Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA

Chicago is the largest city in Illinois and the county seat of Cook County, situated in northeastern Illinois along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. It serves as the principal city of the Chicago metropolitan area, one of North America’s largest urban regions, and occupies a strategic location at the historic divide between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds. The city is traversed by the Chicago and Calumet rivers and bordered by more than 26 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, featuring extensive beaches, harbors and parkland. Chicago is a global center for finance, transportation, manufacturing, technology, higher education, healthcare and culture, with O’Hare International Airport, Midway International Airport, and one of the nation’s busiest rail and interstate networks reinforcing its role as a major transportation hub. The city covers approximately 227.7 square miles of land and had 2,746,388 residents at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in the United States.