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Illinois
State
Flag Seal
Nickname(s):  Land of Lincoln, Prairie State, The Inland Empire State
Motto(s):  State Sovereignty, National Union
Anthem: “Illinois”
Map of the United States with Illinois highlighted
Country	United States
Before statehood	Illinois Territory
Admitted to the Union	December 3, 1818 (21st)
Capital	Springfield
Largest city	Chicago
Largest county or equivalent	Cook
Largest metro and urban areas	Chicagoland
Government
• Governor	J. B. Pritzker (D)
• Lieutenant governor	Juliana Stratton (D)
Legislature	General Assembly
• Upper house	Illinois Senate
• Lower house	Illinois House of Representatives
Judiciary	Supreme Court of Illinois
U.S. senators	Dick Durbin (D) Tammy Duckworth (D)
U.S. House delegation	14 Democrats 3 Republicans (list)
Area
• Total	57,915 sq mi (149,997 km)
• Land	55,593 sq mi (143,969 km)
• Water	2,320 sq mi (5,981 km)  3.99%
• Rank	25th
Dimensions
• Length	390 mi (628 km)
• Width	210 mi (338 km)
Elevation	600 ft (180 m)
Highest elevation (Charles Mound)	1,235 ft (376.4 m)
Lowest elevation (Confluence of Mississippi River and Ohio River)	280 ft (85 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	12,812,508
• Rank	6th
• Density	232/sq mi (89.4/km)
• Rank	12th
• Median household income	$65,030
• Income rank	17th
Demonyms	Illinoisan
Language
• Official language	English
• Spoken language	English (80.8%) Spanish (14.9%) Other (5.1%)
Time zone	UTC−06:00 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−05:00 (CDT)
USPS abbreviation	IL
ISO 3166 code	US-IL
Traditional abbreviation	Ill.
Latitude	36° 58′ N to 42° 30′ N
Longitude	87° 30′ W to 91° 31′ W
Website	illinois.gov

State symbols of Illinois

List of state symbols
Flag of Illinois
Seal of Illinois
Slogan	“Land of Lincoln”
Living insignia
Amphibian	Eastern tiger salamander
Bird	Northern cardinal
Butterfly	Monarch butterfly
Fish	Bluegill
Flower	Violet
Grass	Big bluestem
Mammal	White-tailed deer
Mushroom	Giant puffball
Reptile	Painted turtle
Tree	White oak
Inanimate insignia
Dance	Square dance
Food	Gold Rush Apple, popcorn
Fossil	Tully monster
Mineral	Fluorite
Rock	Dolomite
Soil	Drummer silty clay loam
State route marker
State quarter
Released in 2003
Lists of United States state symbols

Illinois ( IL-in-OY) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the state of Wisconsin to its north, Iowa to its northwest, Missouri to its southwest, Kentucky to its south, Indiana to its east, and has a water border with Michigan to the northeast in Lake Michigan. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has the fifth-largest gross domestic product (GDP), the sixth-largest population, and the 25th-most land area. Its capital city is Springfield in the center of the state, and the state’s largest city is Chicago in the northeast.

Present-day Illinois was inhabited by Indigenous cultures for thousands of years. The French were the first Europeans to arrive, settling near the Mississippi and Illinois River in the 17th century Illinois Country, as part of their sprawling colony of New France. A century later, the revolutionary Illinois campaign prefigured American involvement in the region. Following U.S. independence in 1783, which made the Mississippi River the national boundary, American settlers began arriving from Kentucky via the Ohio River. Illinois was soon part of the United States’ oldest territory, the Northwest Territory, and in 1818 it achieved statehood. The Erie Canal brought increased commercial activity in the Great Lakes, and the invention of the self-scouring steel plow by Illinoisan John Deere turned the state’s rich prairie into some of the world’s most productive and valuable farmland, attracting immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. In the mid-19th century, the Illinois and Michigan Canal and a sprawling railroad network facilitated trade, commerce, and settlement, making the state a transportation hub for the nation. By 1900, the growth of industrial jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. Illinois became one of America’s most industrialized states and remains a major manufacturing center. The Great Migration from the South established a large Black community, particularly in Chicago, which became a leading cultural, economic, and population center; its metropolitan area, informally referred to as Chicagoland, holds about 65% of the state’s 12.8 million residents.

Two World Heritage Sites are in Illinois, the ancient Cahokia Mounds, and part of the Wright architecture site. Major centers of learning include the University of Chicago, University of Illinois, and Northwestern University. A wide variety of protected areas seek to conserve Illinois’ natural and cultural resources. Three U.S. presidents have been elected while residents of Illinois: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Barack Obama; additionally, Ronald Reagan was born and raised in the state. Illinois honors Lincoln with its official state slogan Land of Lincoln. The state is the site of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield and the future home of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

Illinois has a highly diverse economy, with the global city of Chicago in the northeast, major industrial and agricultural hubs in the north and center, and natural resources such as coal, timber, and petroleum in the south. Owing to its central location and favorable geography, the state is a major transportation hub: the Port of Chicago has access to the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway and to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River via the Illinois Waterway. Chicago has been the nation’s railroad hub since the 1860s, and its O’Hare International Airport has been among the world’s busiest airports for decades. Illinois has long been considered a microcosm of the United States and a bellwether in American culture, exemplified by the phrase Will it play in Peoria?.