Collar counties

This article is about the suburban counties outside Chicago. For the four suburban Philadelphia counties (Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, and Chester) also known as "the collar counties" ^{[1] [2] [3]} , see Delaware Valley.

Collar counties
Region of Illinois
Clockwise from top left: Rialto Square Theater (Joliet), Downtown Crystal Lake, Moser Tower (Naperville), Old DuPage County Courthouse (Wheaton), Great Lakes Naval Training Station (North Chicago) and Downtown Aurora.
Country	United States
State	Illinois
Counties	DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will.
Settled	1770s
Named for	Their mutual proximity to and surrounding of Cook County.
Population  (2012 Estimate)
• Total	3,143,257
Time zone	UTC−06:00 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−05:00 (CDT)
Area code(s)	224, 331, 630, 779, 815, 847

Collar counties is a colloquialism for DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties, the five counties of Illinois that border Cook County, which is home to Chicago. The collar counties are part of the Chicago metropolitan area and comprise many of the area's suburbs. While Lake County, Indiana, also borders Cook County, it is not typically included in the phrase "Collar Counties" due to different socioeconomic characteristics and positionality.

After Cook County, the collar counties are also the next five most populous counties in Illinois. According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago , there is no specifically known origin of the phrase, but it has been commonly used among policy makers, urban planners, and in the media. ^[4]

In 1950, the Census Bureau defined the Chicago metropolitan statistical area as comprising Cook County, four of the five collar counties (excluding McHenry), and Lake County in Indiana. In 2010, reflecting urban growth, the Bureau redefined the area as comprising several additional counties in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. ^[5]

As of 2019, there are 3,150,376 people residing in the collar counties, nearly 25% of the population of Illinois. Cook County and the collar counties combined are home to approximately 65% of Illinois's population.

Use in political discussions

While it is not its exclusive use, the term is often employed in political discussions. ^{[6] [7]} Like many other suburban areas in the United States, the collar counties have somewhat different political leanings from the core city. Chicago has long been a Democratic stronghold, while the collar counties historically tilted Republican. In recent elections, however, the collar counties have voted for Democrats, but with lower margins than Cook County. ^[8]

For most of the 20th century, the collar counties were solidly red, voting for the Republican nominee in nearly every presidential election and often by large margins. The counties continued to support the Republicans in the 1990s and 2000s, but were much closer than previously. During this period, the collar counties were routinely cited as being the key to any statewide election, as Cook County tends to vote for Democrats by large margins and downstate Illinois tends to vote for Republicans by large margins. ^{[9] [10] [11]} However, that conventional wisdom was challenged in the 2010 gubernatorial election, as Democrat Pat Quinn won election while winning only Cook County and three counties in Southern Illinois. ^[12] All five collar counties went Republican, so the key to that gubernatorial election was winning Cook County by a wide enough margin to overwhelm the rest of the state.

Barack Obama used the term in his speech before the Democratic National Convention in 2004. ^[13]

The collar counties have become significantly more Democratic since the 2010s, resulting in Illinois as a whole becoming more reliable Democratic and no longer competitive for Republicans. As Democrats began organizing in the area to appeal to suburban voters while Republicans turned towards hardline conservativism, along with demographic changes, much of the politics of the counties shifted considerably. ^[14] Barack Obama won all the collar counties in 2008, and four of them (all but McHenry) have voted for the Democratic nominee in every presidential election since. By the 2020 presidential election, all but one county backed Joe Biden, with Donald Trump carrying McHenry County by a narrow 2.5 points. Similarly, the counties now favor Democrats in statewide and legislative elections. ^[14]

See also

• Other wealthy, typically or formerly conservative suburban regions in the United States:
  • Cobb County, Georgia and Gwinnett County, Georgia (for Atlanta)
  • Douglas County, Colorado (for Denver)
  • Eastside (King County, Washington) (for Seattle)
  • Hamilton County, Indiana (for Indianapolis)
  • Long Island (for New York City)
  • Macomb County (for Detroit)
  • North County (San Diego area)
  • Northern Virginia (for Washington, D.C.)
  • Orange County, California (for Los Angeles)
  • Warren County, Ohio (for Cincinnati)
  • WOW counties (for Milwaukee)

References

1. Field, Nick (October 25, 2019). "How the Pa. electorate has changed since 2016 and what that means for 2020 | Analysis". Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
2. Otterbein, Holly. "Pennsylvania suburbs revolt against Trump". POLITICO. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
3. Bond, Michaelle. "The Philadelphia suburbs turned blue in a big way. What do Democrats plan to do with their new power?". inquirer.com. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
4. Mariner, Richard D. (2005), "Collar Counties", Encyclopedia of Chicago, Chicago: Chicago History Museum and the Newberry Library, retrieved March 11, 2021
5. "Combined statistical area population and estimated components of change: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016 (CSA-EST2016-alldata)". U.S. Census. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
6. Mount, Charles (May 30, 1989). "Collar Counties Cutting Court Backlogs". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
7. "Collar County Homepage". socqrl.niu.edu. Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
8. "Illinois primary live results". CNN. March 17, 2020. Archived from the original on March 18, 2020. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
9. "PSB: Progressive Illinois Politics:: The Collar County Shift". Archived from the original on December 19, 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
10. "'Quinn-Brady race may be decided in collar counties". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on October 19, 2010. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
11. "Why the Collar Counties are Trending GOP". NBC Chicago. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
12. "Error Display". elections.il.gov. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
13. "Barack Obama's Keynote Address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention". PBS . July 27, 2004.
14. Jacobsen, Louis (September 5, 2024). "Chicago's Suburbs and the Blue Shift in Illinois". usnews.com . Retrieved September 6, 2024.