State bird
Northern cardinal
Sources: Designation & background
Local timeSpringfield ·
U.S. States / Midwest · Card 013
Illinois
The Prairie State
Lincoln Home National Historic Site preserves Abraham Lincoln’s Springfield home and its surrounding neighborhood.
Illinois and its surroundings
● State capital · Gold highlights Illinois.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
At a glance
- Capital
- Springfield
- Postal abbreviation
- IL
- Population
- 12,719,141July 1, 2025 · Census estimate
- Total area
- 149,995 km²57,914 square miles · land and water
- Statehood
- December 3, 1818State number 21
- Region
- Midwest
Sources: Census · population · Census · area
State symbols & traditions
State song
Illinois
Sources: Designation & background
State snack food
Popcorn
Sources: Designation & background
Geography & flag
01
Location
Neighboring states: Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Wisconsin.
02
Landscape & places
Lincoln Home National Historic Site preserves Abraham Lincoln’s Springfield home and its surrounding neighborhood. It helps place a national political figure within the everyday setting of family life, neighbors and a growing Illinois city.
03
Land and water
The total area includes 143,793 km² of land and 6,202 km² of water, according to Census area measurements.
State flag
The state seal on a white field, with Illinois written below.
Sources: Census · geographic reference · Census · area measurements · National Park Service · Lincoln Home
How the landscape works
Lincoln Home National Historic Site uses a neighborhood to explain a national figure’s life. Houses, streets, and nearby buildings provide context that a portrait or a list of offices cannot. Historical geography includes everyday surroundings as well as large landscapes. A small urban site can answer questions about how people lived and how their local experiences connected with national events.
History
Why the Pullman strike spread beyond Chicago
During the economic depression of the 1890s, the Pullman company cut workers’ wages while charges for housing in its company town remained a burden. Workers who built railroad cars had little control over both their jobs and the homes they rented from their employer. Their strike began in May 1894.
The American Railway Union supported them by refusing to handle trains carrying Pullman cars. The boycott spread across the rail network, interrupting transportation and mail service. The federal government obtained an injunction and sent troops; the strike was defeated. Pullman illustrates how a dispute inside one company town became a national struggle over labor organization and federal power.
Read more: Historical source ↗
Why this mattered
The Pullman strike spread because railroad workers outside the company joined a boycott involving Pullman cars. A dispute in one company town could therefore interrupt a national transportation network. The conflict involved wages and company-town conditions, but its effects reached people who had never lived in Pullman. Networks can turn local disputes into national ones.
Key dates
-
Area included in the Northwest Territory
-
Illinois Territory formed
-
Statehood · State number 21
Sources: Congressional Research Service · statehood · U.S. Census Bureau · historical geography · National Park Service
People and place
Indigenous history and communities today
The Peoria Tribe’s history connects peoples of the Illinois country with a present-day government in Oklahoma. State boundaries alone do not explain the connections created by removal and migration.
Continue with Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. This is one starting point, not a complete account of the peoples connected to this land.
Compare
Illinois and Indiana
| Measure | Illinois | Indiana |
|---|---|---|
| Population (2025) | 12,719,141 | 6,973,333 |
| Land area (km²) | 143,793 | 92,789 |
| People per km² of land | 88.5 | 75.2 |
Illinois has more people per square kilometer of land. Population density divides population by land area. It is an average across the whole jurisdiction, not a claim that residents are evenly spread out.
Calculated from the Census population series and land-area measurements used on these pages. Rounded figures; water area is excluded. Explore Indiana.
Economy
Main activities
In 2025, professional and business services was the largest of the broad industry groups compared here by current-dollar output. Other major groups included real estate and rental and leasing, manufacturing, and government and government enterprises.
Total economic output was $1,202.0 billion in current dollars in 2025.
Largest industry groups · 2025
- Professional and business services: 13.5%
- Real estate and rental and leasing: 12.8%
- Manufacturing: 11.0%
- Government and government enterprises: 9.1%
Share of total current-dollar GDP. These figures measure output, not employment.
Sources: BEA · annual GDP by state, SAGDP2
Production, jobs and wages answer different questions
The industry chart measures the value of production. It does not count workers. An industry with a large share of GDP need not employ the most people or pay the highest wages. Employment and wage data would be needed to answer those questions.
Population & economic trends
Population, 2020–2025
Millions of people12.722025 · millions of people
July 1 resident population estimates, using the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 series.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau
View data table
| Year | People |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 12,795,348 |
| 2021 | 12,703,354 |
| 2022 | 12,609,577 |
| 2023 | 12,633,389 |
| 2024 | 12,703,033 |
| 2025 | 12,719,141 |
Real GDP, 2010–2025
Billions of chained 2017 dollars913.682025 · billions of chained 2017 dollars
Real GDP measures economic output adjusted for inflation. The chart uses BEA’s chained 2017 dollars.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
View data table
| Year | Millions of chained 2017 dollars |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 755,391.4 |
| 2011 | 772,225.6 |
| 2012 | 790,723.3 |
| 2013 | 795,435.2 |
| 2014 | 811,490.1 |
| 2015 | 825,424.9 |
| 2016 | 826,404.7 |
| 2017 | 832,826.8 |
| 2018 | 851,517.2 |
| 2019 | 858,018.3 |
| 2020 | 810,693.1 |
| 2021 | 857,114.6 |
| 2022 | 872,907.5 |
| 2023 | 884,965.3 |
| 2024 | 899,125.9 |
| 2025 | 913,681.4 |
Read the trend, then ask what explains it
Illinois’s population decreased by about 0.6% between 2020 and 2025 in this series. That shows the size of the change. The chart alone cannot tell us how much came from births, deaths or migration.
Real GDP adjusts for changes in prices, so it helps compare production over time. Current-dollar GDP includes price changes. Neither measure tells us how income is distributed among residents.
Representation
- Electoral votes
- 192024 & 2028 elections
- Voting U.S. House seats
- 172020 Census allocation
- U.S. Senate seats
- 2
Electoral votes equal the state’s U.S. House seats plus its two U.S. Senate seats. These allocations apply to the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.
Practice
Test your knowledge
Use the explanations and data on this page to answer ten questions. Hints and links to the relevant sections are available throughout.
10 questions about Illinois
Show a hint
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Sources & notes
Narrative and quiz updated 5 October 2026. Statistical data prepared 27 September 2026. Population: Census Bureau Vintage 2025, July 1 estimates for 2020–2025. Real GDP: BEA annual state accounts, SAGDP9, millions of chained 2017 dollars; industry shares: SAGDP2, current dollars. Data downloaded 27 September 2026. Area measurements include land and water.
Sources: Census · population estimates · BEA · state GDP · Census · area measurements · Natural Earth · map data
The capital clock shows current local time. Statistical figures are dated estimates and may be revised.
Updated 29 October 2026. Statistics retain the dated series shown in the charts; these are not live figures. Sources are linked beside each topic.