COVID-19 Cases, Tests, and Deaths by ZIP Code

This is the place to look for important information about how to use this dataset, so please expand this box and read on!

This is the source data for some of the metrics available at https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid-19/home/latest-data.html.

For all datasets related to COVID-19, see https://data.cityofchicago.org/browse?limitTo=datasets&sortBy=alpha&tags=covid-19.

Only Chicago residents are included based on the home ZIP Code as provided by the medical provider. If a ZIP was missing or was not valid, it is displayed as "Unknown".

Cases with a positive molecular (PCR) or antigen test are included in this dataset. Cases are counted based on the week the test specimen was collected. For privacy reasons, until a ZIP Code reaches five cumulative cases, both the weekly and cumulative case counts will be blank. Therefore, summing the “Cases - Weekly” column is not a reliable way to determine case totals. Deaths are those that have occurred among cases based on the week of death.

For tests, each test is counted once, based on the week the test specimen was collected. Tests performed prior to 3/1/2020 are not included. Test counts include multiple tests for the same person (a change made on 10/29/2020). PCR and antigen tests reported to Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) through electronic lab reporting are included. Electronic lab reporting has taken time to onboard and testing availability has shifted over time, so these counts are likely an underestimate of community infection.

The “Percent Tested Positive” columns are calculated by dividing the number of positive tests by the number of total tests . Because of the data limitations for the Tests columns, such as persons being tested multiple times as a requirement for employment, these percentages may vary in either direction from the actual disease prevalence in the ZIP Code.

All data are provisional and subject to change. Information is updated as additional details are received.

To compare ZIP Codes to Chicago Community Areas, please see http://data.cmap.illinois.gov/opendata/uploads/CKAN/NONCENSUS/ADMINISTRATIVE_POLITICAL_BOUNDARIES/CCAzip.pdf. Both ZIP Codes and Community Areas are also geographic datasets on this data portal.

Data Source: Illinois National Electronic Disease Surveillance System, Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, Illinois Vital Records, American Community Survey (2018)