The following list includes important people who were born or have lived in or near Chicago.

• Franklin Pierce Adams
• Jane Addams, Awarded Nobel Peace Prize
• Gillian Anderson, Actress
• Nelson Algren, Writer
• John Ashcroft
• Saul Bellow, Awarded Nobel Prize for Literature
• James Belushi, Actor
• John Belushi, Actor
• Bob Bernard, Entrepreneur
• Ray Bradbury, Author
• Gwendolyn Brooks, Poet
• Daniel Burnham, Architect
• Edgar Rice Burroughs, Writer
• Dick Butkus, Pro Football Hall of Famer
• Jane Byrne, Former Mayor
• Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini
• Marvin Camras
• Harry Caray, TV & Radio Broadcaster
• Al Capone, Mobster
• Cedric the Entertainer, comedian and actor
• Anton Cermak, Former Mayor
• The rock group Chicago
• Wesley Clark, Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander & retired four-star general in the U.S. Army
• Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Senator & Former First Lady
• Nat King Cole, Musician
• Natalie Cole, Singer
• Steve Cole, jazz saxophonist
• Billy Corgan, singer
• "Bathhouse" John Coughlin, Former Alderman
• Joan Cusack, Actress
• John Cusack, Actor
• Richard J. Daley, Former Mayor
• Richard M. Daley, Current Mayor
• Miles Davis, musician
• John Dillinger, criminal
• Walt Disney, Founder of The Walt Disney Company
• Mike Ditka, former Bears coach and television analyst
• Stephen Douglas, politician
• Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, early Chicago settler
• Phil Everly, singer
• Chris Farley, actor
• Marshall Field, entrepreneur
• Betty Ford, former First Lady
• Harrison Ford, actor
• Bob Fosse, director
• Ira Glass, NPR broadcaster
• Benny Goodman, musician
• John Goodman, actor
• Steve Goodman, Singer
• George Halas
• Carter Harrison, Sr., former Mayor
• Carter Harrison, Jr., former Mayor
• Ernest Hemingway, writer
• Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, early Chicago developer
• Louis Joliet, Canadian explorer
• Michael Jordan, former NBA player
• R. Kelly, Singer
• Michael "Hinky-Dink" Kenna , former Alderman
• B.B. King, blues musician
• John Kinzie, early Chicago settler
• Gene Krupa, Musician
• Mike "Coach K" Krzyzewski , college basketball coach
• Ann Landers (Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer), columnist
• Marv Levy
• Ramsey Lewis, jazz musician and radio host
• Bernie Mac, comedian and actor
• David Mamet, playwright, poet, screenwriter, director
• Jacques Marquette, missionary
• Joseph Medill, newspaper editor & former Mayor
• Merrill C. Meigs, newspaper publisher
• Bill Murray, actor
• Bob Newhart, actor
• Charles Gilman Norris, author
• Barack Obama, U.S. Senator
• William Butler Ogden, first mayor of Chicago, entrepreneur
• Ruth Page , Ballet dancer
• Potter Palmer, entrepreneur
• Ed Paschke , Artist
• Walter Payton, Pro Football Hall of Famer
• James Petrillo, musician's union head
• George Pullman, entrepreneur, inventor
• Harold Ramis, actor, director
• Mike Royko, columnist
• Jack Ruby, killed Lee Harvey Oswald
• Donald Rumsfeld, current United States Secretary of Defense
• Pat Sajak, host of Wheel of Fortune
• Ryne Sandberg, former Cubs second baseman
• Carl Sandburg, poet
• Horatio Sanz, actor
• Dan Savage, columnist
• Amy Sedaris, actress
• David Sedaris, radio broadcaster & author
• Captain George Streeter
• Louis Sullivan, architect
• Lorado Taft
• Maria Tallchief, Ballet dancer, founder of the Chicago City Ballet
• Studs Terkel, broadcaster, author
• Isiah Thomas, Basketball Hall of Famer
• William Hale Thompson, last Republican mayor of Chicago
• James Tiptree, Jr., author
• Irving Wallace
• Harold Washington, former Mayor
• Muddy Waters, blues musician
• John Wentworth, former mayor and Congressman
• Kanye West, rapper
• Robin Williams, actor
• Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect
• Charles Yerkes, entrepreneur
• Billy Zane, actor
• Florenz Ziegfeld empresario