Illinois Fun Facts
Information About Illinois, Illinois Geography, and Illinois Schools

People who live in Illinois are called as Illinoisan, and the state ranks number five on the population chart. Illinois’ state capital is Springfield and the largest city in Illinois is Chicago.

Illinois is known as the “ Prairie State.” Illinois’ state song is "Illinois."

Illinois' state flower is the Illinois Native and the state tree is White Oak. The state bird is the cardinal, named because of their bright red color, similar to Catholic cardinals who dress in bright red robes. The cardinal is also the state bird of West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Indiana.

Illinois is surrounded by Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and Oklahoma. To the top right of Illinois lies Lake Michigan.

The main industries of Illinois include lumber, mining, cattle and agriculture such as corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, barley, rye, sorghum.

There were 1,973,040 K12 students in the Illinois public schools in 1996. Out of those students 162,304 were first grade students. There were also 116,274 K12 public school teachers in the Illinois public schools system. There were a total of 4,185 Illinois public schools in 1996. (Source: IES National Center for Education Statistics)