Marion County, Illinois

Marion County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 41,691. Its is.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,491 (576 ). 1,482 km² (572 sq mi) of it is land and 9 km² (3 sq mi) of it (0.60%) is water.

The southwest corner of Marion County is the intersection of the Baseline with the Third Principle Meridian, the point of origin for the third survey of the Northwest Territory under the. The origin is marked with a boulder south of just off U.S. 51.

Adjacent Counties

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

History
Marion County was organized in 1823, out of pieces of and. It was named in honor of Gen., the "Swamp Fox".

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 41,691 people, 16,619 households, and 11,483 families residing in the county. The was 28/km² (73/sq mi). There were 18,022 housing units at an average density of 12/km² (32/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 94.05%, 3.83% or , 0.22% , 0.57% , 0.04% , 0.22% from , and 1.07% from two or more races. 0.91% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 16,619 households out of which 31.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.30% were living together, 11.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.90% were non-families. 27.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.97.

In the county the population was spread out with 25.50% under the age of 18, 8.10% from 18 to 24, 26.60% from 25 to 44, 23.30% from 45 to 64, and 16.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 93.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $35,227, and the median income for a family was $41,427. Males had a median income of $31,459 versus $21,967 for females. The for the county was $17,235. About 8.60% of families and 11.30% of the population were below the, including 16.70% of those under age 18 and 8.60% of those age 65 or over.