Saline County, Illinois

Saline County is a county in Southern Illinois. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 23,768. The largest city and county seat is Harrisburg. This area of Southern Illinois is known locally as "Little Egypt."

Three major towns in Saline County are connected by U.S. Route 45, and formerly by the now-abandoned Cairo and Vincennes/Big Four/New York Central Line, from north to south: Eldorado, Harrisburg, and Carrier Mills.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.8%) is water.

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Harrisburg have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in February 1951 and a record high of was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in September to in May.

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|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<br />1790-1960 1900-1990<br />1990-2000 2010-2013

The racial makeup of the county was 90.4% White, 2.9% Black or African American, 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 0.8% from some other race, and 5.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 2.0% of the population.

34.8% of residents lived in urban areas, while 65.2% lived in rural areas.

There were 9,996 households in the county, of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 43.6% were married-couple households, 20.5% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 29.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 33.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

!Pop 1990

!Pop 2000

!Pop 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" | Pop 2020

!% 1980

!% 1990

!% 2000

!% 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020

|White alone (NH)

|27,355

|25,355

|25,035

|23,011

|style='background: #ffffe6; |21,309

|96.16%

|95.50%

|93.65%

|92.37%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |89.65%

|Black or African American alone (NH)

|860

|925

|1,079

|974

|style='background: #ffffe6; |692

|3.02%

|3.48%

|4.04%

|3.91%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.91%

|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

|28

|66

|71

|84

|style='background: #ffffe6; |69

|0.10%

|0.25%

|0.27%

|0.34%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.29%

|Asian alone (NH)

|32

|39

|52

|100

|style='background: #ffffe6; |122

|0.11%

|0.15%

|0.19%

|0.40%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.51%

|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0

|0.01%

|0.04%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%

|Other race alone (NH)

|27

|31

|12

|10

|style='background: #ffffe6; |94

|0.09%

|0.12%

|0.04%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.40%

|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)

|223

|385

|style='background: #ffffe6; |1,009

|0.83%

|1.55%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |4.25%

|Hispanic or Latino (any race)

|146

|135

|258

|340

|style='background: #ffffe6; |473

|0.51%

|0.97%

|1.36%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.99%

|Total

|28,448

|26,551

|26,733

|24,913

|style='background: #ffffe6; |23,768

|100.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 24,913 people, 10,379 households, and 6,631 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 11,697 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 93.0% white, 4.0% black or African American, 0.4% Asian, 0.4% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 0.4% from other races, and 1.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.4% of the population.

Of the 10,379 households, 29.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.4% were married couples living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.1% were non-families, and 31.9% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.89. The median age was 41.7 years.

Communities

Cities

Eldorado
Harrisburg

Villages

Carrier Mills (Morrilsville)
Galatia
Muddy
Raleigh
Stonefort (partly in Williamson County)

Unincorporated communities

Buena Vista
Cottage Grove
Delta
Derby
Eagle
Harco
Lakeview (Pond Settlement)
Ledford
Liberty
Mitchellsville
New Hope
Pankeyville
Rudement
Somerset
Texas City
Wasson
West End

Townships

Saline County is divided into thirteen townships:

Brushy
Carrier Mills
Cottage
East Eldorado
Galatia
Harrisburg
Independence
Long Branch
Mountain
Raleigh
Rector
Stone Fort
Tate

Politics

Saline County is a Republican stronghold. Unlike most of Southern Illinois, Republicans were also successful in the latter decades of the 1800s. This usurped a Democratic trend that followed the county's founding. Saline County would become a Republican-leaning swing county in the 1910s. This held on for the remainder of twentieth century and broke in the new millennium. Despite having voted for the last three Democratic presidential candidates, Saline County began electing only Republicans from 2000 onward. Since the 2010s, Democrats have not managed to reach even 35% of the vote..

The county was less conservative downballot; as recently as 2006 it voted for Illinois's Democrat gubernatorial candidate. However, as of 2022, over three quarters of its vote went to the Republican candidate.

References

External links

Saline County Chamber of Commerce
Saline County Official Website (Under Development)
"Tails and Trails of Illinois", Stu Fliege, University of Illinois Press,2002.
"https://web.archive.org/web/20120206132243/http://www.iltrails.org/saline/towns_cities.html, © 2000-2001 by Debbie Woolard, Illinois Trails History and Genealogy.
Gillum Ferguson. 2007. The Perilous Infancy of Saline County, Journal of Illinois History, Vol. 10, p. 49.