The CTA calculates ridership by counting the customers who board a transit vehicle (bus or rail).
Addison (Red Line - North Side) station saw the largest increase in ridership with a 645.3 percent rise.
Rail and bus traffic took a serious hit during the pandemic. The Metra, which provides service to many of Chicago's suburbs, saw a 97% decrease in ridership according to the Active Transportation Alliance. According to the Federal Transit Authority, Chicago's public transportation sector received $1.43 billion in bailout funds from the CARES act to combat the decrease in ridership.
However, the CTA claimed ridership had rebounded 56 percent in the first six months of the year. This isn't a return to normal ridership levels, but CTA's president Dorval R. Cart Jr. said weekday ridership has doubled since the initial shutdown.
Rank | Station | Ridership increase from 2020 to 2021 (%) |
---|---|---|
1 | Addison (Red Line - North Side) | 645.3 |
2 | Merchandise Mart | 612.5 |
3 | Grand (Red Line - North Side) | 539.3 |
4 | Southport | 487.4 |
5 | Harrison | 450.4 |
6 | Damen (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 432.3 |
7 | Armitage | 429 |
8 | Noyes | 399.4 |
9 | Morgan | 388.3 |
10 | Grand (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 358.9 |
11 | Washington | 356.4 |
12 | Division | 345.2 |
13 | Fullerton | 335.3 |
14 | California (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 318.7 |
15 | Cermak-Chinatown | 317.2 |
16 | Chicago (Red Line - North Side) | 296.3 |
17 | Chicago (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 294.7 |
18 | Damen (Brown Line) | 292.1 |
19 | Western (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 285 |
19 | Belmont (Red Line - North Side) | 285 |
21 | Quincy/Wells | 280.6 |
22 | Lake | 275 |
23 | State/Lake | 270 |
24 | Logan Square | 264.4 |
25 | Clark/Division | 262.5 |
26 | Washington/Wabash | 260.1 |
27 | Diversey | 259.4 |
27 | Sedgwick | 259.4 |
29 | North/Clybourn | 259.3 |
30 | Paulina | 256.1 |
31 | Clark/Lake | 251.4 |
32 | Addison (Brown Line) | 244.9 |
33 | Francisco | 244.5 |
34 | Irving Park (Brown Line) | 244.4 |
35 | Foster | 243.5 |
36 | Monroe (Red Line - State Street Subway) | 242.3 |
37 | Sheridan | 235.9 |
38 | Monroe (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway) | 232.6 |
39 | LaSalle | 232.5 |
40 | 18th | 223 |
41 | Rockwell | 218.2 |
42 | Racine | 212.6 |
43 | Wellington | 211.9 |
44 | Montrose (Brown Line) | 204.2 |
45 | Clinton (Green Line - Lake Street) | 203.4 |
46 | Washington/Wells | 200.7 |
47 | Chicago (Brown Line) | 196.8 |
48 | Damen (Pink Line) | 192.2 |
49 | Sox-35th | 190.7 |
50 | Oak Park (Green Line - Lake Street) | 187.3 |
51 | Western (Brown Line) | 187.2 |
52 | Argyle | 186.7 |
53 | 35th/Archer | 181.5 |
54 | Pulaski (Orange Line) | 179.2 |
55 | Midway Airport | 178.3 |
56 | O'Hare Airport | 176.4 |
57 | Linden | 172.6 |
58 | Polk | 169.8 |
59 | Belmont (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 169.1 |
60 | Clinton (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 167.6 |
61 | UIC-Halsted | 165.1 |
62 | Jackson (Red Line - State Street Subway) | 161.7 |
63 | LaSalle/Van Buren | 161.3 |
64 | Irving Park (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 159.5 |
65 | Harold Washington Library | 155.7 |
66 | Adams/Wabash | 155.4 |
67 | California (Pink Line) | 152 |
67 | Halsted (Orange Line) | 152 |
69 | Ridgeland | 150.8 |
70 | Kedzie (Brown Line) | 149.3 |
71 | Kedzie (Orange Line) | 148.8 |
72 | Kimball | 147 |
73 | Roosevelt | 145.2 |
74 | Wilson | 143.6 |
75 | Granville | 143.1 |
76 | Thorndale | 139.8 |
77 | Davis | 138.2 |
78 | Ashland (Green Line - Lake Street) | 138.1 |
79 | Loyola | 137.2 |
80 | Harlem (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 133.3 |
81 | Bryn Mawr | 130.7 |
82 | Jackson (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway) | 130.2 |
83 | Dempster | 127 |
84 | Western (Orange Line) | 126.3 |
85 | Main | 125 |
85 | Western (Pink Line) | 125 |
87 | Kedzie (Pink Line) | 124 |
88 | Dempster-Skokie | 118.4 |
89 | 54th/Cermak | 117.1 |
90 | Cermak | 116.5 |
91 | Oak Park (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 115.1 |
92 | Cumberland | 114.4 |
93 | 35-Bronzeville-IIT | 113.9 |
94 | Ashland (Orange Line) | 113 |
95 | Addison (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 111 |
95 | Medical Center | 111 |
97 | Jefferson Park | 107.9 |
98 | Rosemont | 107.7 |
99 | Morse | 104.7 |
100 | Jarvis | 93.3 |
101 | Oakton | 88.9 |
102 | South Boulevard | 82.8 |
103 | Garfield (Green Line - South Elevated) | 79.3 |
104 | Central (Purple Line - Evanston) | 79 |
105 | Western (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 77.2 |
106 | Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 76.7 |
107 | California (Green Line - Lake Street) | 76.6 |
108 | Austin (Green Line - Lake Street) | 76.4 |
109 | Cicero (Pink Line) | 72 |
110 | Central Park | 71.1 |
111 | 51st | 66 |
111 | Harlem (Green Line - Lake Street) | 66 |
113 | Austin (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 64.7 |
114 | Kostner | 64 |
115 | Pulaski (Pink Line) | 63.4 |
116 | East 63rd-Cottage Grove | 58.2 |
117 | Indiana | 57.7 |
118 | 47th (Green Line - South Elevated) | 55.2 |
119 | Garfield (Red Line - Dan Ryan) | 55.1 |
120 | Howard | 54.2 |
121 | 47th (Red Line - Dan Ryan) | 53.2 |
122 | Harlem (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 49.6 |
123 | 43rd | 49.2 |
124 | Conservatory | 48.4 |
125 | Kildare | 47.5 |
126 | 87th | 47.3 |
127 | Halsted (Green Line - Ashland/63rd Branch) | 46 |
127 | Central (Green Line - Lake Street) | 46 |
129 | 69th | 39.7 |
130 | Ashland/63rd | 38.8 |
131 | Kedzie-Homan | 38.7 |
132 | Laramie | 37.7 |
133 | Forest Park | 37.3 |
134 | Pulaski (Green Line - Lake Street) | 36.6 |
135 | Cicero (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 36.4 |
136 | 79th | 35.3 |
137 | Pulaski (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 31.4 |
138 | Cicero (Green Line - Lake Street) | 29.9 |
139 | King Drive | 28.7 |
140 | 95/Dan Ryan | 28.2 |
141 | 63rd | 25.7 |
142 | Kedzie (Green Line - Lake Street) | 24.9 |
143 | Lawrence | 18.4 |