Bond County, Illinois

Bond County is a located in the  of  It is part of the. As of the, the population is 17,633. Its is.

History
Bond County was formed in out of. It was named for, who was then the delegate from the to the , and who thereupon became the first , serving from  to.

When and  gave speeches in Greenville in 1858 during a campaign for the, Douglas said: "Ladies and gentlemen it gives me great and supreme gratification and pleasure to see this vast concourse of people assembled to hear me upon this my first visit to Old Bond." The  reported of the occasion: "I've seen many gatherings in Old Bond county but I never saw anything equal to this and I never expect to."

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 991 (383 ). 985 km² (380 sq mi) of it is land and 6 km² (2 sq mi) of it (0.64%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - east
 * - south
 * - west

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 17,633 people, 6,155 households, and 4,345 families residing in the county. The was 18/km² (46/sq mi). There were 6,690 housing units at an average density of 7/km² (18/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 90.74%, 7.41% or , 0.46% , 0.26% , 0.05% , 0.37% from , and 0.72% from two or more races. 1.43% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 6,155 households out of which 32.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.10% were living together, 8.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.40% were non-families. 25.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.80% 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 2.97.

In the county the population was spread out with 21.90% under the age of 18, 11.60% from 18 to 24, 29.40% from 25 to 44, 22.40% from 45 to 64, and 14.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 116.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 119.60 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $37,680, and the median income for a family was $45,413. Males had a median income of $31,849 versus $21,295 for females. The for the county was $17,947. About 6.70% of families and 9.30% of the population were below the, including 10.70% of those under age 18 and 8.60% of those age 65 or over.