Wayne County, Illinois

Wayne County is a located in the  of. As of, the population is 17,151. Its is.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,853 (716 ). 1,849 km² (714 sq mi) of it is land and 4 km² (2 sq mi) of it (0.23%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

 * (north)
 * (northeast)
 * (east)
 * (southeast)
 * (south)
 * (southwest)
 * (northwest)

History
Wayne County was formed in 1819 out of. It is named after, an officer in the and.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 17,151 people, 7,143 households, and 4,971 families residing in the county. The was 9/km² (24/sq mi). There were 7,950 housing units at an average density of 4/km² (11/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 98.71%, 0.15% or , 0.20% , 0.34% , 0.01% , 0.06% from , and 0.54% from two or more races. 0.60% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 7,143 households out of which 29.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.30% were living together, 8.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.40% were non-families. 27.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.88.

In the county the population was spread out with 23.70% under the age of 18, 7.90% from 18 to 24, 25.80% from 25 to 44, 23.80% from 45 to 64, and 18.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $30,481, and the median income for a family was $37,729. Males had a median income of $29,148 versus $20,989 for females. The for the county was $15,793. About 9.40% of families and 12.40% of the population were below the, including 15.70% of those under age 18 and 10.70% of those age 65 or over.