Will County is a
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
in the northeastern part of the
state of
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
. According to the
2020 census, it had a population of 696,355, an increase of 2.8% from 677,560 in 2010, making it Illinois's fourth-most populous county. The
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...
is
Joliet.
Will County is one of the five
collar counties of the
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
-
Naperville-
Elgin, IL-
IN-
WI Metropolitan Statistical Area
In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally incorporated as a city or tow ...
. The portion of Will County around Joliet uses area codes 815 and 779, while 630 and 331 are for far northern Will County and 708 is for central and eastern Will County.
History
Will County was formed on January 12, 1836, out of
Cook
Cook or The Cook may refer to:
Food preparation
* Cooking, the preparation of food
* Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food
* Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry
* ...
and
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...
Counties. It was named after
Conrad Will, a politician and businessman involved in salt production in southern Illinois. Will was a member of the first Illinois Constitutional Convention and a member of the Illinois legislature until his death in 1835. Besides its present area, the county originally included the part of
Kankakee County, Illinois
Kankakee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 113,449. Its county seat is Kankakee. Kankakee County comprises the Kankakee, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
S ...
, north of the
Kankakee River
The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long, in the Central Corn Belt Plains of northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time, the river drained one of the largest wetlands in ...
. It lost that area when Kankakee County was organized in 1852. Since then its boundaries have not changed.
36 locations in Will County are on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
File:Will County Illinois 1836.png, Will County from its 1836 creation to 1852
File:Will County Illinois 1853.png, Will County in 1853, reduced to its current borders by the creation of Kankakee County
Geography
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the county has an area of , of which is land and (1.5%) is water.
The
Kankakee River
The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long, in the Central Corn Belt Plains of northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time, the river drained one of the largest wetlands in ...
,
Du Page River and the
Des Plaines River
The Des Plaines River () is a river that flows southward for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois''American H ...
run through the county and join on its western border. The
Illinois and Michigan Canal and the
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, historically known as the Chicago Drainage Canal, is a canal system that connects the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River. It reverses the direction of the Main Stem and the South Branch of the Chicago R ...
run through Will County.
A number of areas are preserved as parks (over total) under the
Forest Preserve District of Will County. The
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie is a
U.S. Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
park in the county on the grounds of the former
Joliet Arsenal. Other parks include
Channahon State Park and the
Des Plaines Fish and Wildlife Area.
Climate and weather
In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Joliet have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1985 and a record high of was recorded in June 1988. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in January to in July.
Adjacent counties
*
Kane County (northwest)
*
DuPage County (north)
*
Cook County (northeast)
*
Lake County, Indiana (east)
*
Kankakee County (south)
*
Grundy County (southwest)
*
Kendall County (west)
Demographics
As of the
2010 Census, there were 677,560 people, 225,256 households, and 174,062 families residing in the county.
The population density was . There were 237,501 housing units at an average density of .
The racial makeup of the county was 76.0% white, 11.2% black or African American, 4.6% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 5.8% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 15.6% of the population.
In terms of ancestry, 21.6% were
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, 18.6% were
Irish, 13.3% were
Polish, 11.1% were
Italian, 5.9% were
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
, and 2.1% were
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
.
Of the 225,256 households, 44.0% had children under 18 living with them, 61.9% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 22.7% were non-families, and 18.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.97 and the average family size was 3.41. The median age was 35.4.
The median income for a household in the county was $75,906 and the median income for a family was $85,488. Males had a median income of $60,867 versus $40,643 for females. The per capita income was $29,811. About 5.0% of families and 6.6% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 9.0% of those under 18 and 5.6% of those 65 or older.
Government
Will County is governed by a 26-member county board elected from 13 districts. Each district elects two members. The county executive, county clerk, coroner, auditor, treasurer, recorder of deeds, state's attorney, and
sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
are all elected in a countywide vote.
