Champaign County, Illinois

Champaign County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 179,669. The 2006 Census Estimate listed the population at 185,682. Its is.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,584 (998 ). 2,582 km² (997 sq mi) of it is land and 2 km² (1 sq mi) of it (0.07%) is water.

Because Champaign County is situated on a large and very flat, it had virtually no natural drainage, so that much of the County consisted of wetlands until drainage ditches were built, beginning in the. This was an example of an upland, which resulted in a high incidence of before the late nineteenth century.

The topography of Champaign County was formed by the about 10,000 years before the present. Lobes of ice from what is now crossed the county, creating a deep pile of glacial soil, up to 300 feet thick, topped by numerous s forming small, flat watersheds with no outlets.

Champaign County is situated on the between the  and s. Rivers flow out of Champaign County to the east, west, and south. The has its origin to the northwest of, draining the western side of that City. The Kaskaskia flows toward the southwest, joining the south of.

The, on the other hand, drains the south-central portion of the , originating in southeastern Champaign and flowing through the experimental fields on the southern part of the campus of the. The Embarras is tributary to the and  systems. The northeast corner of Champaign, the central portion of the University campus, and the northern part of Urbana are drained by the, which flows into the Saline Ditch, a tributary of the and s.

Adjacent Counties

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

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 179,669 people, 70,597 households, and 39,322 families residing in the county. The was 70/km² (180/sq mi). There were 75,280 housing units at an average density of 29/km² (76/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 78.78%, 11.16% or , 0.24% , 6.45% , 0.04% , 1.34% from , and 1.99% from two or more races. 2.90% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 70,597 households out of which 27.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.60% were living together, 9.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.30% were non-families. 31.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the county the population was spread out with 21.00% under the age of 18, 23.10% from 18 to 24, 28.20% from 25 to 44, 18.00% from 45 to 64, and 9.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females there were 101.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $37,780, and the median income for a family was $52,591. Males had a median income of $36,844 versus $26,421 for females. The for the county was $19,708. About 6.90% of families and 16.10% of the population were below the, including 11.80% of those under age 18 and 4.90% of those age 65 or over.

History
Champaign County was organized in, having been previously a part of. The county and county seat were named for and  respectively, the homeplace of the Illinois legislator who sponsored the bill to create the county. The development of the county was greatly furthered by the arrival of the Chicago Branch of the, and even more by the establishment of the land-grant university. Later, the county also got an and a. The northern part of the county experienced an economic and demographic setback with the closing of Chanute Air Training Center in the 1990's.   In the 2004 Presidential election, it was one of only 15 of the 102 Illinois counties in which John  Kerry received a majority of the vote (50.98%).

Links
| Champaign County Official Page