Bellwood, Illinois

Bellwood is a village in Proviso Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Located 13 miles west of Chicago's downtown Loop, the village of Bellwood is bounded by the Eisenhower Expressway (south), the Proviso yards of the Union Pacific Railroad (north), and the suburbs of Maywood (east) and Hillside and Berkeley (west). The population was 20,535 at the 2000 census.

The village is serviced by a Metra railroad station with commuter service to Chicago. In November 2011 Union Pacific Railroad announced plans to renovate and upgrade Bellwood's Metra station and add a third rail line. The project, estimated at $4 million, is expected to be completed by the fall of 2012 at no cost to residents.

Geography
Bellwood is located at 41.88306°N, -87.87639°W (41.882924, -87.876428).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 2.4 sqmi, all of it land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 20,535 people, 6,440 households, and 5,100 families residing in the village. The population density was 8,608.0 people per square mile (3,317.4/km²). There were 6,683 housing units at an average density of 2,801.4 per square mile (1,079.6/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 11.75% White, 81.73% African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.96% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 3.79% from other races, and 1.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.94% of the population.

There were 6,440 households out of which 39.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.0% were married couples living together, 25.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.8% were non-families. 17.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.18 and the average family size was 3.57.

In the village the population was spread out with 30.5% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 7.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 88.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.5 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $52,856, and the median income for a family was $57,037. Males had a median income of $38,015 versus $30,428 for females. The per capita income for the village was $19,420. About 5.9% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.2% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

 * Lee J. Archambault, NASA astronauts, served aboard two space shuttle missions (STS-117 & STS-119)
 * Eugene Cernan, NASA astronauts, the last man to walk on the moon during the Apollo 17 mission, grew up in Bellwood