what about the previous generations? There seems to be many generational families that call Chicago home.”

It’s a simple question, but the answer is complicated — and hard to pin down. We’ll confess upfront that we haven’t been able to come up with a statistic that precisely answers Tracy’s question. But the U.S. Census Bureau does collect some data that gets us close to an answer. Those census statistics suggest that the presence of local natives varies quite a bit across Chicago's neighborhoods and racial groups — while the city, as a whole, has a "native" profile close to the national average.

You may want to listen to this segment below [AUDIO]