Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is 12 miles north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wilmette to the north, and Lake Michigan to the east. Evanston had a population of 78,110 as of 2020.Founded by Methodist business leaders in 1857, the city was incorporated in 1863.