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Wikipedia

Cook County, Illinois

February 06, 2023

"Cook County" redirects here. For other uses, see Cook County (disambiguation).

Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 2020, the population was 5,275,541. Its county seat is Chicago, the most populous city in Illinois and the third-most-populous city in the United States.

Cook County, Illinois
County
From top, left to right: Cook County Circuit Court at Daley Center with Chicago Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright's Studio, Forest Preserve, aerial view of Downtown Chicago, aerial view of Evanston, Montrose Avenue Beach in Chicago
Flag
Seal
Location within Illinois
Illinois' location within the United States
Coordinates: 41°48′31″N 87°53′20″W / 41.80861°N 87.88889°W / 41.80861; -87.88889Coordinates: 41°48′31″N 87°53′20″W / 41.80861°N 87.88889°W / 41.80861; -87.88889
CountryUnited States
StateIllinois
RegionNorthern Illinois
Metro areaChicago Metropolitan
IncorporatedJanuary 15, 1831; 192 years ago (1831-01-15),
Named forDaniel Cook
County seatChicago
Largest cityChicago
Incorporated municipalities
134 (total)
  • 23 cities, 1 town, 111 villages
  • (located entirely or partially
    within county boundaries)
Government
 • TypeCounty
 • BodyBoard of Commissioners
 • Board PresidentToni R. Preckwinkle (D)
 • County Board17 commissioners
Area
 • County1,635 sq mi (4,230 km2)
 • Land945 sq mi (2,450 km2)
 • Water690 sq mi (1,800 km2)
 • Metro
10,874 sq mi (28,160 km2)
 • Rank6th largest county in Illinois
Highest elevation
[1][2]
950 ft (290 m)
Lowest elevation
[1][3]
580 ft (180 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • County5,275,541
 • Density3,200/sq mi (1,200/km2)
Time zoneUTC−6 (Central)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−5 (Central)
ZIP Code prefixes
600xx–608xx
Area codes224/847, 312/872, 773/872, 708
Congressional districts1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th,
8th, 9th, 10th and 11th
FIPS code17-031
GNIS feature ID1784766
Websitewww.cookcountyil.gov

Cook County was incorporated in 1831 and named for Daniel Pope Cook, an early Illinois statesman. It achieved its present boundaries in 1839. Within one hundred years, the county recorded explosive population growth going from a trading post village with a little over 600 residents to four million citizens, rivalling Paris by the Great Depression. During the first half of the 20th century it had the absolute majority of Illinois's population.

There are more than 800 local governmental units and nearly 130 municipalities located wholly or partially within Cook County, the largest of which is Chicago. The city is home to approximately 54% of the entire county's population.[4] The part of the county outside of the Chicago and Evanston city limits is divided into 29 townships; these often divide or share governmental services with local municipalities. Townships within Chicago were abolished in 1902 but are retained for real estate assessment purposes. Evanston Township was formerly coterminous with the City of Evanston but was abolished in 2014. County government is overseen by the Cook County Board, and countywide state government offices include the Circuit Court of Cook County, the Cook County State's Attorney, the Cook County Sheriff, and the Cook County Assessor.

Geographically, the county is the sixth-largest in Illinois by land area and the largest by total area. It shares the state's Lake Michigan shoreline with Lake County. Including its lake area, Cook County has a total area of 1,635 square miles (4,234.6 km2), the largest county in Illinois, of which 945 square miles (2,447.5 km2) is land and 690 square miles (1,787.1 km2) (42.16%) is water. Land-use in Cook County is mostly urban and densely populated. Within Cook County, the State of Illinois took advantage of its Lake Michigan access and the Chicago Portage, beginning with the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1848. This helped make the region a central transit hub for the nation. Chicago, with its location on the Great Lakes and via the St. Lawrence Seaway, is a global port city, giving Cook County an international shipping port.

Cook County's population is larger than that of 28 different U.S. states and territories, and larger than the population of 11 of the 13 Canadian provinces and territories.[5] Cook County is included in the Chicago metropolitan Combined Statistical Area (CSA), which has a population of approximately 10 million people.

