Geographically located within the North, East North Central is considered part of the Midwest and Great Lakes regions, sharing maritime and land borders with Canada.[2] As half of the Midwest, the majority of it shares a humid continental climate, and many of its coastal settlements encounter lake effect snow during the winter.
In 2010, the East North Central states had a population of 46,421,564; this grew to an estimated 46,902,431 by 2019.[8] By the 2020 United States census, the region's population increased to 47,368,533. Of its population, Illinois is the region's most populous with a 2020 population of 12,812,508.[9] Its least populous is Wisconsin, with 5,893,718 residents.[10]Chicago is the region's most populous city and largest metropolitan area. According to the 2010 American Community Survey, 49.1% of the residents were male and 50.9% were female. Approximately 24.0% of the population were under 18 years of age, and 13.4% were over 65 years of age, and the median age for the region was 39.2.
In terms of race and ethnicity as of 2012, White Americans made up 79.5% of the population, of which 75.7% were whites of non-Hispanic origin. Black Americans composed 12.1% of the region's population, of which 11.9% were blacks of non-Hispanic origin. American Indians and Alaskan Natives were 0.4% of the population and Asians were 2.7%. People who were of two or more races formed 2.1% of the population; and Hispanics and Latinos of any race made up 7.6%.[11]
Linguistically, English is, by far, the most common language spoken at home. Approximately 89.3% of all residents (38.3 million people) over the age of five spoke only English at home. Roughly 2,516,000 people (5.9% of the population) spoke Spanish at home and roughly 2,016,000 people (5.8% of the population) spoke another languages at home. Around 270,000 (0.6%) spoke German at home, although this figure ranges from 2% to 37% in Northeast Ohio, which is home to a large Amish community.[12][13]