Illinois's 3rd congressional district includes parts of Cook County and DuPage County, and has been represented by Democrat Delia Ramirez since January 3, 2023. Prior to being drastically reconfigured to a different region in 2023, when it was created largely out of portions from the 4th and 6th districts, the district was represented by Marie Newman from 2021 to 2023, Dan Lipinski from 2005 to 2021, and by Lipinski's father Bill from 1983 to 2005.
The district includes portions of the Northwest Side of the city of Chicago as well as the city's western suburbs stretching across DuPage County to its western edge, and covers . It is one of the 50 smallest districts in the U.S., and there are five smaller districts in Illinois. It is adjacent to the 1st district to the east and south, the 4th district to the north, and the 11th district to the west. It borders the 6th and 7th districts at its northwestern and northeastern corners, respectively.
The district was originally created following the 1830 census and came into being in 1833, five months before Chicago was organized as a town. It initially included northern and western Illinois before representing areas of east-central and northwestern Illinois from 1843 to 1873.Parsons, et al. (1986), pp. 53-54.Parsons, et al. (1986), pp. 102-103. The district has included part of Chicago since 1873, and part of the city's southwest side from 1895 to 2023. The district has been primarily suburban since 1973.
Composition For the 118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the 2020 census), the district contains all or portions of the following counties, townships, and municipalities:
Cook County (16) Bartlett (part, also 8th; shared with DuPage County), Chicago (part, also 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th; shared with DuPage County), Des Plaines (part, also 8th), Elgin (part, also 8th and 11th; shared with Kane County), Elk Grove Village (part, also 8th; shared with DuPage County), Elk Grove Township (part, also 8th), Elmwood Park, Franklin Park (part, also 6th), Hanover Park (part, also 8th), Hanover Township (part, also 8th), Leyden Township (part, also 4th and 5th), Maine Township (part, also 5th and 8th), Mount Prospect (part, also 5th and 8th), River Grove (part, also 6th), Schiller Park (part, also 5th), Streamwood (part, also 8th)
DuPage County (25)
Addison (part, also 8th), Addison Township (part, also 6th and 8th), Bartlett (part, also 8th; shared with Cook County), Batavia (part, also 11th; shared with Kane County), Bensenville, Bloomingdale Township (part, also 8th), Carol Stream (part, also 8th), Chicago (part, also 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th; shared with Cook County), Elk Grove Village (part, also 8th; shared with Cook County), Glen Ellyn (part, also 6th), Glendale Heights (part, also 8th), Lombard (part, also 6th), Milton Township (part, also 6th and 8th), Naperville (part, also 11th), St. Charles (part, also 11th; shared with Kane County), Villa Park (part, also 6th), Warrenville (part, also 11th), Wayne (part, also 11th; shared with Kane County), Wayne Township (part, also 8th), West Chicago, Wheaton (part, also 6th), Winfield, Winfield Township (part, also 11th), Wood Dale (part, also 8th), York Township (part, also 6th)
Chicago neighborhoods in the 3rd district include:
Albany Park (part) Austin (Galewood) (part) Avondale Belmont Cragin Dunning (part) Hermosa Humboldt Park (part) Irving Park (part) Logan Square Montclare Portage Park (part) West Town (part)
Demographics The district, situated between the Hispanic-majority 4th district to the north and the black-majority 1st and 7th districts to the east, is the home of numerous sizable and historic ethnic groups including Irish, Polish, Arab, German, Italian and Czech immigrants and their descendants. At 14.2%, the Irish make up the largest white ethnic group in the district, most prominently in the Bridgeport area (the ancestral neighborhood of the Daley family and other Chicago Irish politicians) and the Mount Greenwood-Beverly area; it is the largest Irish population in any district west of Philadelphia's suburbs.Based on district ethnic demographics in Congressional Districts in the 2000s: A Portrait of America. The Polish form the next largest white ethnic group at 13.5%, tying the northwest side's 5th district for the second highest percentage of any district, behind only New York's 27th congressional district. The next largest white ethnic groups are Germans (11.0%) and Italians (6.9%). Of the suburbs primarily south of 87th Street (in Palos and Worth Townships), 9 of 10 have larger Irish than Polish populations, usually by large margins; but north of 87th Street, in those areas in Lyons Township south of Interstate 55 or in the townships to the east of Harlem Avenue, 9 of 10 suburbs have greater Polish populations than Irish, again by large margins. In Oak Lawn, the district's largest suburb, Irish outnumber Polish 30%-19%; in neighboring Burbank, the district's third largest suburb, Polish outnumber Irish by an identical margin.
