Bureau County, Illinois

Bureau County is a located in the  of. As of the, the population was 35,503. Its is.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,262 (873 ). 2,250 km² (869 sq mi) of it is land and 12 km² (5 sq mi) of it (0.54%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - southeast
 * - east
 * - south
 * - southwest
 * - west
 * - northwest

is the main body of water.

History
Bureau County was organized out of in. It is named for Pierre de Beuro, a "half-breed" (French and ?), who, around 1818, established a trading post near where Bureau Creek empties into the.

Like so many other areas in the, this county was on a "line" of the. There was a "station" at the home of in.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 35,503 people, 14,182 households, and 9,884 families residing in the county. The was 16/km² (41/sq mi). There were 15,331 housing units at an average density of 7/km² (18/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 96.79%, 0.33% or , 0.17% , 0.51% , 0.03% , 1.28% from , and 0.88% from two or more races. 4.88% of the population were or  of any race.

By 2005 the county's population was 92.2% non-Hispanic white. African-Americans had almost doubled their share of the population to 0.6%. Asians were also at 0.6% of the population. The Latino population was now 6.1% of the county total.

In 2000 there were 14,182 households out of which 30.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.10% were living together, 8.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.30% were non-families. 27.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.70% under the age of 18, 7.40% from 18 to 24, 26.20% from 25 to 44, 23.80% from 45 to 64, and 17.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $40,233, and the median income for a family was $48,488. Males had a median income of $35,690 versus $21,315 for females. The for the county was $19,542. About 5.40% of families and 7.30% of the population were below the, including 9.90% of those under age 18 and 6.00% of those age 65 or over.