
What are 5 major industries in Illinois?
Top Industries In IllinoisBusiness Services. ... Advanced Manufacturing. ... Education. ... Agriculture. ... Energy. ... Biotechnology. ... Sports.
What is Illinois main source of income?
Illinois's combined state and local general revenues were $128.4 billion in FY 2019, or $10,138 per capita. National per capita general revenues were $10,563. Illinois uses all major state and local taxes. Illinois's largest sources of per capita revenue were property taxes ($2,339) and federal transfers ($1,886).
What is Illinois known for making?
Illinois is a leading producer of soybeans, corn and swine. The state's climate and varied soil types enable farmers to grow and raise many other agricultural commodities, including cattle, wheat, oats, sorghum, hay, sheep, poultry, fruits and vegetables.
What industry was Chicago known best for?
For many reasons, the city is top of the list in the manufacturing of food, metals, and plastics. Manufacturing is one of the top industries in Chicago right now not only because of its central location, but also because of the opportunities the city provides.
What is the most common job in Illinois?
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For anybody who spends just a few moments traveling the expressways around Chicago, it should come as no surprise that the most common job in Illinois, and the nation for that matter, is: truck driver.
What drives Illinois economy?
Agriculture. Most of the state of Illinois lies outside the Chicago metropolitan area and inside the North American Corn Belt. Corn, soybeans, and other large-field crops are grown extensively. These crops and their products account for much of the state's economic output outside Chicago.
Why is Illinois so famous?
Illinois is known for Chicago, the country's third largest city, but also the Mississippi River, and the start of Route 66. It is famous for the highest skyscraper, tall and famous people like Walt Disney, and Abraham Lincoln. When travelers think of Illinois, Chicago is usually the first thing that comes to mind.
What industry was Chicago known for in the 1800s?
The manufacture of electrical and communications goods made Chicago the Silicon Valley of its day. While its traditional trading function did not disappear, the city was also transformed into the national epicenter of the commodities trading and mail-order industries.
Was Chicago an industrial city?
The largest city of the American Midwest, Chicago, Illinois, was founded in 1830 and quickly grew to become, as Carl Sandburg's 1916 poem put it, “Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.” Established as a water transit hub, the city evolved into an industrial ...
What was Chicago known for in the 1920s?
Chicago, the city that arguably defined the Jazz Age, Prohibition, gangster wars, flappers and boom times, thrived and survived the '20s.
What are three sources of revenue in Illinois?
Revenues come mainly from tax collections, licensing fees, federal aid, and returns on investments. Expenditures generally include spending on government salaries, infrastructure, education, public pensions, public assistance, corrections, Medicaid, and transportation.
How does Chicago make its money?
Manufacturing, printing, publishing, insurance, transportation, financial trading & services, and food processing also play major roles in the city's economy.
What is Illinois' food?
Illinois feeds the world, with its 75,000 farms covering nearly 76 percent of the state’s total land area to produce commodities like soybeans, corns, hogs, beef cattle and dairy products. The state’s farms also make it a leader in biofuels, including ethanol and soybean-based biodiesel. In total, the agricultural output is more than $20 billion annually, with corn accounting for nearly 40 percent of that total. Meanwhile, some of the world’s most well-known food producers are in Illinois, including Archer Daniels Midland, Cadbury Adams, Del Monte, General Mills, Heinz Kraft and Sara Lee.
What is Illinois biotechnology?
With a long history of technological breakthroughs in chemistry and physics, Illinois is a breeder reactor of advancement in medicines, medical devices, nutritional products, alternative fuels and environmental solutions. The overall economic output of the biotechnology industry in Illinois is nearly $100 billion, and powerhouse life sciences companies include Abbott Laboratories, Astellas, Baxter Healthcare and Hospira.
What sports teams are in Chicago?
The Windy City is well represented by the Cubs and White Sox in Major League Baseball, the Bulls in the NBA, the NFL’s Bears and the Blackhawks of the NHL, and the sports industry pours billions of dollars into the state’s economic coffers each year. Also contributing in big ways to the economy are multiple college sporting events as well as annual NASCAR races at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet.
What are the major industries in Illinois?
The top industries in Illinois that significantly benefit the economy include services, manufacturing, exports, agriculture, and mining.
What industries contribute to the Illinois economy?
Leading the way are the community, business, and personal services sectors . Hotels, law firms, accounting firms, engineering powerhouses, and private health-care providers generate a majority of the dollar share in Illinois’ economy. Following closely behind the heels of these industries are Illinois’ finance, insurance, and real estate conglomerates, Netstate.com said. Thirdly, wholesale and retail industries pull in a lot of cash from shoppers in places such as car dealerships, department stores, and supermarkets.
What are the resources found in the Illinois Basin?
Rocks found in the Illinois Basin are a rich source of coal, petroleum and minerals. With coal being the primary product, petroleum, crushed stone, sand and gravel also contribute to the Illinois economy. More than 8 billion tons of coal has been mined out of southern Illinois, primarily in the Harrisburg Coal Field.
What are the top 5 industries exported from Illinois?
The top 5 industries exported out of Illinois are machinery, computers, chemicals, transportation equipment and agricultural goods. Agriculture.
