Greene County, Illinois


Greene County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 United States census, it has a population of 11,843. Its county seat is Carrollton.
A notable archaeological area, the Koster Site, has produced evidence of more than 7,000 years of human habitation. Artifacts from the site are displayed at the American Archeology in Kampsville, Illinois.
WWW greenecountyil.com

History

Greene County is named in honor of General Nathanael Greene, a hero of the American Revolutionary War. In 1821, three years after Illinois became a state, Greene County was established, being carved out of what was previously Madison county and St. Clair county before that. Over the course of the next 18 years four more counties were formed out of what was once Greene Country. These include Scott, Morgan, Macoupin and Jersey counties. This left Greene county with approximately 546 square miles of land located in western-central Illinois near the Illinois River, which was an important resource that provided both a means for travel and to ship goods. Like much of southern Illinois the earliest settlers in the county came from Southern states such as North and South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. By the time of the Civil War, 1860, the population of Greene County had grown to 16,093 and 10% of the adult population had been born in the Northeast, 15% were foreign born, 25% were born in Southern states, and almost 50% had been born in the Midwest. Of the population born in the Midwest many could still trace their roots to the South, with almost 80% of them having parents born in a Southern state.

Geography

According to the US Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water.

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Carrollton have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1912 and a record high of was recorded in July 1934. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in January to in May.

Major highways

Adjacent counties

National protected area

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 11,985. The median age was 44.3 years, with 22.3% of residents under the age of 18 and 21.5% aged 65 or older. For every 100 females there were 98.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 97.7 males age 18 and over.
The racial makeup of the county was 95.9% White, 0.2% Black or African American, 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 0.3% from some other race, and 3.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 0.9% of the population.
<0.1% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 5,041 households in the county, of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 48.1% were married-couple households, 19.5% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 24.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 5,785 housing units, of which 12.9% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 76.1% were owner-occupied and 23.9% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.0% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.6%.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 13,886 people, 5,570 households, and 3,777 families living in the county. The population density was. There were 6,389 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 97.9% white, 0.9% black or African American, 0.2% American Indian, 0.1% Asian, 0.3% from other races, and 0.7% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 0.8% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 30.7% were German, 14.7% were Irish, 13.3% were English, and 12.1% were American.
Of the 5,570 households, 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.0% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 32.2% were non-families, and 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.95. The median age was 41.6 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $41,450 and the median income for a family was $52,049. Males had a median income of $38,185 versus $27,231 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,107. About 11.8% of families and 15.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.1% of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

Villages

Unincorporated communities

Townships

Population ranking

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2020 census of Greene County.
† county seat
RankPlaceMunicipal typePopulation
1† 'CarrolltonCity2,485
2White HallCity2,295
3RoodhouseCity1,578
4GreenfieldCity1,059
5KaneVillage296
6RockbridgeVillage175
7EldredVillage149
8HillviewVillage94
9Wilmington (Patterson)'Village91

Politics

Greene County was reliably Democratic from the beginning through 1948; only one Republican Party nominee carried the county vote during that period. Since then it has usually voted for the Republican presidential nominee.
As one of the most northerly “southern” counties in Illinois, Greene County was rock-ribbed Democratic for the seventy years after the Civil War, which it opposed as a “Yankee” war. Not until considerable anti-Catholic sentiment against Al Smith turned many voters to Herbert Hoover did the county support a Republican presidential nominee. However, with the coming of World War II, opposition to American involvement led to gains for Wendell Willkie and Thomas E. Dewey, although apart from the 1960 election – also influenced by Catholicism – Greene was a bellwether county throughout the period from 1928 to 2004.
Hillary Clinton’s 2016 tally of 21.68 percent of the county’s vote is 14.3 percent worse than any Democratic presidential candidate before 2012.
As of February 2025, the county is one of 7 that voted to join the state of Indiana.