Politics
Like most of the
collar counties, Will County was once a Republican stronghold. It went Republican in all but three elections from 1892 to 1988. Since the 1990s, it has become a swing county. It voted for the national winner in every presidential election from 1980 to 2012, but Chicago-born
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
won it along with the rest of the "collar counties" aside from McHenry in 2016.
Education
*
Governors State University is a 6,000-student public university in
University Park.
*
Lewis University
Lewis University is a private Roman Catholic and Lasallian university in Romeoville, Illinois, United States. The enrollment is currently around 6,800 students. Lewis offers more than 80 undergraduate majors and programs of study, 22 graduate ...
is a 5,200-student four-year private university in
Romeoville
Romeoville is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. The village is located southwest of Chicago on the Des Plaines River. Per the 2020 census, the population was 39,863. It is located in the southwest suburban area of Chicago near ...
.
*
University of St. Francis is a 3,300-student four-year private university in
Joliet.
* The county is in Community College District 525 and is served by
Joliet Junior College
Joliet Junior College (JJC) is a public community college in Joliet, Illinois. Founded in 1901, it was the first public community college founded in the United States.
In Spring 2014, the college enrolled 16,375 students. Every year, 48,000 stu ...
in Joliet. Joliet Junior College was the first two-year higher education institution in the United States.
K-12 school districts
K-12 school districts, including any with any territory in Will County, no matter how slight, even if the schools and/or administrative headquarters are in other counties:
K-12:
*
Beecher Community Unit School District 200U
*
Coal City Community Unit School District 1
*
Crete-Monee Community Unit School District 201-U
*
Indian Prairie Community Unit School District 204
*
Manteno Community Unit School District 5
*
Naperville Community Unit District 203
*
Oswego Community Unit School District 308
*
Peotone Community Unit School District 207U
*
Plainfield School District 202
*
Reed Custer Community Unit School District 255U
*
Valley View Community Unit School District 365U
Valley View School District 365U (VVSD) is located about 35 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, where Interstates 55 & 355 intersect. The district comprises most of Bolingbrook and Romeoville, Illinois. Formed in 1972, the district serves the ...
*
Wilmington Community Unit School District 209U
Secondary:
*
Bloom Township High School District 206
*
Joliet Township High School District 204
*
Lincoln Way Community High School District 210
*
Lockport Township High School District 205
*
Minooka Community High School District 111
Elementary:
*
Chaney-Monge School District 88
Chaney-Monge School District 88 is a school district headquartered in Crest Hill, Illinois
Crest Hill is a city in Lockport Township, Will County, Illinois, United States. The 2020 census put Crest Hill's population at 20,459.
The neighborhoo ...
*
Channahon School District 17
*
Elwood Community Consolidated School District 203
*
Fairmont School District 89
*
Frankfort Community Consolidated School District 157C
*
Homer Community Consolidated School District 33C
*
Joliet Public School District 86
*
Laraway Community Consolidated School District 70C
*
Lockport School District 91
*
Manhattan School District 114
*
Minooka Community Consolidated School District 201
*
Mokena School District 159
*
New Lenox School District 122
*
Richland School District 88A
Richland School District 88A is an elementary and middle school district Crest Hill, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Richland Elementary School has grades K-4. Richland Junior High School serves grades 5–8. High school students matriculate to Lo ...
*
Rockdale School District 84
*
Steger School District 194;
*
Summit Hill School District 161
*
Taft School District 90
*
Troy Community Consolidated School District 30C
*
Union School District 81
*
Will County School District 92
Transportation
Will County is served by four U.S. interstate highways, four U.S. highways, and 12 Illinois highways.
Major highways
*
Interstate 55
Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...
*
Interstate 57
*
Interstate 80
Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one ...
*
Interstate 355
*
U.S. Highway 6
*
U.S. Highway 30
*
U.S. Highway 45
U.S. Route 45 (US 45) is a major north-south United States highway and a border-to-border route, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. A sign at the highway's northern terminus notes the total distance as .
US 45 is notable for incorporatin ...
