Lower West Side
Community area in Chicago's West Side
Lower West Side in context
Where Lower West Side stands among Chicago's 77 community areas — on the City's own published indicators, with the whole city drawn for scale.
Lower West Side against the city
Six headline indicators
How Lower West Side compares with all 77 Chicago community areas across income, poverty, unemployment, hardship, life expectancy and prenatal care. Each row shows the full city range, the city median, and this area's position and placing.
Per-capita income
$16,44454th of 77
0median $21,323$88,669Households below poverty
25.8%43rd of 77
0median 18.9%56.5%Unemployment
15.8%37th of 77
0median 13.9%35.9%Hardship index
76/10060th of 77
0median 50/10098/100Life expectancy (2010)
81.4 yrs9th of 77
68.8 yrs (city low)median 79.5 yrs85.2 yrs (city high)Early prenatal care
80.8%15th of 77
0median 76.1%94.5%
Data table — same numbers as the chart
| Indicator | Lower West Side | City median | Placing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per-capita income | $16,444 | $21,323 | #54 of 77 |
| Households below poverty | 25.8% | 18.9% | #43 of 77 |
| Unemployment | 15.8% | 13.9% | #37 of 77 |
| Hardship index | 76/100 | 50/100 | #60 of 77 |
| Life expectancy (2010) | 81.4 yrs | 79.5 yrs | #9 of 77 |
| Early prenatal care | 80.8% | 76.1% | #15 of 77 |
Source: Chicago Data Portal — socioeconomic indicators (kn9c-c2s2), public health indicators (iqnk-2tcu), life expectancy (qjr3-bm53)
Life expectancy, 1990–2010
Lower West Side vs city average
Life expectancy in Lower West Side moved from 74.0 years in 1990 to 77.0 in 2000 and 81.4 in 2010. The dashed line is the average across all 77 community areas (77.6 years in 2010).
Data table — same numbers as the chart
| Year | Lower West Side | City average |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 74.0 years | 70.7 years |
| 2000 | 77.0 years | 73.9 years |
| 2010 | 81.4 years | 77.6 years |
Source: Chicago Data Portal — Life expectancy by community area (1990, 2000, 2010)
Lower West Side highlighted within Chicago's 77 community areas
Investment Vault
Community area in Chicago's West Side — detailed profile coming soon.
Lower West Side Digital Twin
Immersive 3D view aligned to the same official community boundary, camera registry, and civic data model used by the polygon map.