History

Cook County was created on January 15, 1831, out of Putnam County by an act of the Illinois General Assembly. It was the 54th county established in Illinois and was named after Daniel Cook, one of the earliest and youngest statesmen in Illinois history. He served as the second U.S. Representative from Illinois and the state's first Attorney General. In 1839, DuPage County was carved out of Cook County.


  •  

    Cook County from 1831 to 1836

  •  

    Cook County 1836–39 after the creation of McHenry and Will Counties

  •  

    Cook County's current size was formed in 1839 by the creation of DuPage County.

The shape of Cook County and the neighboring counties has remained the same since DuPage County was formed. The population in each county and the split of agriculture compared to residential and industrial activity has changed dramatically over the intervening decades to 2020. The county began with 10,201 people in the Census of 1840, growing rapidly to 5,150,233 people estimated for 2019 by the US Census. Growth was rapid in the 19th century, with the County reaching 2.4 million people by 1910. In the 20th century, the County reached 5.1 million population.

Cook County is nearly completely developed, with little agricultural land remaining near the outer county boundaries.[6]

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop. %±
184010,201—
185043,385325.3%
1860144,954234.1%
1870349,966141.4%
1880607,52473.6%
18901,191,92296.2%
19001,838,73554.3%
19102,405,23330.8%
19203,053,01726.9%
19303,982,12330.4%
19404,063,3422.0%
19504,508,79211.0%
19605,129,72513.8%
19705,492,3697.1%
19805,253,655−4.3%
19905,105,067−2.8%
20005,376,7415.3%
20105,194,675−3.4%
20205,275,5411.6%
U.S. Decennial Census[7]
1790–1960[8] 1900–1990[9]
1990–2000[10] 2010–2019[11]

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 married couples living together, 15.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.7% were non-families. 29.4% of all households were someone living alone including 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.38.

 
2000 census age pyramid for Cook County

In the county, the population age distribution was: 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 per capita income for the county was $23,227. About 10.6% of families and 13.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.

As of the fourth quarter of 2021, the median home value in Cook County was $299,571, an increase of 11.7% from the prior year.[12]

According to Census Bureau estimates, the county's population had decreased by 3.4% between the 2000 census and the 2010 census (5,194,675). The county's population had grown slightly again by 2017 (5,211,263).

Ethnicity

Demographics (2010)[13]
Demographic Proportion
White 55.4%
Black 24.8%
Asian 6.2%
Islander 0.0%
Native 0.4%
Other 13.1%
Hispanic
(any race) 		24.0%

As of the 2010 Census, the population of the county was 5,194,675, White Americans made up 55.4% of Cook County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 43.9% of the population. African Americans made up 24.8% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.4% of Cook County's population. Asian Americans made up 6.2% of the population (1.8% Indian, 1.2% Filipino, 1.2% Chinese, 0.7% Korean, 0.3% Vietnamese, 0.2% Japanese, 0.8% Other). Pacific Islander Americans made up less than 0.1% of the population. People from other races made up 10.6% of the population; people from two or more races made up 2.5% of the county's population. Hispanics and Latinos (of any race) made up 24.0% of Cook County's population.

As of the 2000 Census,[14] there were 5,376,741 people, 1,974,181 households, and 1,269,398 families residing in the county. The population density was 5,686 inhabitants per square mile (2,195/km2). There were 2,096,121 housing units at an average density of 2,216 per square mile (856/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 56.27% white, 26.14% Black or African American, 0.29% Native American, 4.84% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islanders, 9.88% from other races, and 2.53% from two or more races. 19.93% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 9.1% were of Polish, 8.1% German, 7.9% Irish and 5.7% Italian ancestry. 17.63% reported speaking Spanish at home; 3.13% speak Polish.[15]

Whites (Hispanic and non-Hispanic) number roughly 2,793,500. There are about 2,372,500 non-Hispanic whites residing in Cook County. Sizeable non-Hispanic white populations are those of German (11.4%), Irish (10.3%), Polish (9.7%), Italian (6.1%), and British (4.1%) descent. There are also significant groups of Swedish (1.5%), Russian (1.5%), French (1.3%), Greek (1.2%), Czech (1.0%), Dutch (1.0%), Lithuanian (0.9%), and Norwegian (0.8%) descent.

