These Are the Counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Despite the ongoing vaccination effort, new daily cases of COVID-19 are rising once again in much of the United States. To date, 49,376,412 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 788,332 have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metropolitan area, which covers parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, a total of 1,308,067 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 13,717 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 15,092 cases per 100,000 people.

The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Chicago metro area comprises 14 counties or county equivalents — and of them, Lake County in Illinois has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 90,226 infections in Lake County, or 12,823 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does Lake County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Chicago metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.

There have been a total of 159 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Lake County, below the 201 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Dec. 13, 2021.

These are all the counties in Indiana where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).