Chicago finally appears to have climbed its way out of the wreckage of the great subprime mortgage recession, with the city's population again growing, if modestly.

Still, according to newly released federal data, the rate of turnaround is dramatically different in various parts of the city.

The population is booming in the central area and rising on the North and Northwest sides, as well as along the South Side lakefront. But it continues to plummet in gang- and crime-plagued areas on the South Side and, to a lesser degree, on the West Side.

The city center now is growing faster than ever, having gained an estimated 42,423 people from 2010-15. But the population of the non-lakefront South Side is dropping even quicker, falling about 50,000 in the same period. The number of non-Hispanic whites, Asians and people of Hispanic descent is growing, but the number of non-Hispanic blacks is dropping.

The new data come from the 2015 American Community Survey, which is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and was released last week.

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The annual ACS data traditionally are not as accurate as the decennial census but have gained status in recent years. For instance, ACS and census findings for the city's overall population differed by only about 1 percentage point.

According to Ed Zotti, a consultant for the Chicago Central Area Committee who crunched the data for me and has provided tract-by-tract details of his figures, the numbers for the city overall show some good news.

Total city population, per the ACS, has risen about 14,000 to 2,717,534.

Leading that is the central area, defined as neighborhoods generally within 2 miles of City Hall.