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Illinois Physical Map

Illinois is mostly glacial plain — its physical map shows the river systems, not mountains.

Rendered from SRTM 30m elevation data + Natural Earth rivers/lakes + US Census state boundary. Four versions below, all free.

Highest Point

Charles Mound

1,235 ft

Lowest Point

Mississippi River at Cairo

279 ft

Illinois physical map showing the Central Lowlands, the Driftless Area, and the Mississippi/Ohio River valleys, with major peaks and cities labeled. Topographic relief from NASA SRTM elevation data.

Choose your version

Two maps, two versions of each.

The same Illinois terrain as a classroom map and as wall art. All four are free PDFs.

Illinois physical map, labeled: the Central Lowlands, the Driftless Area, and the Mississippi/Ohio River valleys, with the capital, cities and highest point marked
Labeled
Illinois blank physical map: the same terrain with no labels, for labeling practice
Blank
Physical map

Illinois physical map for the classroom

Elevation in color with shaded relief, plus the surrounding states and water for context. The labeled version marks the capital, major cities and the highest point. The blank version leaves them off so students can label the map themselves.

downloadLabeled PDFdownloadBlank PDF
Illinois relief wall art on a dark background
Dark
Illinois relief wall art on a light background
Light
Wall art

Illinois relief wall art

Illinois on its own, with strong shaded relief and no labels. The dark version has the most contrast. The light version uses far less ink on a home printer.

downloadDark PDFdownloadLight PDF

The physical geography of Illinois

Most of Illinois is a flat to gently rolling plain left behind by glaciers. Two corners escaped the ice. The northwest corner is part of the hilly Driftless Area and holds Charles Mound, the highest point. The far south has the rugged Shawnee Hills. Rivers form most of the state’s borders: the Mississippi on the west, the Ohio on the south and the Wabash on the southeast. The Illinois River crosses the middle of the state, and Lake Michigan touches the northeast.

Major rivers

  • Mississippi
  • Illinois
  • Ohio
  • Wabash
  • Rock
  • Kaskaskia

Find it on the map

  • The Illinois River valley cutting diagonally across the state
  • Higher, rougher ground in the northwest corner and the far south
  • The low point where the Ohio meets the Mississippi at the southern tip
verified

Built from real data, not stock images.

Every Illinois physical map on this page was rendered from NASA SRTM 30-meter elevation data, with hydrography from Natural Earth and the shoreline-clipped state outline from the US Census Bureau. Each map is colored over that state’s own elevation range, and the relief shading is exaggerated so gentle terrain still shows.

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Pair with

map

Illinois political map

The blank outline version of Illinois (state borders, no terrain). Useful for political-geography exercises.

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All physical maps

Browse physical maps for every state, plus continents and the world.

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Physical maps of the 5 states that share a border with Illinois.

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The region and the whole country

Map of the Midwest US Regions Map US Physical Map

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