Explore Essex, Illinois, with this interactive street and satellite map.
This page also offers TOPO MAPS — the official USGS topographic sheets — plus USGS aerial imagery, a labelled USNG grid overlay, a distance and bearing tool, and a GPS grid-reference readout. See How to Use This Map below.
This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for Essex, Illinois. Use the Map and Satellite buttons above to switch between street map and aerial imagery views. Use the + and − buttons to zoom in or out, or scroll your mouse wheel while holding the Control key to zoom. On a touchscreen, use a two-finger pinch gesture. Drag the map to pan to any area of Illinois or beyond.
Click ⛶ Fullscreen to expand the map to fill your screen. To return to the normal page view, press the Escape key, click the ✕ Exit Fullscreen button that appears above the map, or on a mobile device tap the back button (Android) or the close icon (iOS).
TOPO MAPS — NEW. Click the green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map to open a second map with a Base map row offering three choices. OSM is the standard OpenStreetMap street map. Topo shows the official USGS topographic maps from The National Map — contours, hydrography, land cover and shaded relief, the same mapping used for hiking, hunting and back-country navigation in the Adirondacks, the Catskills and the Finger Lakes. Imagery shows USGS aerial photography, mostly 1-metre NAIP. The search box finds any US town, county or landmark by name, so you are not limited to Essex.
Reading the map like a paper quad. Click Grid to overlay the U.S. National Grid (USNG), labelled along the edges exactly as a printed topographic sheet is — at normal zoom the squares are one kilometre across, so you can read a six-figure grid reference by eye and judge distance directly off the map. Click Measure, then tap two points, to get the distance between them together with the grid bearing in degrees and mils, the true bearing, and the magnetic bearing to set on a compass.
Click 📍 My position to take a single GPS reading from your device. It marks where you are and reports your position as a USNG grid reference as well as plain latitude and longitude — USNG being the format FEMA and US search and rescue teams work from — with a Copy position button so you can paste it straight into a text message. It takes one reading and stops, rather than tracking continuously, to conserve your battery. Note that map tiles need cell coverage, but a GPS reading does not — your coordinates stay correct even where the map itself cannot load.
| City | Essex |
| State | Illinois (IL) |
| County | Cook County |
| Country | United States of America |
| Timezone | Central Time (America/Chicago) |
| Latitude | 41.183053 |
| Longitude | -88.192367 |
| Population | 841 |
| Density | 139.5 /km² |
| Incorporated | Yes |
| ZIP Codes | 60619, 60649, 60435, 60935 |
| Area Code | 708, 630, 331 |
| County Seat | Chicago |
| School District | Reed Custer Community Unit School District 255U |
Essex exists as a quiet confluence of earth and water, where the flat, expansive horizon of the Midwestern prairie meets the cooling influence of the nearby coast. It lies 2.2 miles south of Hyde Park, IL (from Hyde Park, IL: bearing 175°T), and is situated 6.8 miles south-southeast of Chicago. The landscape around Essex is defined by the proximity of Lake Michigan, whose presence tempers the air and draws the gaze toward the vast, open horizon. To the west, the subtle rise of Stony Island Ridge provides a modest anchor to the otherwise level terrain, while the nearby Calumet River carves a slow, deliberate path through the sediment of the region. Residents often find themselves drawn toward the water’s edge, particularly where the quiet inlets of Yacht Harbor offer a reprieve from the inland heat, and the greenery of Madison serves as a local sanctuary for those seeking the stillness of the open fields.
History in Essex is written in the steady, industrial pulse of a region shaped by its proximity to the great transit corridors of the Midwest. Economic life here has long looked toward the water and the steel-wrought legacy of the surrounding territory, balancing the demands of trade with the slow, seasonal rhythms of the land. Wooded Island stands as a singular point of interest in the near distance, a remnant of a more untamed geography that persists despite the encroachment of modern development. Life in Essex maintains a deliberate, measured pace, characterized by the way the light lingers over the flat fields at dusk, casting a long, golden clarity that seems to sharpen the edges of every house and fence line before the evening settles in.
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This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Essex, Illinois. Coordinates: 41.183053, -88.192367. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.
Detailed location data for Essex includes the ZIP code (60619, 60649, 60435), telephone area code (708, 630, 331), county seat of Cook County (Chicago), and school district assignment (Reed Custer Community Unit School District 255U).
Search Maps opens a second, independent map. It searches OpenStreetMap for any US town, county or landmark by name; offers USGS topographic maps and USGS aerial imagery as base layers; overlays a labelled U.S. National Grid (USNG) so the map can be read like a printed topographic quad; measures distance and grid, true and magnetic bearings between any two points; and takes a single GPS fix reporting your position as a USNG grid reference and as latitude and longitude. Map tiles require cell coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map cannot load.
Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Location data | SimpleMaps US Cities Database; coordinates matched to USGS GNIS definitive data |
| Map layers | Google Maps; © OpenStreetMap contributors; USGS The National Map topographic and aerial imagery (public domain); magnetic declination from NOAA NCEI (World Magnetic Model) |
| Wikipedia validation | Article content matched to USGS GNIS coordinates via Wikipedia geosearch API. |