Office profile
McDonald's Headquarters & offices · Chicago, Illinois
McDonald's · Chicago, Illinois
A Happy Meal toy wall, test kitchens, a drive-thru simulator and Hamburger University — all inside one nine-story building in Chicago's West Loop.
The building, the perks and 70 years of headquarters history — then the pay. Every number from McDonald's own filings, newsroom and the designers' project pages.
- 490,000 sq ftMcDonald's space in the HQ building
- 11,000+visitors in 12 months (to June 2022)
- 8 weekspaid sabbatical after 10 years (U.S.)
- ≈ 2,000people based at the HQ when it opened (2018)
Sources: McDonald's newsroom (HQ opening, June 4, 2018; Speedee Labs, Sept 14, 2022) · corporate.mcdonalds.com Talent & Benefits
Companies / United States / Restaurants / McDonald's
THE HEADQUARTERS · WEST LOOP, CHICAGO · 2018
Nine floors, each one a chapter of the McDonald's story
The designers turned each of the nine floors into a “chapter” — the kitchen, the flavors, the people, the communities — around a central atrium with a multidirectional staircase. Employees work in open “work neighborhoods” with huddle rooms, communal tables and lockers, and meet in a sixth-floor Work Café with stadium seating styled after PlayPlace tubes. A sculpture made of thousands of pieces of restaurant equipment hangs from the ceiling.
- 490,000 sq ft (≈ 45,522 m²) for McDonald's
- Work Café with stadium seating (6th floor)
- 700-person conference center
- Cloud 9 gym on the 9th floor
- Happy Meal toy wall
- Interiors: IA Interior Architects + Studio O+A
Studio O+A's floors: the McDonald's story in chapters
Each floor tells a chapter of the McDonald's story with graphic walls, archive displays and the 6th-floor Work Café.
IA Interior Architects' work neighbourhoods
Facts: McDonald's newsroom (HQ opening, 2018; “Inside McDonald's Headquarters”, Oct 28, 2025) · Studio O+A and IA Interior Architects project pages
110 North Carpenter Street, West Loop
| Building | Address |
|---|---|
| McDonald's Global Headquarters (MHQ) | 110 N. Carpenter St., Chicago, IL 60607 |
Source: Form 10-K 2025 cover · corporate.mcdonalds.com contact page · See them on the map ↓
Source: HQ opening release (2018) · McHugh Construction (building size) · IA Interior Architects “McDonald's Headquarters R&D Lab”. The designers list the interiors as 480,000 sq ft.
Office tour videos
Benefits (United States)
Paid sabbatical for employees who have worked for the company for 10 years.
Offered to corporate staff and company restaurant staff working a certain number of hours or based on position.
Educational assistance, plus a 25% DePaul tuition discount on its online MBA for eligible corporate staff.
Paid volunteer time off.
Paid short-term and long-term disability leave, plus life insurance.
Access to mental health support programs and virtual urgent care.
Discounted childcare, emergency relief and pet insurance.
Complimentary hot and cold drinks in the Work Café, a 9th-floor gym and an employees-only Fan Store.
Source: corporate.mcdonalds.com Talent & Benefits (U.S.) · “Inside McDonald's Headquarters” (Oct 28, 2025). Weeks of parental leave are not published.
Why people stay: what McDonald's itself says
McDonald's training center, with learning centers around the world; its flagship campus is inside the Chicago HQ.
Eligible corporate staff get a 25% tuition discount, which they can combine with McDonald's educational assistance.
Commit, Connect, Conclude and Career — plus annual Career Conversations and a Career Navigator guide.
Leadership development programs for new and existing people leaders.
Company employees may receive flexible work schedules, paid time off and family care resources.
An employee network whose co-chair spoke at the HQ opening about the move back to Chicago.
