Humboldt Park is located on the northwest side of Chicago.  The name may be used to describe the area as a community or the actual 207 acre (0.8 km²) park itself. The neighborhood has a diverse population and is home to a high concentration of Puerto Ricans.

In conventional use, the neighborhood's borders include Western Avenue to the east, Pulaski Road to the west, Armitage Avenue to the North and Chicago Avenue to the south. The Humboldt Park Community Area, which many statistics about the area refer to, is west of that area; its borders are the Belt Railway on the west, just east of Cicero Avenue; the Union Pacific tracks to the south, along Kinzie Street; Bloomingdale Avenue on the north; and Humboldt Boulevard, Humboldt Park, and Sacramento Boulevard on the east. The railyards southeast of Grand and Sacramento are also part of the Community Area.

The creation of Humboldt and several other west side parks provided beauty, linked together via Chicago's historic boulevard system. The park is flanked by large graystone homes.  Most of the neighborhood was annexed into the city in 1869, the year the park was laid out.

Many new single-family homes have replaced the older multi-dwelling units there.