Cook County, Illinois

Cook County is a located in the  of. As of 2006, the population was 5,288,655, making it the in the  (after ), and accounting for 43.3% of the state's population (if Cook County were an independent state, it would have the 21st largest population). The is, the principal city of ; Chicago makes up about 54% of the population of the county, the rest being provided by various s. Cook County is the 19th largest government in the United States. Cook County has by far more members than any other, and is one of the most Democratic counties in the United States. It has only voted once for a candidate in a Presidential election in the last forty years, in, when county voters preferred  to  by 53.4% to 46%.

Cook County's current County Board president is.

History
Cook County was created on  by an act of the. It was the 54th county established in Illinois and was named after, one of the earliest and youngest statesmen in Illinois history, who served as the second from Illinois and the first Attorney General of the State of Illinois. Shortly thereafter, in, was carved out of Cook County.

As mandated by state law, Cook County government has principal responsibility for the protection of persons and property, the provision for public health services and the maintenance of county highways.

Government
The Circuit Court of Cook County, which is the largest unified court system in the world, disposing of over 6 million cases in 1990 alone, the Cook County Department of Corrections, which is the largest single-site jail in the nation, and the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, the first juvenile center in the nation and one of the largest in the nation, are solely the responsibility of Cook County government. The Cook County Law Library is the second largest county law library in the nation.

The Bureau of Health Services administers the county's public health services and is the second largest public health system in the nation. Three hospitals are part of this system:, Provident Hospital, and , along with over 30 outpatient clinics.

The Cook County Highway Department is responsible for the design and maintenance of over 578 s of roadways in the county. These thoroughfares are mostly composed of major and minor arterials, with a few local roads. Although the Highway Department was instrumental in designing many of the expressways in the county, today they are under the jurisdiction of the state.

The, organized in 1915, is a separate, independent taxing body, but the Cook County Board of Commissioners also acts as the Forest Preserve District Board of Commissioners. The District is a belt of 68,000 s (275 km²) of forest reservations surrounding the City of Chicago. The (managed by the Chicago Zoological Society) and the  (managed by the Chicago Horticultural Society) are located in the forest preserves.

In the, Cook County was ground zero to an extensive investigation named. Ninety-two officials were indicted, including 17 judges, 48 lawyers, 8 policemen, 10 deputy sheriffs, 8 court officials, and 1 state legislator.

Cook County is the fifth largest employer in Chicago.

Secession movements
To establish more localized government control and policies which reflect the often different values and needs of large suburban sections of the sprawling county, several movements have been made over the years which called for certain  or  to form their own independent counties.

In the late 1970s, a movement started which proposed a separation of six northwest suburban townships, Cook County's (,, , , , and ) from Cook to form  County, in honor of the native former U.S. president who ironically does not have an Illinois county named after him. It is likely that would have been the county seat. This northwest suburban region of Cook is moderately and has a population over 500,000. Local legislators, led by State Senator, went so far as to propose it as official legislation in the. The legislation died, however, before coming to a vote.

In, mayor Donald Peloquin tried to organize a coaliton of fifty-five south and southwest suburban municipalities to form a new county, also proposing the name Lincoln County. The county would include everything south of, stretching as far west as , as far east as , and as far south as , covering an expansive area with a population of over one million residents. Peloquin cited that the south suburbs are often shunned by the city and blamed the Chicago-centric policies of Cook County government for failing to jumpstart the long-depressed local economy of the south suburban region. Pending sufficient interest from local communities, Peloquin planned a petition drive to place a question regarding the secession on the general election ballot.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 4,235 (1,635 ). 2,449 km² (946 sq mi) of it is land and 1,785 km² (689 sq mi) of it (42.16%) is water, most of it in.

Adjacent counties

 * - north
 * - east; boundary is in Lake Michigan
 * - southeast; boundary is in Lake Michigan
 * - southeast
 * - south
 * - west
 * - west
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the, there were 5,376,741 people, 1,974,181 households, and 1,269,398 families residing in the county. The was 2,195/km² (5,686/sq mi). There were 2,096,121 housing units at an average density of 856/km² (2,216/sq mi). The of the county was 56.27%, 26.14%  or , 0.29% , 4.84% , 0.05% , 9.88% from other races, and 2.53% from two or more races. 19.93% of the population were or  of any race. 17.63% reported speaking at home; 3.13% speak.

2005 Census estimates placed the non-Hispanic white popuation of Cook County at 45.4% of the total population of the county. Other racial groups were African-Americans at 26.4%, Latinos at 22.2% and Asians at 5.5%. According to the 2000 Census there were 1,974,181 households out of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.0% were living together, 15.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.7% were non-families. 29.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.38.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.0% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.5 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $45,922, and the median income for a family was $53,784. Males had a median income of $40,690 versus $31,298 for females. The for the county was $23,227. About 10.6% of families and 13.5% of the population were below the, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.

According to Census Bureau estimates, the county's population was down to 5,303,683 in.

Suburban townships by population

 * - 180,802
 * - 155,834
 * - 155,831
 * - 152,239
 * - 135,623
 * - 134,114
 * - 112,740
 * - 109,575
 * - 109,264
 * - 102,638
 * - 94,969
 * - 94,685
 * - 93,901
 * - 91,418
 * - 85,616
 * - 83,471
 * - 82,880
 * - 74,239
 * - 67,623
 * - 56,716
 * - 54,016
 * - 53,419
 * - 52,524
 * - 38,673
 * - 26,176
 * - 22,374
 * - 18,002
 * - 15,704
 * - 14,026
 * - 11,635

Chicago townships
The city of Chicago had a population of 2,896,016 as of the 2000 Census. Its eight former townships no longer have any formal structure or responsibility since their annexation, but their names and boundaries are still used by Cook County for tax assessment purposes.

Cities

 * - small part of in
 * - mostly in
 * - small part of in
 * - mostly in
 * - small part of in
 * - mostly in
 * - mostly in
 * - mostly in
 * - mostly in
 * - mostly in

Pop culture references

 * In the 1980 film, , the title characters are racing to the offices of the Assessor of Cook County to pay the back taxes owed by the orphanage in which they grew up. In reality, however, back taxes are paid in the Office of the Cook County Treasurer, and church-owned property is tax exempt anyway., who played the pianist in the movie, is the son of then Cook County Board President George Dunne.


 * In the film , jail visitation is placed not in the jail but in the County Building, again for better visual effect. This film also places the lead character in the old Cook County Hospital for some key scenes.


 * In “”, an episode of the television series , is sent to a court hearing at the Cook County Courthouse, while his father,, and his uncle, , attempt to take him out of custody by extracting him while he is in the elevator.


 * In the film, Roxie is sent to the Cook County Jail.