High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Ford Heights (formerly East Chicago Heights) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,456 at the 2000 census. A July 1, 2007 estimate placed the population at 3,227. It is located approximately 25 miles south of downtown Chicago and is part of the Chicago–Naperville–Joliet, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area.