The Quad Cities metropolitian area is located along the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa and western Illinois, approximately 165 miles west of Chicago and midway between Minneapolis to the north and St. Louis to the south. Fortune 500 corporations like John Deere & Company, 3M and Alcoa, along with the Rock Island Arsenal, a major military installation, call the Quad Cities home. These major employers are joined by 21,000 other businesses which create a robust and growning economy of over $16.5 billion per year.