Naperville slides to fifth among state's largest cities

Naperville officials believe Joliet's reign as the state's fourth most-populated city may be short-lived.

U.S. Census Bureau figures released Thursday show Joliet overtaking Naperville in population totals for the first time since the early 1990s. Census officials estimate Joliet's population to be 144,316 to Naperville's 142,479.

The estimates are based on building permits, special census tallies and other administrative records, census officials said.

Steve Laue, an information specialist with the census bureau, said Joliet's bump likely was helped by special census results from 2006 that showed nearly 4,500 residents moving to that city.

However, Naperville is slated to undergo its own special census later this summer. Naperville's Assistant to the City Manager Dan DiSanto said the city anticipates adding about 7,000 residents to its total when that project is complete.

The special census will be an accounting of new single-family housing stock mainly on Naperville's southwest side. Census officials also will look at population additions created by senior housing developments such as the Carillon Club and Monarch Landing, DiSanto said.

Joliet City Manager Tom Thanas was not surprised by the news. Only Chicago added more people in 2007 among Illinois cities.

"What it is for us is a niche in the housing market that is affordable to a lot of young families," he said. "We're one of the fastest-growing communities in the country and we've seen tremendous growth, to the point where several schools were being built each year up to this year when the housing market slowed."

Naperville blossomed in the 1980s and 1990s, while Joliet saw a slow steady growth until more recently when it experienced a housing boom. While Naperville, at about 38 square miles, is nearly at residential build-out, Joliet has much more room to grow within its borders that total nearly 54 square miles, officials said.

Thanas is Naperville's former city attorney and Naperville Mayor George Pradel joked that Thanas must have stolen some Naperville residents to get Joliet's numbers so high.

"I am happy for them because I know that it means more money from the state," Pradel said, "but couldn't they have waited until I was out of office to get bigger than us?"

Chicago is still the state's largest city, followed by Aurora and Rockford. All Illinois cities on the annual list of cities with populations of more than 100,000 showed increases for 2007.

By the numbers

Here's a list of where Illinois cities rank among all U.S. cities with populations of more than 100,000.

3: Chicago, 2,836,658

135: Aurora, 170,855

146: Rockford, 156,596

162: Joliet, 144,316

166: Naperville, 142,479

208: Springfield, 117,090

218: Peoria, 113,546

241: Elgin, 104,288

Source: U.S. Census Bureau