Burke has been a principal draftsman of the map of ward boundaries. When Burke started his political career, the 14th Ward that he represents was centered in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, more than a mile and a half east of where it is now. The 14th Ward is a gerrymandered area whose shape has been described as "like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle". With each new ward map, drawn every 10 years, its boundaries have been moved farther west. As of 2010, its boundaries extended from 39th Street south to 59th and from Western Avenue west to Cicero Avenue, including most of the Brighton Park, Gage Park and Archer Heights neighborhoods. The ethnic composition of the ward has changed dramatically during Burke's tenure in office. As of 1968, residents were predominantly of Polish or other Eastern European extraction, but by 2010 it had a large Mexican and Mexican-American population.