Near North Side

Near North Side is community area 8, one of Chicago’s 77 official community areas as defined by the City of Chicago. It borders Lincoln Park, Loop, Near West Side and West Town. It covers about 2.8 square miles.

‘L’ stations inside its boundary: Sedgwick (Brown, Purple Lines), Clark/Division (Red Line), Chicago (Brown, Purple Lines), Chicago (Red Line), Grand (Red Line) and Merchandise Mart (Brown, Purple Lines). North/Clybourn (Red Line) sits on its boundary with Lincoln Park.

No Metra station sits inside its boundary. The nearest is the Metra station Millennium Station, about 1.2 miles in a straight line from the center of the area.

CTA bus routes that run through it: 2 Hyde Park Express, 3 King Drive, 8 Halsted, 10 Obama Presidential Center/Museum of Science & Industry Express, 22 Clark, 26 South Shore Express, 29 State, 36 Broadway, 37 Sedgwick, 62 Archer, 65 Grand, 66 Chicago, 70 Division, 72 North, 120 Ogilvie/Streeterville Express, 121 Union/Streeterville Express, 124 Navy Pier, 125 Water Tower Express, 134 Stockton/LaSalle Express, 135 Clarendon/LaSalle Express, 136 Sheridan/LaSalle Express, 143 Stockton/Michigan Express, 146 Inner Lake Shore/Michigan Express, 147 Outer DuSable Lake Shore Express, 148 Clarendon/Michigan Express, 151 Sheridan, 156 LaSalle and 157 Streeterville/Taylor.

Chicago Park District land inside its boundary totals about 49 acres across 16 parks. The largest are Seward Park (8.7 acres), Lake Shore Park (7.2 acres), Stanton Park (6.7 acres), Addams Mem’l Park (5.8 acres) and Park No. 598 (3.9 acres).

Chicago Public Library branches inside its boundary: Near North and Water Works. Divvy has 65 bike-share stations in service inside its boundary.

City Special Service Area commercial districts covering part of it: Oak Street (SSA #75), North Michigan Avenue (SSA #76), Division/Dearborn (SSA #82) and Old Town (SSA #48).

It falls within the 2nd, 27th, and 42nd Wards.

Sources: City of Chicago open data portal (community area and ward boundaries, ‘L’ stations, Chicago Park District parks, CTA bus routes, Chicago Public Library branches, Divvy stations, Special Service Areas); Metra station locations derived from Cook County Assessor parcel proximity data (2025).