page_title: South Side, Chicago
section_title: Boundaries
hierarchical_section_title: South Side, Chicago / Boundaries
caption_attribution_description: English: A 1925 Chicago-style bungalow in Skokie.
context_page_description: The South Side is an area of Chicago. It is the largest of the three Sides of the city that radiate from downtown—the others being the North Side and the West Side.
  Much of the South Side came from the city's annexation of townships such as Hyde Park. The city's "sides" have historically been divided by the Chicago River and its branches. The South Side of Chicago was originally defined as all of the city south of the main branch of the Chicago River, but it now excludes the Loop. The South Side has a varied ethnic composition, and a great disparity in income and other demographic measures. Although it has a reputation for high levels of crime, the South Side ranges from affluent to middle class to poor.
  South Side neighborhoods such as Armour Square, Back of the Yards, Bridgeport, and Pullman host more blue collar and middle-class residents, while Hyde Park, the Jackson Park Highlands District, Kenwood, Beverly, Mount Greenwood, and west Morgan Park feature affluent and upper-middle class residents.
context_section_description: There is some debate as to the South Side's boundaries. Originally the sides were taken from the banks of the Chicago River. The city's address numbering system uses a grid demarcating Madison Street as the East-West axis and State Street as the North-South axis. Madison is in the middle of the Loop. As a result, much of the downtown "Loop" district is south of Madison Street (and the river), but the Loop is usually excluded from any of the Sides.
  One definition has the South Side beginning at Roosevelt Road, at the Loop's southern boundary, with the community area known as the Near South Side immediately adjacent. Another definition, taking into account that much of the Near South Side is in effect part of the commercial district extending in an unbroken line from the South Loop, locates the boundary immediately south of 18th Street or Cermak Road, where Chinatown in the Armour Square community area begins.
  Lake Michigan and the Indiana state line provide eastern boundaries. The southern border changed over time because of Chicago's evolving city limits; the city limits are now at 138th Street (in Riverdale and Hegewisch). The South Side is larger in area than the North and West Sides combined.
caption: A typical Chicago Bungalow, examples of which are found in abundance on the South Side.
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