• More than 50 percent of North America's industrial economy is within one day's truck delivery from Cook County, Illinois.
• The value of merchandise moving through customs in Cook County, Illinois exceeds $50 billion annually, with foreign-trade zones at O'Hare International Airport and the International Port of Chicago.
• O'Hare International, ranking number one worldwide for passenger traffic, and Midway airports handle 3,200 flight operations daily, with 32 international carriers providing virtually unlimited access to the markets of the world.
• Cook County, Illinois has the world's leading intermodal port, handling 8.8 million containers (versus 3.9 million for Los Angeles and 1.5 million for New York).
• Cook County, Illinois is also home to North America's largest rail hub, with 14 freight lines and 11 trunk lines handling 36,000 outbound rail carloads a day.
• With an unparalleled highway and interstate system, the Chicago metropolitan region handles more than 41,700 outbound truck-loads a day.
• Chicago has more foreign consular offices (61)  than any other U.S. city aside from Washington, D.C. Cook County, Illinois is also home to one million foreign-born residents and 116 foreign media outlets.
• Cook County, Illinois has the second-largest cluster of national trade associations in the United States.
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• The Chicago metropolitan region has a labor force of four million, with an average of 200,000 available workers. Wages are competitive with other major metropolitan areas, and growth in employment has outpaced Los Angeles, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Dallas.
• There are approximately 400,000 students enrolled in 57 institutions of higher learning, including two of the nation's highest-rated schools: University of Chicago and Northwestern University.
• Illinois is home to more than 4,000 advanced-technology firms, including such discovery-based leaders as Abbott Laboratories, Baxter International, Arthur Daniels Midland, and Motorola.
• Chicago metropolitan region companies operate more than 1,000 research facilities.
• Cook County, Illinois has produced 75 Nobel Prize winners.
• An average of 5,500 patents and trademarks are awarded to Chicago-area companies every year; Schaumburg-based Motorola, Inc. is the second-largest U.S. recipient of patents after IBM.
• Cook County, Illinois boasts the world's largest medical district, with 40,000 employees and $5 billion in revenues.
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• The Chicago metropolitan region accounts for about 70 percent of Illinois' business activity, with a GDP of $280 billion, equivalent to the eighteenth-largest country in the world, about the size of Argentina, Belgium, or Switzerland.
• One out of every four manufacturing jobs in Illinois is dependent upon exports, with Illinois exports to foreign markets recently topping $37 billion.
• Illinois ranks third in the number of foreign-owned companies operating in a state, with more than 2,000 firms and 246,000 employees.
• Cook County, Illinois ranks second in the nation as a headquarters for Fortune 500 companies and is a center for manufacturing, wholesale trade, and risk management.
• Ninety-four of the Fortune 100 companies have a presence in the Chicago region.
• Cook County, Illinois has the largest cluster of food-processing and distribution companies in the nation.
• Cook County, Illinois has the third-largest concentration of software companies in the nation.
• Cook County, Illinois is an international financial center and the capital of risk management for its international exchange markets.
• The Chicago metropolitan region accounts for 18 percent of all U.S. machine tool employment, 17 percent of gasket manufacturing, 12 percent of pharmaceutical employment, and 10 percent of periodicals (magazines and journals) employment.
• Cook County, Illinois, home to McCormick Place and the Rosemont Convention Center, is North America's Top Trade Show Destination,  annually hosting more than 1,100 conventions and 140 trade shows.
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• The cost of office and industrial space in Chicago-Cook County can be significantly lower than that in major domestic and overseas markets recently averaging $3.93 per square foot ($42.30 per square meter) net for industrial space, and $22.99 per square foot ($247.46 per square meter) and $15.83 per square foot ($170.39 per square meter) respectively for Class A and B office space, full service gross.
• Many industrial and business parks are located in Cook County's 17 enterprise zones and dozens of Tax Increment Financing districts that offer a wide array of exemptions from sales, real estate, utility, and machinery/equipment sales taxes; property tax reductions; a jobs creation credit; investment tax credit; and low-interest loans.
• Cook County offers property tax incentives for industrial and commercial development and environmental clean-up, providing more than 50 percent off a company's property tax bill for up to 12 years.
• Business development assistance including market research, economic and demographic data, trade show participation, site/facility selection, and qualified referrals  is available.
• Financing assistance is provided for land, facilities, machinery and equipment, research and development, and working capital through business loans, industrial revenue bonds, and infrastructure grants. Job training credits are offered for vocational, on-the-job, and customized training.
• Export and import assistance including market trends, trade leads, and technical assistance is available through Cook County's International Trade Partnership Program and its network of international trade service organizations.
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Personal Income
• state: 3% federal net income
• local: none

Corporate Income
• State 4.8%  net income
• 2.5%  personal property replacement  (large corporations)
• 1.5%  personal property replacement (small corporations, partnerships & trusts)
• Local: no deductions, credits, and exemptions may apply

Sales
  General Merchandise
  • state 6.5%
  • Cook County 0.75%
  • local 0 to 2.25%  (Chicago total is 8.75%)

  Food, Drugs, Medical appliances
  • state 1%
  • local 0 to 1%  (Chicago total is 2%)
  • credits and exemptions may apply

Utilities
  Natural Gas
  • state 5.1%  (includes 0.1% gross revenue tax)
  • natural gas purchased from out-of-state direct brokers is not taxable
  • local 0 to 5%  (Chicago total is 8.24%)

  Electricity
  • state 5.1% (includes 0.1% gross revenue tax)
  • local 0 to 5%
  • discount rates, credits, and exemptions may apply

Unemployment Compensation
  • average 2.5%
  • new employer 3.1%
  • levied on first $9,000.00 paid to each employee

Workers' Compensation
(all rates are per $100 per payment, tax rate depends on occuational risk)
  • clerical (code 8801)  $0.30
  • light manufacturing (code 4484)  $4.52
  • average manufacturing  $6.16

Notes on Illinois Rates
  • Accelerated Cost Recovery  - Illinois corporations paying corporate income tax can use the federal accelerated cost recovery deductions in computing Illinois net corporate income.
  • Replacement Tax Investment Credit - a tax credit of 0.5% under the personal property replacement tax applies to the cost of equipment for manufacturing, mining or retailing.  An extra 0.5% credit is allowed if a firm's employment base has risen by 1% of the previous year.
  • All rates current as of  May, 1999.
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