Sterling

City and administrative headquarters of Logan County, northeastern Colorado, on the South Platte River, 129 km/80 mi northeast of Greeley; population (1990) 10,400. It markets and ships cattle and agricultural products, refines beet sugar, and has been a gas and oil centre since 1950. It has meat processing plants, railway shops, and grain elevators, and manufactures steel and concrete products.

Northeastern Junior College of Colorado (1941) and the Overland Trail Museum are here.

Sterling

City in northwestern Illinois, across the Rock River from Rock Falls, 21 km/13 mi southwest of Dixon; population (1990) 15,100. Its most important product is builders' hardware; others include steel and steel products, nuts and bolts, mobile homes, and barbers' supplies.

Sterling

City in south-central Kansas, 27 km/17 mi northwest of Hutchinson; population (1990) 2,100. Founded in 1872, it is a processing centre for wheat and salt, and the seat of Sterling College (1887).

Sterling

Community in northern Virginia, 26 km/16 mi northwest of Arlington County, and just northeast of Washington Dulles International Airport; population (1990) 20,500. It is a largely residential suburb, with business and industrial parks on the airport's perimeter.