Black Americans are the second largest racial group. Black Americans form over one-quarter (25.4%) of Cook County's population. Blacks of non-Hispanic origin form 25.2% of the population; black Hispanics make up the remaining 0.2% of the populace. There are roughly 1,341,000 African Americans of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin living in Cook County; 1,328,000 are non-Hispanic blacks. Roughly 52,500 people were of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, making up 1.0% of the total population.

Approximately 10,300 residents of Cook County are of Native American ancestry. They consist of Cherokee, Chippewa, Navajo, and Sioux. Native Americans of Hispanic origin represent a sizeable portion of the Native American population. Nearly 6,000 Native Americans are of non-Hispanic origin, and some 4,300 are of Hispanic origin. Over 40% of the Native American racial group is of Hispanic descent.

 
Non-English speakers in Cook County

Asian Americans are a very sizeable racial group in the county, numbering about 301,000. The Asian population is ethnically diverse, and includes roughly 87,900 Indians, 61,700 Filipinos, 60,700 Chinese, 35,000 Koreans, 13,700 Vietnamese, and 11,100 Japanese. Roughly 30,800 are of other Asian ethnic groups, such as Thai, Cambodian, and Hmong.

Approximately 3,000 residents are of Pacific Islander heritage. This group includes roughly Native Hawaiians, Guamanians, Samoans, and various people of other Pacific Islander groups.

Hispanic and Latino Americans make up over one-fifth (22.8%) of Cook County's population. Roughly 1,204,000 Latinos live in the county. Mexicans are the most common Latino group. Cook County's 925,000 Mexican Americans make up 17.5% of its population. Roughly 127,000 Puerto Ricans live in the county, while over 12,200 Cubans reside in the county. There are some 140,000 Hispanics and Latinos of other nationalities living in Cook County (i.e. Colombian, Bolivian, etc.), and they collectively make up 2.6% of the county's population.[16][17]

Religion

In 2010 statistics, the largest religious group in Cook County was the Archdiocese of Chicago, with 1,947,223 Catholics worshipping at 371 parishes, followed by 209,195 non-denominational adherents with 486 congregations, an estimated 201,152 Muslims with 62 congregations, 68,865 NBC Baptists with 99 congregations, 49,925 ELCA Lutherans with 145 congregations, 49,909 SBC Baptists with 181 congregations, 45,979 LCMS Lutherans with 120 congregations, 39,866 UCC Christians with 101 congregations, 33,584 UMC Methodists with 121 congregations, and 32,646 AG Pentecostals with 64 congregations. Altogether, 59.6% of the population was claimed as members by religious congregations, although members of historically African-American denominations were underrepresented due to incomplete information.[18] In 2014, Cook County had 2,001 religious organizations, second only to Los Angeles County out of all US counties.[19]

Geography

Chicago, Illinois
Climate chart (explanation)
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Source: The Weather Channel[20]
Metric conversion
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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,635 square miles (4,230 km2), of which 945 square miles (2,450 km2) is land and 690 square miles (1,800 km2) (42.2%) is water.[21] It is the sixth largest county in Illinois by land area, and the largest in total area. Most of the water is in Lake Michigan. The highest point is more than 950 feet (290 m),[1][2] and is in northwest Barrington Township, in the northwest corner of the county. The lowest point is less than 580 feet (180 m),[1][3] along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Climate and weather

In July, temperatures in Chicago, Cook County average daytime highs of 84 °F (29 °C), and nighttime lows of 68 °F (20 °C); and January daytime highs of 31 °F (−1 °C), and nighttime lows of 18 °F (−8 °C). Winter temperatures will sometimes veer above 40 °F (4 °C), and, although not common, have also risen over 50 °F (10 °C) on some winter days. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 4.30 inches (109 mm) in June to 1.77 inches (45 mm) in February.[20]

Cook County is among the few counties in the United States to border two counties with the same name (Lake County, Illinois and Lake County, Indiana). Illinois has two such counties (Randolph County borders both Perry County, Illinois and Perry County, Missouri).

