Illinois cell towers at a glance
The FCC records list 5,009 cell towers and other antenna sites in Illinois: every registered antenna structure that is built and still standing, plus the licensed cellular transmitter sites too short to need registration. That ranks Illinois 6th of the 51 states and DC by number of registered sites. The most common structure is the tower, with 2,063 sites (41%). Chicago has the most listed sites of any city, at 194.
To see the ones near you, tap Find towers near me above or type a Illinois ZIP code. The list ranks sites by distance and shows the direction to each, its height and its owner.
Carriers on the record in Illinois
Verizon is named on the most Illinois sites, 338 of them (6.7%). A carrier is named only when it owns the structure or its cellular licence lists the site, so these counts are a floor, not a total. Most towers in Illinois are owned by tower companies that rent space to several carriers without naming them.
| Carrier | Sites naming it | Share of Illinois sites |
|---|---|---|
| Verizon | 338 | 6.7% |
| AT&T | 242 | 4.8% |
| T-Mobile | 204 | 4.1% |
Who owns the towers in Illinois
The largest single owner name in Illinois is American Towers LLC, with 594 sites (12%). Tower companies file under several subsidiary names, so one company can appear more than once below. Our guide to who owns cell towers explains which names belong together.
| Owner as filed | Sites | Share |
|---|---|---|
| American Towers LLC | 594 | 12% |
| ARRAY DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE, INC. | 288 | 5.7% |
| Cellco Partnership | 195 | 3.9% |
| VB-S1 Assets, LLC | 165 | 3.3% |
| T-Mobile USA Tower LLC | 152 | 3.0% |
| Crown Castle GT Company, LLC | 149 | 3.0% |
| CCATT LLC | 146 | 2.9% |
| STC Two LLC | 119 | 2.4% |
Types of structure
| Structure | Sites | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tower | 2,063 | 41% |
| Lattice tower | 1,103 | 22% |
| Monopole | 683 | 14% |
| Guyed tower | 478 | 9.5% |
| Pole | 331 | 6.6% |
| Other structure | 135 | 2.7% |
See types of cell towers for how to recognise each one.
Cities with the most listed sites
By the city named on each FCC filing. Filings use the nearest town, so rural towers count toward it. Each link opens the tower finder at the middle of that city's sites.
| City | Sites | |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 194 | Towers around Chicago |
| Rockford | 75 | Towers around Rockford |
| Joliet | 57 | Towers around Joliet |
| Springfield | 56 | Towers around Springfield |
| Peoria | 46 | Towers around Peoria |
| Decatur | 43 | Towers around Decatur |
| Effingham | 28 | Towers around Effingham |
| Naperville | 28 | Towers around Naperville |
| Champaign | 27 | Towers around Champaign |
| Bloomington | 27 | Towers around Bloomington |
Tallest registered structures in Illinois
The tallest is a tower on a building near Chicago at 1,729 feet (527 m) overall, owned by BRE 312 Broadcast, LLC. Structures this tall are usually broadcast masts or buildings rather than cell sites, but many carry cell antennas partway up.
| Height | Type | City | Owner | ASR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,729 ft | Tower on a building | Chicago | BRE 312 Broadcast, LLC | 1032959 |
| 1,722 ft | Mast on a building | Chicago | BRE 312 Broadcast, LLC | 1032960 |
| 1,506 ft | Tower on a building | Chicago | American Towers LLC | 1009012 |
| 1,460 ft | Tower | Mechanicsburg | GUY GANNETT COMMUNICATIONS DBA = WICS-TV | 1008823 |
| 1,401 ft | Guyed tower | Seaton | American Towers LLC | 1222627 |
What is not counted
FCC registration is required only for structures over 200 feet or near airports, so shorter monopoles, rooftop antennas and small cells in Illinois are mostly missing unless a cellular licence lists them. Why a tower is missing from the map explains the gap. The data is rebuilt monthly from the FCC's bulk files.