*
U.S. Highway 52
U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major United States highway in the central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows ...
*
U.S. Highway 66
U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...
*
Illinois Route 1
*
Illinois Route 7
*
Illinois Route 43
Illinois Route 43 (IL 43) is a major north–south state highway in the U.S. state of Illinois. It runs from U.S. Route 30 (US 30) in Frankfort north to the large intersection of IL 120 (Belvidere Road) and US 41 (Skokie Highway) ...
*
Illinois Route 50
*
Illinois Route 53
Illinois Route 53 (IL 53) is an arterial north–south state highway in northeast Illinois. IL 53 runs from Main Street west of historic U.S. Route 66 (US 66) in Gardner to IL 83 in Long Grove, a distance of . It mainly ...
*
Illinois Route 59
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockfo ...
*
Illinois Route 102
*
Illinois Route 113
*
Illinois Route 126
*
Illinois Route 129
*
Illinois Route 171
*
Illinois Route 394
Rail
Four different
Metra
Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines ...
commuter rail lines (
Metra Electric Main Line,
Southwest Service,
Rock Island District and
Heritage Corridor) connect Will County with the
Chicago Loop
The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...
.
Energy infrastructure
Pipelines
Will County is a major hub in the national
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...
pipeline grid where pipelines from
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
and the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
meet and then fan out to serve the Midwest. The following major energy companies own pipeline that runs through Will County:
*
Alliance Pipeline
Alliance Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline from Canada to the United States. It connects north-western Alberta and north-eastern British Columbia in western Canada to Illinois in the American Midwest, passing through Saskatchewan, North Da ...
*
Enbridge
*
Integrys Energy Group
**
Peoples Gas
*
Kinder Morgan Interstate Gas Transmission
*
TransCanada
**
ANR Pipeline - Fully owned & operated
**
Northern Border Pipeline - Partially owned & fully operated
*
Vector Pipeline
Joliet Refinery
ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 3 ...
owns and operates the
Joliet Refinery along the
Des Plaines River
The Des Plaines River () is a river that flows southward for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois''American H ...
just east of
I-55. According to ExxonMobil, the refinery employs about 600 people and was constructed in 1972.
Municipalities
The municipalities with their population within Will County and their total population as of the 2010 census are:
Cities
*
Aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
– 11,471 (total 197,899; mostly in DuPage, Kane and Kendall counties)
*
Braidwood – 6,191
*
Crest Hill – 20,837
*
Joliet – 137,684 (total 147,433; partly in Kendall County)
*
Lockport – 24,839
*
Naperville – 47,320 (total 141,853; mostly in DuPage County)
*
Wilmington – 5,724
Villages
*
Beecher – 4,359
*
Bolingbrook – 71,795 (total 73,366; partly in DuPage County)
*
Braceville – 1 (total 793; mostly in Grundy County)
*
Channahon – 9,345 (total 12,560; partly in Grundy County)
*
Coal City – 2 (total 5,587; mostly in Grundy County)
*
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
– 8,259
*
Diamond
Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...
– 19 (total 2,527; mostly in Grundy County)
*
Elwood – 2,279
*
Frankfort – 17,782 (total 17,789; partly in Cook County)
*
Godley – 552 (total 601; partly in Grundy County)
*
Homer Glen – 24,220
*
Lemont – 3 (total 16,000; mostly in Cook and DuPage counties)
*
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
– 7,051
*
Matteson – 0 (total 19,009; mostly in Cook County)
*
Minooka – 1,803 (total 10,924; mostly in Grundy and Kendall counties)
*
Mokena
Mokena is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,887 at the 2020 census. The Census Bureau's 2019 estimate found that the population had increased to 20,159.
Etymology
Mokena is a name apparently derived from ...
– 18,740
*
Monee – 5,148
*
New Lenox
New Lenox is a village in central Will County, Illinois, United States. It is a southwestern suburb of Chicago and an eastern suburb of Joliet. The village population was 27,214 as of 2020. New Lenox has schools like Lincoln-Way West High Schoo ...
