Pike County, Illinois

Pike County is a located in the  of. As of, the population is 17,384. Its is.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,199 (849 ). 2,150 km² (830 sq mi) of it is land and 48 km² (19 sq mi) of it (2.19%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

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

Pike County, Illinois, is one of the few counties in the United States to border as many as 9 counties. Illinois has two such counties--Pike and.

History
Pike County was formed in 1821 out of. It was named in honor of, leader of the in 1806 to map out the south and west portions of the. Pike served at the, and was killed in 1813 in the.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 17,384 people, 6,876 households, and 4,778 families residing in the county. The was 8/km² (21/sq mi). There were 8,011 housing units at an average density of 4/km² (10/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 97.38%, 1.50% or , 0.17% , 0.24% , 0.03% , 0.12% from , and 0.56% from two or more races. 0.50% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 6,876 households out of which 30.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.50% were living together, 7.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.50% were non-families. 27.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.94.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.10% under the age of 18, 7.80% from 18 to 24, 25.70% from 25 to 44, 23.20% from 45 to 64, and 19.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 98.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $31,127, and the median income for a family was $38,583. Males had a median income of $27,687 versus $18,440 for females. The for the county was $15,946. About 9.80% of families and 12.40% of the population were below the, including 14.70% of those under age 18 and 11.40% of those age 65 or over.

Trivia

 * Pike County, Illinois, is one of the few counties in the United States to border its namesake in another state--in this case, . Illinois has another such county--, which borders  (note that they are spelled differently).


 * Pike County IL is a hotspot for Whitetail Deer hunting. Bowhunters flock to Pike county every year because they know the odds of taking a trophy whitetail are better here than almost anywhere else in the U.S.