Livingston County, Illinois


Livingston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 35,815. Its county seat is Pontiac. Livingston County comprises the Pontiac, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is combined with the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan statistical area as the Bloomington-Pontiac, IL Combined Statistical Area in the upper portion of Central Illinois.
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History

On October 27, 1830, Valentine Darnell and his wife Rachel became the first white settlers of Livingston County. Livingston was established on February 27, 1837. It was formed from parts of McLean, LaSalle, and Iroquois counties, and named after Edward Livingston, a prominent politician who was mayor of New York City and represented New York in the United States House of Representatives and Louisiana in both houses of Congress. He later served as Andrew Jackson's Secretary of State and as Minister to France. Although he had no connections to Illinois, the General Assembly found him accomplished enough to name a county after him.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water. It is the fourth-largest county in Illinois by land area.

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Pontiac have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1927. A record high of was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in June.

Transit

Major highways

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Adjacent counties

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 35,815. The median age was 42.4 years, with 21.9% of residents under the age of 18 and 20.0% of residents aged 65 or older. For every 100 females there were 106.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 105.8 males age 18 and over.
The racial makeup of the county was 89.5% White, 3.1% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 2.1% from some other race, and 4.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 5.2% of the population.
35.4% of residents lived in urban areas, while 64.6% lived in rural areas.
There were 14,396 households in the county, of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 47.5% were married-couple households, 20.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 25.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 15,920 housing units, of which 9.6% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 73.3% were owner-occupied, and 26.7% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.5%, and the rental vacancy rate was 8.4%.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 38,950 people, 14,613 households, and 9,741 families residing in the county. The population density was. There were 15,895 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 91.8% white, 4.9% black or African American, 0.5% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 1.3% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 3.9% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 36.6% were German, 17.2% were Irish, 11.2% were American, 10.7% were English, and 5.1% were Italian.
Of the 14,613 households, 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.3% were non-families, and 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.43, and the average family size was 2.98. The median age was 40.8 years.
The median household income in the county was $50,500, and the median family income was $60,933. Males had a median income of $44,639 versus $32,234 for females. The county's per capita income was $23,259. About 9.1% of families and 11.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.4% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

Town

Villages

Townships

Livingston County is divided into thirty townships:

Unincorporated communities

Government and infrastructure

The Illinois Department of Corrections operates two prisons in the county.
Pontiac Correctional Center is located in Pontiac. Pontiac houses the male death row. Before the January 11, 2003, commutation of death row sentences, male death row inmates were housed in Pontiac, Menard, and Tamms correctional centers. Dwight Correctional Center is within Nevada Township in an unincorporated area in the county.
The Dwight Correctional Center is currently unoccupied and was closed in 2013.

Politics

Although it was solidly Democratic before 1856, Livingston has since always been a powerfully Republican county. The solitary Democrat to win a majority of the county's vote since the Civil War has been Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 1932 landslide triumph over Herbert Hoover. Apart from the 1912 election, when Woodrow Wilson defeated a mortally divided Republican Party, Livingston has consistently voted Republican since the party's founding in 1856. Since 1940, only Lyndon Johnson in his 1964 landslide victory over the conservative Barry Goldwater has won more than forty percent of the county's vote.

Notable residents