Source: corporate.mcdonalds.com Talent & Benefits · Form 10-K 2025, Human Capital Management · HQ opening release, June 4, 2018
Who works here
company employees worldwide (2025)
of them based outside the U.S.
people work in franchised McDonald's restaurants
people based at the Chicago HQ when it opened (2018)
Source: Form 10-K 2025, Human Capital Management · HQ opening release, June 4, 2018
Pay at McDonald's
The median employee is a restaurant crew member in Poland. McDonald's counted all workers worldwide, including part-time, seasonal and temporary staff. The CEO earned 1,082 times this amount.
Source: Proxy statement (DEF 14A), April 2026 — CEO pay ratio
Compare McDonald's with: Starbucks
Office history: from Des Plaines to the West Loop
- 1955 The first restaurant, in Des Plaines
Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois, on April 15, 1955 — the first McDonald's east of the Mississippi. That same year he became president of McDonald's.
Source: corporate.mcdonalds.com Our History · mcdonalds.com FAQ “When was McDonald's founded?”
McDonald's #1 Store Museum, Des Plaines, 2001 · Bruce Marlin / CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons - 1955–1971 Headquartered in Chicago
McDonald's says the company was headquartered in Chicago from 1955 to 1971.
Source: HQ opening release, June 4, 2018
No free-to-use photo found yet.Have one? We’d love to add it. - 1961 Hamburger University opens in a basement
McDonald's training school began in the basement of the Elk Grove Village, Illinois, restaurant.
Source: corporate.mcdonalds.com Our History
No free-to-use photo found yet.Have one? We’d love to add it. - Until 2018 The Oak Brook campus
For decades the headquarters was a suburban campus in Oak Brook, Illinois; annual reports through 2017 give the address as One McDonald's Plaza. Studio O+A describes the 2018 move as leaving Oak Brook “after 47 years”.
Source: Form 10-K 2005–2017 · Studio O+A project page
McDonald's Plaza, Oak Brook, 2008 · Rob LaRosa / CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons - 2018 Back to Chicago: 110 North Carpenter Street
On June 4, 2018 McDonald's opened its new nine-story headquarters at Randolph and Carpenter Streets in the West Loop, on the site of the former Harpo Studios. About 2,000 people moved in, along with the flagship Hamburger University.
Source: HQ opening release, 2018 · CEO letter “We're Investing in Chicago”, 2022
110 North Carpenter Street, 2018 · Photo: Garrett Rowland / Studio O+A - 2020 The old headquarters is sold
McDonald's reported gains on the sale of property at its former corporate headquarters.
Source: Form 10-K 2020
No free-to-use photo found yet.Have one? We’d love to add it. - 2022–23 Speedee Labs joins the HQ
McDonald's leased another 15,000 sq ft in the same building for Speedee Labs, an innovation center with test kitchens and a drive-thru simulator, and moved teams from its Innovation Center in Romeoville, Illinois, with a phased opening from the second half of 2023.
Source: Speedee Labs release, Sept 14, 2022 · IA Interior Architects R&D Lab page
No free-to-use photo found yet.Have one? We’d love to add it.
| Annual report | HQ space (sq ft) | m² | As described |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 490,000 | 45,522 | McDonald's space incl. Hamburger University, in a 737,000 sq ft building |
| 2022 | +15,000 | +1,394 | Extra space leased in the same building for Speedee Labs |
Map: how the headquarters moved
From a suburban campus in Oak Brook back into the city: since 2018 McDonald's has worked from the West Loop, on the site of the former Harpo Studios.
- 1 · until 2018One McDonald's Plaza, Oak Brook — The suburban headquarters campus
- 2 · 2018110 N. Carpenter St., Chicago — McDonald's Global Headquarters (MHQ) today, West Loop
Addresses: Form 10-K (2016, 2017 and 2025) · McDonald's newsroom
What McDonald's does
McDonald's is mostly a franchisor: about 95% of its 45,356 restaurants are run by independent franchisees, who pay rent and royalties. The company itself runs the rest and earns fees from technology and brand licensing.
Reporting segments: U.S., International Operated Markets, and International Developmental Licensed Markets & Corporate.
