Chicago

Chicago
City
Chicago Loop Chicago River Navy Pier Chicago "L" train Wrigley Field Art Institute of Chicago Buckingham Fountain
Flag Seal Logo
Etymology: Miami-Illinois: shikaakwa ('wild onion' or 'wild garlic')
Nickname:  Full list
Motto(s):  Latin: Urbs in Horto (City in a Garden); I Will
Interactive map of Chicago
Chicago Show map of Illinois Chicago Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 41°52′55″N 87°37′40″W / 41.88194°N 87.62778°W / 41.88194; -87.62778[1]
Country	United States
State	Illinois
Counties	Cook and DuPage
Settled	c. 1780; 244 years ago (1780)
Incorporated (town)	August 12, 1833; 191 years ago (1833-08-12)
Incorporated (city)	March 4, 1837; 187 years ago (1837-03-04)
Founded by	Jean Baptiste Point du Sable
Government
• Type	Mayor–council
• Body	Chicago City Council
• Mayor	Brandon Johnson (D)
• City Clerk	Anna Valencia (D)
• City Treasurer	Melissa Conyears-Ervin (D)
Area [2]
• City	234.53 sq mi (607.44 km2)
• Land	227.73 sq mi (589.82 km2)
• Water	6.80 sq mi (17.62 km2)
Elevation [1] (mean)	597.18 ft (182.02 m)
Highest elevation – near Blue Island	672 ft (205 m)
Lowest elevation – at Lake Michigan	578 ft (176 m)
Population  (2020)[3]
• City	2,746,388
• Estimate  (2022)[3]	2,665,039
• Rank	5th in North America 3rd in the United States 1st in Illinois
• Density	12,059.84/sq mi (4,656.33/km2)
• Urban [4]	8,671,746 (US: 3rd)
• Urban density	3,709.2/sq mi (1,432.1/km2)
• Metro [5]	9,618,502 (US: 3rd)
Demonym	Chicagoan
Time zone	UTC−06:00 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−05:00 (CDT)
ZIP Code prefixes	606xx, 607xx, 608xx
Area codes	312, 773, 872
FIPS code	17-14000
GNIS feature ID	0428803
Website	chicago.gov

Chicago is a city in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is the third largest city in the United States. As of 2020, the population is 2,746,388.^[3] It is the city with the largest population in the Midwestern United States. Chicago is the main city of the Chicago metropolitan area, or Chicagoland. The Chicago metropolitan area has 10 million people, the third largest population in the United States.

Chicago is by Lake Michigan. Chicago became a city in 1837 and is in between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. It grew quickly in the mid-19th century.^[6] The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed many square miles and made more than 100,000 people homeless. Major efforts were made to rebuild it.^[7] Chicago's population grew when more construction jobs came. By 1900, Chicago was the fifth-largest city in the world.^[8] Chicago is known for its urban planning and zoning standards, for example, new construction styles from the Chicago School of architecture, the development of the City Beautiful Movement, and the steel-framed skyscraper.^[9][10] Chicago built the first skyscraper in the world in 1885, the Home Insurance Building.

Chicago is a center for finance, culture, trade, industry, education, technology, telecommunications, and transportation. It is one of the largest markets of the world. The O'Hare International Airport is the fifth or sixth busiest airport in the world and first or second in the United States.^[11] The region has the largest number of federal highways. It has many railroads too.^[12] Globalization and World Cities Research Network lists Chicago as an alpha global city.^[13] The Global Cities Index ranked Chicago seventh in the world in 2017.^[14] The Chicago area generated $689 billion in 2018.^[15] It has a very diverse and balanced economy.^[16] Chicago is home to several Fortune 500 companies, including Allstate, Boeing, Exelon, Kraft Heinz, McDonald's, Mondelez International, Sears, United Airlines Holdings, and Walgreens.

58 million people visited Chicago in 2018. It was the second most visited city in the United States. New York City had 65 million visitors in 2018.^[17][18] Chicago had first place in the 2018 Time Out City Life Index. This index was a survey about the quality of life in different areas. 15,000 people in 32 cities did the survey.^{[19][20][21][22]}

Some landmarks in the city are Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis (Sears) Tower, Grant Park, Chicago Riverwalk, the Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. There are many universities and colleges, for example University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Chicago has professional sports teams in the major professional leagues, and two are Major League Baseball teams.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "City of Chicago". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
2. ↑ "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on March 15, 2022. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} "QuickFacts: Chicago city, Illinois". census.gov. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
4. ↑ "List of 2020 Census Urban Areas". census.gov. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
5. ↑ "2020 Population and Housing State Data". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on August 24, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
6. ↑ Janice L. Reiff; Ann Durkin Keating; James R. Grossman, eds. (2005). "Metropolitan Growth". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
7. ↑ "Urban Infernos Throughout History". History. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
8. ↑ "Largest Cities Throughout History". ThoughtCo. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
9. ↑ "Skyscrapers". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
10. ↑ Glancey, Jonathan. "The city that changed architecture forever". BBC. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
11. ↑ "2017 Passenger Summary - Annual Traffic Data - ACI World". Archived from the original on May 29, 2020. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
12. ↑ Rodriguez, Alex (January 26, 2014). "Chicago takes on the world". Chicago Tribune.
13. ↑ "The World According to GaWC 2012". Globalization and World Cities Research Network. January 13, 2014. Archived from the original on March 20, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
14. ↑ "2017 Global Cities Index". A.T. Kearney. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
15. ↑ "CAGDP2 Gross domestic product (GDP) by county and metropolitan area". Bureau of Economic Analysis. December 12, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
16. ↑ "Chicago Economy". World Business Chicago. Archived from the original on February 12, 2017. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
17. ↑ Rackl, Lori. "Chicago sets new tourism record with nearly 58 million visitors in 2018 — and the mayor is thrilled". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
18. ↑ "Chicago's tourism hot streak continues". Crain's Chicago Business. January 11, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
19. ↑ Gabriel Martin, James (January 31, 2018). "Chicago revealed as the world's number one city for having fun and enjoying life". Lonely Planet. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
20. ↑ Millington, Alison (April 25, 2018). "The 32 most fun, friendly, and affordable cities in the world". Business Insider. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
21. ↑ "Chicago named world's best city by Time Out, ahead of London, New York and Melbourne". News Corp Australia Network. January 31, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
22. ↑ Olsen, Morgan (January 29, 2018). "Chicago named the world's best city for having it all". Time Out. Retrieved May 2, 2018.