Hoffman Estates is located at latitude 42°3'47' N and longitude 88°7'9' W. It covers 51.54 km², covering 51.02 km² of land and 0.52 km² of water.

Hoffman Estates is located about 50 km northeast of downtown Chicago.

Local communities directly adjacent to Hoffman Estates are Sparburg in the south, Elgin in the west, South Barrington in the north-west, Barrington and Inverness in the north, Palatine in the north-east and Mount Prospect in the east.

O’Hare International Airport, the largest airport in Chicago, is located 27.4 km southeast of Hoffman Estates.

The western shore of Lake Michigan is located about 50 km east of Hoffman Estates.

To the north of the center of Hoffman Estates is the Interstate 90, which is the shortest connection from Chicago to Rockford and from there further west. Further south of Interstate, the Illinois State Routes 58 and 72 intersect.

After the completion of the highway in 1958, Hoffman Estates was founded a year later as a typical satellite town for commuters in the nearby metropolis of Chicago. At the beginning of the 1960s, the municipality expanded north beyond the motorway.

An attempt to rename the site to East Barrington failed in the people's vote in the early 1980s.

In the 1990s the business area Prairie Stone Business Park was opened. The development accelerated when Sears moved to Hoffman Estates from the then Sears Tower in Chicago. In the following years more companies were added.

In addition to a number of companies, a site at Northern Illinois University has been established. In 2005, the Sears Center was opened, a modern arena for various sports.

Hoffman Estates is the headquarters of Sears Holdings Corporation, the regional organization of AT&T for the Midwest and the US subsidiary of the Japanese machine tool manufacturer DMG MORI.

In the Sears Center, a sports hall with more than 10,000 spectators, the Indoor Football League team Chicago Slaughter and the Legends Football League team Chicago Bliss are hosting their home games. In the 2011/12 season, the sports center also served as the venue for the home games of the ice hockey team Chicago Express from ECHL.

According to the 2010 census, there were 51,895 people living in Hoffman Estates in 18,132 households and 13,689 families.

In ethnic terms, the population comprised 64.1% white, 4.8% African-Americans, 0.2% American Native Americans, and 22.7% Asian. 2.6% were of at least two of these ethnicities. Regardless of ethnicity, 14.1% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos.

In 34.0% of the 18,132 households, children under the age of 18 lived, 61.26% were married couples, 19.63% were single households, and 24.50% were not families. The average household size was 2.84 inhabitants and the average family size was 3.30.

25.0 percent of the population were under the age of 18, 65.6 percent were between 18 and 64 and 9.4 percent were 65 years or older. The average age was 27.0 years.

The average annual household income was $82,793. The per capita income was $34,538. 5.5% of the population lived below the poverty line.