Chicago Overview

Chicago, third in size in the United States, also ranks amongst the most famed and well-known cities in the world. People from almost any nation or walk of life are sure to find the city’s name familiar, whether through Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, Al Capone and other famous gangland figures, or the many favorable cultural and historical figures associated with the Windy City.

Boasting a population of over eight million people, Chicago represents the financial, industrial, cultural, and commercial backbone of the Midwest. Chicago, a historical railway and highway hub, also operates as a center of air travel, with O’Hare International Airport, the second-busiest center of flight activity in the entire nation.

With its well-known stockyards offering it the title of “hog-butcher to the world,” historically, Chicago was known as an industrial-based, manufacturing city. Though there has been an overall decline in industry, Chicago has maintained large grain mills and elevators, iron and steel-works, chemical, food-processing, meat packing, machinery, and electronic plants. The city is also a strong publishing center, with the Chicago Tribune garnering one of the largest newspaper circulation and readerships figures nationwide.

Not only large population-wise, Chicago is also vast industrially, culturally and geographically. The city proper is over 200 square miles, extending 20 miles along the lakefront (Chicago just to the west of Lake Michigan) and continuing inland far to the west. The greater metropolitan area extends north all the way to the Wisconsin border, and south to the Indiana border and beyond, with an extensive network of industrial and residential suburbs.

Transportation in Chicago depends not only on highways and busy city streets, but also on the celebrated “El”, a system of elevated and underground railcars. These cars form a rectangle in the bustling downtown section of Chicago, giving it the popular appellation “The Loop”.

The city has plenty of entertaining and intriguing features. Professional teams from every major sport have a home in Chicago, with both the Cubs and the White Sox taking the baseball diamond, the Bulls on the hardwood, the Bears on the gridiron, and the Blackhawks on the ice. The city also features celebrated museums such as the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, the gigantic Sears Tower, and a variety of exciting and lively outdoor festivals, both in downtown Grant Park and in almost all of Chicago’s vibrant and distinct neighborhoods.

Overall, Chicago is a veritable wonderland of excitement and opportunity for both those looking to visit one of the indispensable American cities and those looking to find a new home in a friendly yet thriving metropolis.