Central Illinois is a region of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

that consists of the entire central third of the state, divided from north to south. Also known as the ''Heart of Illinois'', it is characterized by small towns and mid-sized cities. Agriculture, particularly corn and

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu a ...

s, as well as educational institutions and manufacturing centers, figure prominently. Major cities include Peoria, Springfield (the state capital), Decatur, Quincy,

Champaign Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

– Urbana, Bloomington-

Normal Normal(s) or The Normal(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Normal'' (2003 film), starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson * ''Normal'' (2007 film), starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, and Andrew Airlie * ''Norma ...

, Galesburg, and Danville.

Geography

Map of Illinois highlighting Central Illinois

Historically

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

, Central Illinois is generally flat and includes Douglas County, the state's flattest. The region also hosts a variety of man-made lakes, including Lake Shelbyville, Lake Springfield, Clinton Lake and Lake Decatur. Major rivers in the region include the

, Middle Fork of the Vermilion,

Kaskaskia The Kaskaskia were one of the indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. They were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation, also called the Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in ...

, Sangamon and

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

rivers.

Protected areas

Central Illinois is home to many protected areas, many related to

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. The

Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site is a reconstruction of the former village of New Salem in Menard County, Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln lived from 1831 to 1837. While in his twenties, the future U.S. President made his living in this v ...

showcases the town where Lincoln started his life as a politician. The

Lincoln Home National Historic Site Lincoln Home National Historic Site preserves the Springfield, Illinois home and related historic district where Abraham Lincoln lived from 1844 to 1861, before becoming the 16th president of the United States. The presidential memorial inclu ...

operated by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

is a national park featuring Lincoln's Springfield home. Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge is a protected area where thousands of

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

and shorebirds live. There are many other state parks and

National Wildlife Refuges National Wildlife Refuge System is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to c ...

in the region.

Climate

The climate of central Illinois is

humid continental A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

and the area experiences all four seasons.

Snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

is common in the winter months and while the counties vary in snowfall rate, most receive about twenty inches of snow annually. With all

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

combined, most counties receive about 38 inches of rain and snow annually.

Severe weather Severe weather is any dangerous meteorological phenomenon with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. Types of severe weather phenomena vary, depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atmos ...

, including

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

es, is common during the spring and summer months. Rare

blizzards A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling b ...

can happen in parts of central Illinois in

winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultur ...

. The weather of central Illinois affects the crop season as well;

droughts A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

can sometimes happen in the summer and fall causing harm to the

and corn crops.

Economy

Central Illinois has a diverse

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

consisting of a variety of industries.

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

is the most significant industry in the region and ranges in scope from family farms to mass-production farms. Most counties in Central Illinois have an agriculture-based economy. The most common crops are

s and corn.

County fair An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which breeding stock is exhibit ...

s and the Illinois State Fair help to promote agriculture in the region and also offer entertainment. The

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

and service industries are also significant.

Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar Inc. (stock symbol CAT) is an American ''Fortune'' 500 corporation and the world's largest construction-equipment manufacturer. In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked number 65 on the ''Fortune'' 500 list and number 238 on the Global ''Fo ...

employs more than 15,000 workers in the region and was formerly headquartered in Peoria. Major insurance provider State Farm Insurance is headquartered in Bloomington. The Illinois government in Springfield is also a major employer of people in the region. Popular tourist sites include the

, the Old State Capitol, and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Military makes up a smaller part of the economy, but was much larger until the closing Chanute Air Force Base in 1993.

Culture

Central Illinois is culturally and demographically similar to a lot of the

Rust Belt The Rust Belt is a region of the United States that experienced industrial decline starting in the 1950s. The U.S. manufacturing sector as a percentage of the U.S. GDP peaked in 1953 and has been in decline since, impacting certain regions an ...

. To the south you have the more conservative Southern Illinois area, while to the north you have the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and h ...

. The area is also at the heart of one the most famous rivalries in American sports, the Cardinals-Cubs rivalry. Sometimes the areas between Springfield, Peoria, and

are jokingly referred to as the

demilitarized zone A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or bounda ...

in regards the

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

, as rooting interests are almost evenly split between the two teams.

Transportation

Transportation in central Illinois is provided by an assortment of

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

railroads Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

, interstate highways,

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

networks and the rivers. Airports with commercial service in the region include Central Illinois Regional Airport (serving Bloomington-Normal), General Wayne Downing Peoria International Airport (serving the Peoria area),

Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport is a civil-military airport in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States, three miles (6 km) northwest of downtown Springfield. It is owned by the Springfield Airport Authority (SAA). The airport is includ ...

in Springfield,

University of Illinois Willard Airport University of Illinois Willard Airport is south of Savoy in Tolono Township, Champaign County, Illinois, United States. It is owned and operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is named for former University of Illinois presid ...

south of Savoy,

Decatur Airport Decatur Airport is a public airport five miles east of Decatur, in Macon County, Illinois, United States. The airport is owned by the Decatur Park District. Airline service is subsidized by the federal government's Essential Air Service progra ...

, and Baldwin Field in Quincy. Multiple

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

lines run through the region with stops in major regional cities. The most common mode of travel is on the many expressways, that cross the region. There are nine interstate highways located in central Illinois, six of which are primary.

Interstates

Education

Colleges

Universities

Trade and specialty schools

References

External links

Commercial website focusing on Central Illinois
{{coord, 40.1, -89.3, display=title Regions of Illinois