Because of its central location, excellent transportation infrastructure, and world-class educational institutions, the Illinois economy is healthy, diverse, and vibrant, with a wide range of successful industries. Whether you are engaged in agriculture, finance, manufacturing, technology, or warehousing and distribution, Illinois is a great place to do business.
MANUFACTURING IN ILLINOIS
Located at the industrial and geographic heart of the nation, Illinois is one of the nation's manufacturing leaders. Illinois companies are able to ship and receive finished goods, semi-finished products or resources without high transport fees or costly delays.
- 11,800 manufacturers operate approximately 19,000 manufacturing plants in Illinois.
- Illinois is the nation's 4 th largest industrial state, with Value Added manufacturing reaching $94.1 billion.
- Major Industries concentrated in Illinois include food, chemicals, machinery, fabricated metals, computers/electronic, plastics & rubber, and transportation equipment.
The following Fortune 500 manufactures are located in Illinois:
- Boeing
- Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
- Motorola
- Caterpillar
- Abbot Labs
- Sara Lee
- John Deere & Co.
- Illinois Tool Works
- Baxter International
- Smurfit-Stone Container
- Navistar International
FINANCE
Illinois is a leader in the financial industry. Home to over 2,300 commercial banks, nearly 1,000 savings institutions, over 500 credit unions and more than 2,000 insurance carriers, including approximately 175of the nation's larger insurance carriers, Illinois has the financial strength and diversity to provide the capital resources necessary for industrial and commercial development.
The most prominent of Illinois' over 11,200 financial companies include:
- Bank One
- Northern Trust Corporation
- Household International.
AGRICULTURE
Cash receipts for Illinois' agricultural commodities generate more than $8.3 billion annually. Corn accounts for nearly 40 percent of that total. Marketing of soybeans contributes nearly one-third, with the combined marketing of livestock, dairy and poultry generating about 22 percent. In addition:
- Illinois is home to more than 1,300 food-manufacturing companies.
- Food processing is the state's number-one manufacturing activity, adding almost $14 billion annually to the value of Illinois' raw agricultural commodities.
- Illinois' 73,000 farms cover more than 27.5 million acres -- nearly 76 percent of the state's total land area.
- Illinois is the #1 producer of soybeans in the nation.
- Illinois is the #2 producer of corn in the nation.
- Illinois is the #4 producer of swine in the nation.
- Illinois ranks second nationally in the export of agricultural commodities with nearly $4 billion worth of goods shipped to other countries each year.
- Exports from Illinois account for nearly 7 percent of all U.S. agricultural exports.
- Illinois is the nation's second leading exporter of soybeans, feed grains and related products.
- More than 44 percent of grain produced in Illinois is sold for export.
TECHNOLOGY
Illinois is a top location for high tech industry. With a strong K-12 educational system; affordable, highly regarded colleges and universities; a skilled workforce; available capital; a dynamic business climate; an established technology infrastructure; and favorable quality of life, Illinois offers technology companies a location in which to thrive.
HUMAN CAPITAL
- More than 150,000 scientists and engineers work in the state.
- World-class research universities include the University of Illinois, Northwestern University, and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE
- Illinois is home to 144 university-based research centers and 71 federal research centers.
- Argonne National Laboratory is the leading federal laboratory in the state, focusing on advanced materials, chemicals/energy technology and biotechnology.
- Illinois is also home to:
- Fermi Lab
- The National Center for Supercomputing Applications
- The USDA National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research
- The National Center for Food Safety
- Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute
- The Gas Technology Institute
- 23 non-profit research centers
- Over 440 companies operate R&D facilities in the Chicago area.
- Illinois is home to 6 medical schools and 31 teaching hospitals.
- Over 20,500 Masters Degrees, 4,000 Professional Degrees, and 1,850 Doctoral Degrees are awarded annually in the state.
WAREHOUSING AND DISTRIBUTION
Illinois is a natural location for warehousing and distribution facilities. Located in the center of the nation with excellent transportation infrastructure, Illinois is a cost-effective location for storing and distributing products regionally, nationally and internationally. In fact, nearly 300 of the Fortune 500 companies operate major regional or national distribution centers in Illinois.
With over 3,000 public warehousing facilities, readily available sites or buildings, and a wide array of terminals, freight forwarders and transportation companies, Illinois offers businesses the ability to quickly meet their long- or short-range distribution needs.
- Illinois has over 6,000 trucking companies, including 1,750 specialized freight haulers for all your logistical needs.
- Illinois is the center of the nation's rail network. Two of the country's largest rail gateways are located in Chicago and East St. Louis.
- Two new intermodal facilities in Joliet and Rochelle will be the industry's state-of -the-art terminals. Over 25 trains and 3,000 containers are expected to be expedited daily.
- Over 1,100 miles of navigable waterways connect Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean via the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.
- The Port of Chicago includes terminals for ocean and lake vessels as well as barges. The terminal is also served by four railroads and has direct access to two interstate highways.
- Chicago's O'Hare airport is the second busiest airport in the world with over 69 million passengers per year.
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