National protected areas

Government and politics

Government

Main article: Government of Cook County, Illinois

The government of Cook County is primarily composed of the Board of Commissioners headed by the President of the County board, other elected officials such as the Sheriff, State's Attorney, Treasurer, Board of Review, Clerk, Assessor, Recorder, Circuit Court judges, and Circuit Court Clerk, as well as numerous other officers and entities. Cook County is the only home rule county in Illinois.[22] The Cook County Code is the codification of Cook County's local ordinances. Cook County's current County Board president is Toni Preckwinkle.

The Circuit Court of Cook County, which is an Illinois state court of general jurisdiction is funded, in part, by Cook County, and accepts more than 1.2 million cases each year for filing.[23] The Cook County Department of Corrections, also known as the Cook County Jail, is the largest single-site jail in the nation. The Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, under the authority of the Chief Judge of the court, is the first juvenile center in the nation and one of the largest in the nation. 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 third-largest public health system in the nation. Three hospitals are part of this system: John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, Provident Hospital, and Oak Forest Hospital of Cook County, along with over 30 clinics.

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

The Cook County Forest Preserves, organized in 1915, is a separate, independent taxing body, but the Cook County Board of Commissioners also acts as its Board of Commissioners. The district is a belt of 69,000 acres (280 km2) of forest reservations surrounding the city of Chicago. The Brookfield Zoo (managed by the Chicago Zoological Society) and the Chicago Botanic Garden (managed by the Chicago Horticultural Society) are located in the forest preserves.

Cook County is the fifth-largest employer in Chicago.[24]

In March 2008, the County Board increased the sales tax by one percent to 1.75 percent. This followed a quarter-cent increase in mass transit taxes. In Chicago, the rate increased to 10.25 percent, the steepest nominal rate of any major metropolitan area in America. In Evanston, sales tax reached 10 percent and Oak Lawn residents pay 9.5 percent.[25] On July 22, 2008, the Cook County board voted against Cook County Commissioner's proposal to repeal the tax increase.[26]

In 2016, Cook County joined Chicago in adopting a $13 hourly minimum wage.[27] Cook County Board chairman John Daley called the wage hike "the moral and right thing to do." In June 2017, however, nearly 75 home rule municipalities passed measures opting themselves out of the increase.[28]

Politics

The county has more Democratic Party members than any other Illinois county and it is one of the most Democratic counties in the United States.[29] Since 1932, the majority of its voters have only supported a Republican candidate in a Presidential election three times, all during national Republican landslides–Dwight Eisenhower over native son Adlai Stevenson II in 1952 and 1956, and Richard Nixon over George McGovern in 1972. Since then, the closest a Republican has come to carrying the county was in 1984, when Ronald Reagan won 48.4 percent of the county's vote. In 2020, 74 percent of the county voted for Joe Biden and 24 percent voted for Donald Trump.

In 1936, with Franklin D. Roosevelt receiving 1,253,164 votes in the county, Cook County became the first county in American history where a candidate received one million votes.

The Cook County Democratic Party represents Democratic voters in 50 wards in the city of Chicago and 30 suburban townships of Cook County. The organization has dominated County, city, and state politics since the 1930s. The last Republican mayor of Chicago was William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson, who left office in 1931 with a record of corruption. The most successful Republican candidate for mayor since then was Bernard Epton, who in 1983 came within 3.3 percentage points of defeating Democrat Harold Washington.[30] The county's Republican Party organization is the Cook County Republican Party.

The last Republican governor to carry the county was Jim Edgar in his 1994 landslide. The last Republican senator to do so was Charles H. Percy in 1978.

