Combined Statistical Areas by Area in Square Miles

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

But it does make their land area and population density values utterly meaningless.

I totally agree. And that's why an angel dies every time one mentions the size of a metropolitan area and worse, bring density info.

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Chicagoland does not sprawl across 7,000 or 10,000 square miles of land in any real world functional sense.

The combined area of 2,500 square miles of the Chicago UA + Round Lake UA + Kenosha UA is millions of times closer to reality.

If you want to discuss urbanized footprint and specially density, UA is the best way to go. But metropolitan areas must rely on fixed administrative borders because they are more complex organisms, involved on urban planning, often defined by commute rates or even is politically organized.

So if Oswego (Kendall) is inside Chicago metro area, Big Grove (Kendall) is too.