Where the money came from · Revenue by segment · 2025 (franchised revenues + company-operated sales)
Source: Form 10-K 2025 (Business; Revenues table)
Source: Form 10-K 2025
Growth: revenue vs. people
$24.6B → $26.9B
375,000 → 150,000+
Fiscal years end December 31. Revenue: SEC XBRL financial data from McDonald's 10-K filings. Employees (approximate; “over 150,000” from 2022): Form 10-K, including company-operated restaurant staff — the fall reflects restaurants sold to franchisees. Multiples calculated by eciffo.
Chief executives
Chairman and CEO. Named President and CEO on November 3, 2019; previously President of McDonald's USA.
President and CEO who opened the Chicago headquarters in 2018; separated from the company in November 2019.
Founder: Ray Kroc, who opened his first McDonald's in Des Plaines in 1955 after becoming franchise agent for the McDonald brothers.
Source: corporate.mcdonalds.com leadership page · “Leadership Transition” release (Nov 3, 2019) · Our History
McDonald's: questions people ask
Where is McDonald's headquarters?
At 110 North Carpenter Street in Chicago's West Loop (Fulton Market), Illinois 60607 — a nine-story building at Randolph and Carpenter Streets that opened on June 4, 2018.
Source: Form 10-K 2025 cover · HQ opening release, 2018
Who designed McDonald's headquarters?
Gensler was the architect of record. The interiors were designed by IA Interior Architects and Studio O+A. The building was developed by Sterling Bay and built by McHugh and ECI Executive Construction.
Source: HQ opening release, 2018
How big is McDonald's headquarters?
McDonald's occupies 490,000 sq ft (≈ 45,522 m²) of the building, including Hamburger University. The whole structure is 737,000 sq ft, and in 2022 McDonald's leased another 15,000 sq ft for Speedee Labs.
Source: HQ opening release, 2018 · McHugh Construction · Speedee Labs release, 2022
What is inside McDonald's headquarters?
Open “work neighborhoods”, a sixth-floor Work Café with stadium seating, a 700-person conference center, a ninth-floor gym, test kitchens, Speedee Labs with a drive-thru simulator, Hamburger University, a Happy Meal toy wall and a ground-floor restaurant with menu items from around the world.
Source: HQ opening release, 2018 · “Inside McDonald's Headquarters”, 2025
Can you visit McDonald's headquarters?
The Global Headquarters Restaurant on the ground floor serves guests a rotating menu of McDonald's items from around the world. MHQ received more than 11,000 visitors in the 12 months to June 30, 2022.
Source: “Inside McDonald's Headquarters”, 2025 · Speedee Labs release, 2022
When did McDonald's move its headquarters to Chicago?
In 2018, from Oak Brook, Illinois. It was a return: McDonald's had been headquartered in Chicago from 1955 to 1971.
Source: HQ opening release, 2018 · Speedee Labs release, 2022
What benefits does McDonald's offer corporate employees?
In the U.S.: an eight-week paid sabbatical after 10 years, paid parental leave, educational assistance (plus a 25% DePaul MBA tuition discount), paid volunteer time off, disability leave, mental health support, discounted childcare and pet insurance.
Source: corporate.mcdonalds.com Talent & Benefits
Does McDonald's offer flexible work?
McDonald's annual report says company employees may receive flexible work schedules, alongside paid time off, family care resources and tuition assistance. At the HQ, open work neighborhoods let people pick the setting that fits their work.
Source: Form 10-K 2025 · HQ opening release, 2018
How many people work at McDonald's?
Over 150,000 company employees at the end of 2025, about 70% outside the U.S. More than two million more work in franchised restaurants. About 2,000 people were based at the Chicago HQ when it opened.
Source: Form 10-K 2025 · HQ opening release, 2018
Who is McDonald's CEO?
Chris Kempczinski, Chairman and CEO. He was named President and CEO on November 3, 2019.
Source: corporate.mcdonalds.com leadership · Leadership Transition release, 2019
You have seen the office, the benefits and the pay
Want to work at McDonald's?
See open jobs on McDonald's's careers site ↗Or keep exploring: compare these benefits and offices with other companies below.
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