Natural Gas Outages in Chicago, Illinois

Natural gas use in Chicago

Gas is the main way Chicago heats its homes: 77.5% of households use utility gas, well above the 46.5% national share, so a gas outage here quickly becomes a heating outage.

• Homes heated with utility gas: 77.5% of 1,160,205 households in Chicago (about 899,664 homes), against 75.3% across Illinois and 46.5% nationally. Electricity heats 18% of homes here, and bottled or propane gas 1.7%. Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 (table B25040)
• Age of the housing: the median home in Chicago was built in 1953; 58.1% of housing units date from before 1960 and 6.3% from 2010 or later (Illinois: 37.8% before 1960). Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 (tables B25034, B25035)
• Illinois residential gas price, 2025: $11.25 per thousand cubic feet, against $15.34 nationally; up 41.7% since 2020. Source: EIA, residential natural gas prices by state
• Illinois residential gas customers, 2024: 4,002,563, up 3.4% from 3,870,670 in 2014. Source: EIA, residential natural gas consumers by state
• Cook County winter weather since 2015: 73 cold-season storm episodes (winter weather 77, winter storm 30, cold/wind chill 25), most often in January. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• July 24, 2025 (thunderstorm wind): “Power lines were blown down next to a gas station on Ogden Avenue, causing two main gas lines to ignite.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• November 15, 2020 (high wind): “A large tree limb fell in the 3000 block of East Cheltenham Place, striking a gas meter and multiple cars.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database

Checked September 2026.