What major companies are headquartered in Chicago

1. The headline names: household brands and financial market anchors

The most visible companies headquartered in Chicago include McDonald’s, a global restaurant chain and by some measures the city’s most valuable listed company ^[1], and CME Group, the mammoth derivatives exchange that anchors Chicago’s financial‑markets identity ^[1]. Mondelez International and Kraft Heinz represent major packaged‑foods headquarters in the city, while Exelon stands out among utilities—each named among Chicago’s largest corporate presences in business and encyclopedic listings ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Fortune 500 scale: how many and what that means

Recent tallies compiled from Fortune and local coverage put roughly 24 corporate headquarters of Fortune 500 firms inside the city limits, contributing to Illinois’s position among the top states for Fortune 500 headquarters ^[3]. Other public summaries and employer rankings confirm Chicago’s concentration: city lists and business data packages enumerate dozens of major employers headquartered in the region, underscoring a diversified corporate base across finance, food, energy and professional services ^{[4] [2]}.

3. Beyond the obvious: industry clusters and notable non‑consumer firms

Chicago’s corporate map is not only fast food and snacks; it includes financial services and banking (Northern Trust and BMO Harris are cited as some of the largest banks headquartered locally), large trading and exchange firms, and utility and energy companies such as Exelon ^[2]. Consulting, real estate services and corporate tech providers — firms like JLL and other professional services — are also part of that roster, reflecting the city’s role as a Midwest business services hub ^[2].

4. Tech, regional offices, and the nuance between “headquartered” and “major presence”

Tech companies maintain significant footprints in Chicago but are often regional offices rather than legal headquarters: Google is expanding its footprint and Salesforce operates a regional headquarters in the Salesforce Tower, while Cisco runs a large office in the Old Post Office — distinctions local tech reporting draws between regional HQs and corporate HQs ^[5]. Built‑in and other tech indexes list many firms that are headquartered in Chicago, especially mid‑sized and fast‑growing tech and services companies, but national tech giants frequently use Chicago as a major hub rather than their corporate domicile ^{[6] [5]}.

5. Turnover, suburbs, and limits of public lists

Chicago’s list of headquarters has shifted since 2020: some large corporations relocated or restructured and a number of significant companies operate major regional centers in the suburbs rather than inside city limits — Wikipedia and local economic analyses note headquarter moves and the presence of large firms in nearby suburbs ^{[2] [7]}. Public lists vary in scope and cutoffs (market cap, employee count, Fortune placement), so while sources converge on many of the same marquee names — McDonald’s, CME Group, Mondelez, Kraft Heinz, Exelon and others — they also reflect methodological differences and the fact that some major employers headquartered in the broader Chicago metro are outside the city proper ^{[1] [2] [7]}.

6. What to watch next: headquarters count and corporate policy

State and local reporting flagged that Illinois retained a strong Fortune 500 presence in recent years, a political flashpoint used by both proponents and critics of Illinois tax and regulatory policy ^[3]. Corporate decisions about headquarters — whether to stay, relocate, or designate regional HQs — will continue to reflect national economic forces, local incentives, and industry consolidation, and those trends will determine which major names continue to call Chicago home ^{[3] [2]}.