The map above is centered on Chicago, United States, near the Loop, with a default 10 mi radius. Drag to move it, search for a different address, or change the radius and unit using the controls.
A 10-mile radius from the Loop reaches O'Hare-area suburbs to the north, Cicero and Berwyn to the west, and the South Side communities including Hyde Park and Bridgeport. Lake Michigan eats the entire eastern half of any radius drawn near downtown, which is a feature of every Chicago map you will ever see. Use the radius below for catchment, comp, and trade-area work; switch to the Drive Time Map for honest commute planning.
Chicago is laid out on a numbered grid centered at State and Madison. Every 8 city blocks equals roughly 1 mile, so a 5-mile radius covers about 40 blocks in every direction — a useful trick when sketching a service area without a tape measure.
Also known as: Chi-town, The Windy City, The Second City.
Real coverage at the most-searched radii, including notable places that fall just outside the circle. Use these as ground truth before relying on a circle for real-estate, retail, or service-area decisions.
A 1-mile radius from State and Madison covers the entire Loop, the Magnificent Mile up to about Chicago Avenue, the West Loop's east edge, and the Near South Side's north edge.
A 5-mile radius covers most of the North Side from Lakeview down through Lincoln Park, the West Loop and Pilsen, and the South Side from Bronzeville through Hyde Park's northern edge.
A 10-mile radius from the Loop reaches Oak Park, Cicero, Berwyn, the inner South Side communities through Chatham, and just covers Midway Airport. Evanston sits a couple of miles past the northern edge.
A 25-mile radius covers nearly all of Cook County and the inner collar counties — O'Hare, Arlington Heights, Wheaton, Gary, Hammond, and the southern Lake County suburbs. Schaumburg and Naperville sit just past the western edge; Joliet and Aurora are well past it.
A 50-mile radius from the Loop reaches the full collar-county ring — Waukegan, Elgin, Aurora, Joliet, Kankakee's northern edge — plus most of Northwest Indiana through Gary and Valparaiso. Almost half the area is over Lake Michigan.
City-specific scenarios where a radius is the right tool — and the typical radius sizes professionals use.
Any retail trade-area study from a near-lake location must remember that Lake Michigan is not customer geography. Always reduce the population estimate to the land area inside the radius — typically 50–60% of the circle when the center is downtown.
Typical radius: 5–10 mi for primary retail trade
Chicago's strict grid (8 blocks = 1 mile) makes radius-to-blocks math easy for delivery and field-service teams. A "5-mile radius" maps to "40 blocks in any direction from State & Madison" — a quote dispatchers can give without looking at a map.
Typical radius: 3–5 mi (city), 10–15 mi (metro)
Metra commuter lines fan out from downtown along ~6 spokes. A 25-mile radius captures most stations on every line. Property and retail decisions inside this ring should always be cross-referenced with rail station proximity, since transit access dominates outer-ring desirability.
Typical radius: 25 mi for the full Metra catchment
A 30-mile radius from downtown crosses into Indiana (Hammond, Gary) and includes Northwest Indiana's consumer market. This region uses Chicago media and shopping but has Indiana taxes — a frequent gotcha for retail tax modeling.
Typical radius: 25–35 mi to capture the IL/IN border markets
Local geography and infrastructure that change how a radius behaves here. Skipping these is the most common reason a radius decision goes sideways.
For radii drawn anywhere within ~5 miles of the lakefront, 40–60% of the circle is over water. Population, retail, and service-area calculations should use a land-only adjustment, not the raw circle area.
Chicago's strict numbered grid means 8 city blocks = 1 mile (north-south) and similar east-west. A 1-mile radius maps to 8 blocks; a 5-mile radius to 40. Few cities make this conversion so easy.
Midway is about 7 miles southwest of the Loop; O'Hare is about 17 miles northwest. A 10-mile radius from downtown captures Midway but misses O'Hare entirely. Service-area pricing for ground transport should account for which airport the customer is actually flying into.
A 5-mile radius from State and Madison covers most of the North Side from Lakeview to Bronzeville on the South Side, plus Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, the West Loop, Pilsen, and Bridgeport. About a third of the circle is over Lake Michigan.
A 10-mile radius reaches Evanston, Oak Park, Cicero, Midway Airport, and most of Chicago's city limits. O'Hare is about 17 miles out — just past the radius. Schaumburg, Naperville, and the outer suburbs are all outside.
Chicago's street grid is numbered and spaced regularly: 8 blocks equal roughly 1 mile, so a 5-mile radius is 40 blocks. State and Madison is the zero point, and addresses count up by 100 per block from there. Few US cities make a radius-to-blocks estimate this clean.
Because the entire eastern half of any radius drawn from downtown is over open water. For trade-area or service-zone math, you must use the land-area inside the circle — typically 50–60% of the raw circle when the center is in the Loop or further north along the lake.
A 25-mile radius captures O'Hare, Schaumburg, Naperville, Wheaton, most of DuPage County, the south suburbs through Joliet's northern edge, and Northwest Indiana out to Hammond. Aurora and Gary are just outside; Waukegan, Rockford, and Milwaukee are well beyond.
No. Milwaukee is about 90 miles north. A 50-mile radius from downtown Chicago does reach the Wisconsin border at Kenosha, plus most of the Chicago collar counties and Northwest Indiana to Valparaiso, but Milwaukee, Madison, and Rockford are all well outside.