Mercer County, Illinois

Mercer County is a located in the  of. As of, the population is 16,957. Its is. It is one of the four counties that make up the --.

History
Mercer County is named for (-), a physician and general during the  who died from wounds suffered at the.

In May 1812, Congress passed an act which set aside lands in, , and Illinois as payment to volunteer soldiers in the. Mercer County was part of this "Military Tract."

Seven years after Illinois became a state, Mercer County was founded. It was formed from unorganized territory near on,.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,473 (569 ). 1,453 km² (561 sq mi) of it is land and 20 km² (8 sq mi) of it (1.38%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

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

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 16,957 people, 6,624 households, and 4,915 families residing in the county. The was 12/km² (30/sq mi). There were 7,109 housing units at an average density of 5/km² (13/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 98.37%, 0.29% or , 0.12% , 0.17% , 0.01% , 0.35% from , and 0.68% from two or more races. 1.27% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 6,624 households out of which 32.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.5% were living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.8% were non-families. 22.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.80% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 26.6% from 25 to 44, 25.4% from 45 to 64, and 15.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 96.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.20 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $40,893, and the median income for a family was $47,192. Males had a median income of $35,138 versus $22,227 for females. The for the county was $18,645. 7.8% of the population and 5.8% of families were below the. 10% of those under the age of 18 and 8.4% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.