By Tom Butala

The U.S. Census Bureau has released Illinois data collected in its 2010 polling, revealing a migration of residents from Chicago to its suburbs.

View of Chicago from Sears Tower - By Bruno Ehrs/Corbis

According to the Census Bureau, Chicago’s population has decreased by more than 200,000 citizens from 10 years ago. At the same time, surrounding DuPage, Will, Lake, Kendall, Kane and Kankakee counties all saw increases in population.

“I think these data from here and elsewhere in the country reflect that the United States has become a suburban nation,” University of Chicago Associate Professor of Social Service Administration Scott W. Allard told ChicagoTribune.com. “It is a continuing migration from the city out to the suburbs while there are also immigration waves directly to the suburbs as well.”

In addition, different races are moving to suburbs that used to be predominantly white, black or Hispanic. Breaking the report down by race, 71.5 percent of Illinois state residents were reported as white, a 0.6 percent increase from 2000. Black Illinois residents account for 14.5 percent of the population, down 0.6 percent from 2000. Asian residents comprise 4.6 percent of the state population, a 38.6 percent increase from the last census data. American Indians make up 0.3 percent of the population, a 41.8 percent increase; while the unlisted figure of residents of Pacific-Islander descent show a 12.1 percent decrease.

Looking closer at the racial data, the Census Bureau examines the increasing trend of Hispanic residents in the state. While 84.2 percent of Illinois residents are non-Hispanic, a 0.8 decrease; the Bureau reports 15.8 percent of residents as Hispanic, an increase of 32.5 percent from ten years ago.

Data also shows 19.2 and 23.4 percent increases of “some other race” and “two or more races,” at 6.7 and 2.3 percent, respectively.

To view more Illinois census info, visit: http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/.