More recently a large Mexican community has moved to the district, notably in Berwyn, Cicero, Hodgkins and Summit where they represent over 30% of the population, and along Archer Avenue, a major Chicago artery that runs through the district's northern section. There is also a sizable Greek community in Oak Lawn and Palos Hills. In the last two decades, there has been notable Arab settlement in the vicinity of Bridgeview, and by the 2000 census, Arabs represented one of the five largest non-Hispanic ethnic groups in Bridgeview and three adjacent suburbs. Approximately 41% of the district's residents live in Chicago. Roughly 21% of the district's population are Hispanic, 68% are Caucasian, 6% are African American and 3% are Asian; redistricting following the 2000 census and the continued influx of Hispanics tripled the minority population from a decade earlier, as the district in its previous configuration had a population that was 7% Hispanic, 2% African American and 1% Asian. The more affluent areas of the district are generally located in its northwestern portion.
Economy Prior to 2023, the district was a historic U.S. transportation and shipping hub; not only did it include Chicago Midway International Airport, but it was also traversed by the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the Calumet Sag Channel, and the Des Plaines River, earning national designations for the Chicago Portage National Historic Site in Forest View and the Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor. The path of historic Route 66 ran southwest through the district from its eastern end in Chicago. Interstate 55 intersected with both the Tri-State Tollway (Interstate 294) and the Dan Ryan Expressway (Interstate 90/94) in the district, and in 2001 – since which time the district has shifted slightly to the northwest – it was noted as likely having more freight yards and railroad crossings than any other district.
The district included SeatGeek Stadium, home of the Chicago Red Stars team in Women's Professional Soccer, as well as Hawthorne Race Course; the area also benefits from Chicago White Sox home games at U.S. Cellular Field, which is less than beyond the district's border. Portions of the Cook County Forest Preserves cover several square miles in the district's southwest corner. Cultural attractions include Brookfield Zoo and the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in West Lawn; educational institutions include St. Xavier University in Mount Greenwood, Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Morton College in Cicero, and Richard J. Daley College, a Chicago city college, in West Lawn; and medical facilities include Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital in La Grange and MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn. A Ronald McDonald House adjacent to Advocate Christ opened in December 2008. Industrial and business presences in the district include: Tootsie Roll Industries; Electro-Motive Diesel; a Nabisco bakery which is the largest biscuit bakery in the world; the Chicago Area Consolidation Hub of United Parcel Service and adjacent BNSF Railway yard; an ACH Food manufacturing plant (formerly part of Corn Products Company) in Summit; an Owens Corning roofing and asphalt plant in Summit; and a Nalco Chemical plant in Bedford Park. The former site of the International Amphitheatre, now an Aramark plant, is within the district. Organizations based in the district include the American Nuclear Society in La Grange Park. Among the federal facilities in the district is the Great Lakes Regional Headquarters of the National Archives and Records Administration in West Lawn.
Other district sites on the National Register of Historic Places included: American State Bank, Berwyn Berwyn Health Center Berwyn Municipal Building Avery Coonley House, Riverside Cornell Square, New City, Chicago Arthur J. Dunham House, Berwyn First Congregational Church of Western Springs Grossdale Station, Brookfield Haymarket Martyrs' Monument National Historic Landmark, Forest Park Hofmann Tower, Lyons La Grange Village Historic District Lyons Township Hall, La Grange Old Stone Gate of Chicago Union Stockyards National Historic Landmark, New City, Chicago George E. Purple House, La Grange Ridge Historic District, Beverly/Morgan Park, Chicago Riverside Landscape Architecture District, Riverside Robert Silhan House, Berwyn F.F. Tomek House, Riverside Wayne Village Historic District Western Springs Water Tower
History 2011 redistricting The district covers parts of Cook, Du Page and Will counties, as of the 2011 redistricting which followed the 2010 census. All or parts of Chicago, Bridgeview, Burbank, Crest Hill, Hickory Hills, Homer Glen, Justice, La Grange, Lemont, Lockport, Oak Lawn, Palos Heights, Palos Hills, Romeoville, Summit, Western Springs and Worth are included.Illinois Congressional District 3 , Illinois Board of Elections The representatives for these districts were elected in the 2012 primary and general elections, and the boundaries became effective on January 3, 2013.
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