– 24,394
*
Orland Park – 184 (total 56,767; mostly in Cook County)
*
Park Forest – 3,303 (total 21,975; mostly in Cook County)
*
Peotone – 4,142
*
Plainfield – 37,502 (total 39,581; partly in Kendall County)
*
Rockdale – 1,976
*
Romeoville
Romeoville is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. The village is located southwest of Chicago on the Des Plaines River. Per the 2020 census, the population was 39,863. It is located in the southwest suburban area of Chicago near ...
– 39,680
*
Sauk Village – 0 (total 10,506; mostly in Cook County)
*
Shorewood – 15,615
*
Steger – 5,467 (total 9,570; partly in Cook County)
*
Symerton – 87
*
Tinley Park
Tinley Park (formerly Bremen) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion in Will County. The village is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 55,971. It is one of the fastest growing suburb ...
– 7,467 (total 56,703; mostly in Cook County)
*
University Park – 6,856 (total 7,129; partly in Cook County)
*
Woodridge – 22 (total 32,971; mostly in DuPage County)
Census-designated places
*
Andres
*
Arbury Hills
*
Ballou
*
Bonnie Brae
Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...
*
Crystal Lawns – 1,872
*
Custer Park
The city of Portland, Oregon, has more than of public parks and other natural areas, including one of the largest municipal parks in the United States, Forest Park (Portland, Oregon), Forest Park. Many are managed by Portland Parks & Recreatio ...
*
Eagle Lake
*
Fairmont – 2,459
*
Frankfort Square – 9,276
*
Goodenow
*
Goodings Grove (former CDP)
*
Ingalls Park – 3,314
*
Lakewood Shores – 1,347
*
Lockport Heights
*
Lorenzo
*
Marley
*
Plum Valley
*
Polk
Polk may refer to:
People
* James K. Polk, 11th president of the United States
* Polk (name), other people with the name
Places
* Polk (CTA), a train station in Chicago, Illinois
* Polk, Illinois, an unincorporated community
* Polk, Missour ...
*
Preston Heights – 2,575
*
Rest Haven
*
Ridgewood
*
Ritchie
Ritchie may refer to:
People Surname
*Adele Ritchie (1874–1930), singer – comic opera, musical comedy and vaudeville
*Albert Ritchie (1876–1936), governor of Maryland 1920 to 1935
*Alistair Ferguson Ritchie (1890–1954), crossword compiler ...
*
Sunnyland
*
Willow Brook Estates – 2,076
*
Wilton
*
Wilton Center
Forts
*
Fort Beggs
Townships
The 24 townships of Will County, with their populations as of the 2010 census, are:
*
Channahon – 10,322
*
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
– 23,774
*
Custer – 1,430
*
DuPage – 87,793
*
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
– 933
*
Frankfort – 57,055
*
Green Garden – 4,010
*
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
– 39,059
*
Jackson – 4,100
*
Joliet – 87,398
*
Lockport – 60,010
*
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
– 9,218
*
Monee – 15,669
*
New Lenox
New Lenox is a village in central Will County, Illinois, United States. It is a southwestern suburb of Chicago and an eastern suburb of Joliet. The village population was 27,214 as of 2020. New Lenox has schools like Lincoln-Way West High Schoo ...
– 40,270
*
Peotone – 4,431
*
Plainfield – 80,318
*
Reed – 6,948
*
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...
– 45,991
*
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
– 6,263
*
Wesley – 2,241
*
Wheatland – 81,472
*
Will
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and wi ...
– 1,821
*
Wilmington – 6,193
*
Wilton – 841
See also
References
;Specific
;General
*
External links
*
Will County Board
{{Coord, 41.44, -87.98, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-IL_source:UScensus1990
1836 establishments in Illinois
Chicago metropolitan area
Illinois counties
Populated places established in 1836