Illinois map

Where Illinois is

Illinois lies in the central Midwest between the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan. It measures about 390 miles north to south and 210 miles east to west. Wisconsin is to the north, Lake Michigan and Indiana to the east, Kentucky to the southeast across the Ohio River, and Missouri and Iowa to the west across the Mississippi. Chicago and its suburbs occupy the northeast corner on the lakeshore and hold about two-thirds of the population. Springfield is in the centre of the state; the southern tip at Cairo, where the Ohio meets the Mississippi, is farther south than Richmond, Virginia.

Major cities

Geography

• Charles Mound — 1,235 feet, the highest point, in the unglaciated Driftless hills of the far northwest near Galena.
• Mississippi River — the entire western border, about 580 miles from the Wisconsin line to Cairo. See the Mississippi River map.
• Ohio River — the southern border with Kentucky; its confluence with the Mississippi at Cairo, 279 feet, is the lowest point in the state. See the Ohio River map.
• Illinois River — flows 270 miles from near Chicago south-west past Peoria to the Mississippi; the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal links it to Lake Michigan.
• Lake Michigan — about 63 miles of shoreline from the Wisconsin line to Indiana. See the Great Lakes map.
• Prairie — flat glacial plains cover most of the state; the Shawnee Hills across the south are the only sizeable upland.

Borders

Illinois has more river border than almost any state. The Mississippi separates it from Iowa and Missouri, the Ohio from Kentucky, and the Wabash from Indiana for the southern 200 miles of that line. Two borders are surveyed: the Wisconsin line along 42°30′N, moved north from the Ordinance line of 1787 so the new state would include the site of Chicago and a Lake Michigan shore, and the northern half of the Indiana line, a meridian from Vincennes north to the lake. The Ohio River border sits on the northern low-water mark, so the river itself belongs to Kentucky.

Regions of Illinois

Chicagoland (Cook and the collar counties), Northern Illinois (Rockford, the Quad Cities on the Mississippi, the Driftless corner), Central Illinois (Springfield, Peoria, Bloomington-Normal, Champaign-Urbana, Decatur), the Metro East across from St. Louis, and Southern Illinois or Little Egypt (Carbondale, the Shawnee Hills, Cairo).

Related maps

• Illinois county map — all 102 counties with seats.
• Blank Illinois map — outline for printing.
• Printable Illinois map.
• Springfield — the capital since 1839, home of Abraham Lincoln.
• Neighbors: Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Michigan (across Lake Michigan).
• Region: Midwest · East North Central · Great Lakes.
• Time zone: Central.
• Geography: Mississippi River, Ohio River, Great Lakes.