How much money did Illinois export in 2010?
In 2010 alone, the amount of goods being exported out of Illinois totaled over $50 billion, an Illinois government website said. Illinois ranks as the 6th largest state for exporting in the United States. Exports also provide the state thousands of jobs to its residents.
What is the second largest manufacturing industry in Illinois?
The second largest manufacturing industry is the processed foods sector. Primary food products being created in Illinois include baked goods, breakfast cereals, candy, sausage, and spices. Chemical manufacturing makes up the remainder with the production of pharmaceuticals, cleaning solutions, and paint, for example.
How many farms are there in Illinois?
The state of Illinois houses more than 74,600 farms at 357 acres each. Almost 90% of this land is used to raise crops, and about 1,500 different types of fertile soil exist in the state. Top agricultural products raised on these farms are corn, soybeans, wheat, pork and cattle.
How much of Illinois' economy is manufacturing?
Manufacturing in Illinois accounts for 14% of the state's total output and generates $101 billion in economic activity. Illinois's manufacturing sector grew out of its agricultural production. A key piece of infrastructure for several generations was the Union Stock Yards of Chicago, which from 1865 until 1971 penned and slaughtered millions of cattle and hogs into standardized cuts of beef and pork .
What is the economy of Illinois?
The economy of Illinois is the fifth largest by GDP in the United States and one of the most diversified economies in the world.
What is the manufacturing hub of Illinois?
The centralized location of Illinois made it a key manufacturing hub, especially for farm machinery and specialty motor vehicles. Smaller Cities like Aurora, Peoria, Decatur, Rockford and other cities became major manufacturing centers in the 20th century. In downstate Illinois, the John Deere Company became one of the world's largest makers of farm machinery, and Caterpillar achieved similar dominance in its diversified line of off-road vehicles.
What law prohibited child labor in Illinois?
In 1893 Illinois manufacturers formed the Illinois Manufacturers' Association in opposition to the Sweatshop Law of 1893 that prohibited child labor and mandated an eight-hour workday. Governor Peter Altgeld had made Florence Kelley the Chief Factory Inspector for the state of Illinois.
What is the Illinois flash index?
The Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign publishes a "flash-index" that aims to measure expected economic growth in Illinois. The indicators used are corporate earnings, consumer spending and personal income.
How many tourists visited Illinois in 2018?
In 2018, Illinois set a new tourism record with 117 million tourists which represented a 3 million person increase from the previous year. Visitors spent nearly $42 billion in spending the same year.
What is the unemployment rate in Illinois in 2020?
Unemployment. 3.4% (Feb. 2020) Public finances. Revenues. $29.762 billion. Expenses. $19.831 billion. The economy of Illinois is the fifth largest by GDP in the United States and one of the most diversified economies in the world. Fueled by the economy of Chicago, the Chicago metropolitan area is home to many of the United States' largest ...
Map of Industries by County in Illinois
Percentage of the population aged 16 and older employed in industry: agriculture (agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting) (%):
Industries by Place in Illinois
There are 1,368 places in Illinois. This section compares the 50 most populous of those to each other, Illinois, and other entities that contain or substantially overlap with Illinois. The least populous of the compared places has a population of 37,567.

Business Services
Advanced Manufacturing
- Made in Illinois: Illinois has a long industrial heritage and has evolved into an advanced, technology-driven enterprise with significant clusters in advanced materials, machine and metal parts fabrication, aerospace and pharmaceuticals. Nearly one-half of the state’s 5.6 million workers are professionals, skilled technicians, craftspeople or machi...
Education
- Smart people work here. Illinois is a magnet for attracting the best minds, and its educational attainment rates are higher than the national average. The state features two Top 25 engineering schools – University of Illinois and Northwestern University – and other top-flight higher education institutions include the University of Chicago, Loyola, DePaul, Illinois State, Northern Illinois and …
Agriculture
- Illinois feeds the world, with its 75,000 farms covering nearly 76 percent of the state’s total land area to produce commodities like soybeans, corns, hogs, beef cattle and dairy products. The state’s farms also make it a leader in biofuels, including ethanol and soybean-based biodiesel. In total, the agricultural output is more than $20 billion annually, with corn accounting for nearly 40 …
Energy
- Illinois is experiencing a power surge as an innovator in clean energy technology, which includes emerging as a leader in advanced battery technology and storage thanks in large part to the presence of two major federal laboratories – Fermi and Argonne. Meanwhile, most coal produced in Illinois is exported to other states and countries, and the state is the largest refiner of petroleu…
Biotechnology
- With a long history of technological breakthroughs in chemistry and physics, Illinois is a breeder reactor of advancement in medicines, medical devices, nutritional products, alternative fuels and environmental solutions. The overall economic output of the biotechnology industry in Illinois is nearly $100 billion, and powerhouse life sciences companies include Abbott Laboratories, Astell…
Sports
- Most residents of Illinois root for all the Chicago professional sports teams, although many fans in southern Illinois also pull for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Windy City is well represented by the Cubs and White Sox in Major League Baseball, the Bulls in the NBA, the NFL’s Bears and the Blackhawks of the NHL, and the sports industry pours billions of dollars into the state’s economi…