[1] Despite this relatively recent term, some older native Southlanders and current local advertisements colloquially refer to the Southland as the Southside, meaning on the southern side/border of Chicago as extended into the suburbs since some of them previously lived on Chicago's Southside but moved to the suburbs during post WWII white flight.

[citation needed] The southland is home to much of the region's Black suburban population, with the overwhelming majority residing along Interstate 57, east to the Bishop Ford Expressway and the Indiana state border.

[2] The south suburbs are also home to the highest black homeownership rates in the country, with five of its communities ranked in the top ten in 2018.

[3] The region is also home to a high Polish, Lithuanian, Palestinian, Irish, Dutch, German, and Mexican population.

As late as 2014, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn expressed intention to continue with the project, despite slowdown from the FAA.