THE CHICAGO LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Chicago Lake Plain setting.
Chicago city has 227.7 square miles of land in Cook County, DuPage County. Its Census reference point is in Chicago Lake Plain, within Central Corn Belt Plains.
Glaciated plains historically supported tallgrass prairie mixed with oak and hickory woodland. Dark prairie soils and broad farming landscapes distinguish much of the Central Corn Belt.
Regional context: Central Corn Belt Plains ↗ · Classification at the Census reference point
One place name. 2 county geographies.
Chicago intersects 2 county geographies: Cook County, DuPage County. A Chicago mailing address alone cannot choose the right record office; use the county and parcel identifier on the tax bill or deed.
Chicago by land and water
The Census records 6.79 square miles of water within Chicago, or 2.9% of its total area. It is 1.3 percentage points lower than the 4.1% recorded for Illinois. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Chicago city has 38.8 times the land area of nearby Cicero town (5.87 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.