United States presidential election results for Cook County, Illinois[31][32]
Year Republican / Whig Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 558,269 24.01% 1,725,973 74.22% 41,163 1.77%
2016 453,287 20.79% 1,611,946 73.93% 115,111 5.28%
2012 495,542 24.59% 1,488,537 73.88% 30,740 1.53%
2008 487,736 22.82% 1,629,024 76.21% 20,706 0.97%
2004 597,405 29.15% 1,439,724 70.25% 12,305 0.60%
2000 534,542 28.65% 1,280,547 68.63% 50,818 2.72%
1996 461,557 26.73% 1,153,289 66.79% 111,820 6.48%
1992 605,300 28.20% 1,249,533 58.21% 291,822 13.59%
1988 878,582 43.36% 1,129,973 55.77% 17,589 0.87%
1984 1,055,558 48.40% 1,112,641 51.02% 12,536 0.57%
1980 856,574 39.60% 1,124,584 51.99% 181,939 8.41%
1976 987,498 44.69% 1,180,814 53.44% 41,436 1.88%
1972 1,234,307 53.41% 1,063,268 46.01% 13,462 0.58%
1968 960,493 41.11% 1,181,316 50.56% 194,729 8.33%
1964 895,718 36.82% 1,537,181 63.18% 0 0.00%
1960 1,059,607 43.33% 1,378,343 56.37% 7,319 0.30%
1956 1,293,223 56.80% 977,821 42.95% 5,800 0.25%
1952 1,188,973 50.21% 1,172,454 49.51% 6,512 0.28%
1948 1,015,800 45.23% 1,216,636 54.17% 13,463 0.60%
1944 924,659 41.91% 1,275,367 57.81% 6,165 0.28%
1940 938,454 44.38% 1,168,141 55.24% 8,212 0.39%
1936 701,206 34.90% 1,253,164 62.36% 55,087 2.74%
1932 690,146 41.47% 919,231 55.23% 54,855 3.30%
1928 812,063 52.73% 716,283 46.51% 11,825 0.77%
1924 688,973 61.87% 226,141 20.31% 198,538 17.83%
1920 635,197 71.12% 197,499 22.11% 60,441 6.77%
1916 435,695 51.20% 379,438 44.59% 35,830 4.21%
1912 74,851 17.44% 130,702 30.44% 223,759 52.12%
1908 230,400 55.51% 152,990 36.86% 31,701 7.64%
1904 229,848 58.49% 103,762 26.41% 59,335 15.10%
1900 203,760 50.80% 186,193 46.42% 11,181 2.79%
1896 221,823 58.43% 152,146 40.08% 5,639 1.49%
1892 111,254 42.57% 144,604 55.33% 5,472 2.09%
1844 1,119 35.58% 2,026 64.42% 0 0.00%

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, secession movements have been made over the years which called for certain townships or municipalities 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 panhandle (Barrington, Hanover, Palatine, Wheeling, Schaumburg, and Elk Grove) from Cook to form Lincoln County, in honor of the former U.S. president and Illinois resident.[33] It is likely that Arlington Heights would have been the county seat. This northwest suburban region of Cook was at the time moderately conservative and has a population over 500,000. Local legislators, led by State Senator Dave Regnar, went so far as to propose it as official legislation in the Illinois House. The legislation died, however, before coming to a vote.

In 2004, Blue Island Mayor Donald E. Peloquin organized a coalition 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 Burbank, stretching as far west as Orland Park, as far east as Calumet City, and as far south as Matteson, covering an expansive area with a population of over one million residents. Peloquin argued that the south suburbs are often shunned by the city (although Chicago is not bound or required to do anything for other municipalities) and he blamed the Chicago-centric policies of Cook County for failing to jumpstart the somewhat-depressed south suburban local economy. Pending sufficient interest from local communities, Peloquin planned a petition drive to place a question regarding the secession on the general election ballot, but the idea was not met with success.[34]

In arguing against the Lincoln County proposal, others noted several of the cities involved had power structures, law enforcement, or de facto "mayors for life" often accused in the press, or civilly or criminally charged with, political corruption, cronyism, and nepotism, and themselves being the main factor in their depressed economies rather than anyone in Cook County government. The opposition decried that their true reason for joining the secession effort was to start with a 'clean slate' with a new county government by design less willing to enforce responsibility against their abuses of power.[35][36]

Talk of secession from Cook County amongst some outlying communities again heated up in mid-2008 in response to a highly controversial 1% sales tax hike which has pushed the tax rates across the county communities up amongst the highest in the nation. Some border towns in particular had been outraged, as people can take their business across the county border (paying, for instance, 7% in Lake County instead of Palatine's 9.5%).[37] The secession issue eventually died down from the nominal tax increase.

In 2011, two downstate Republican state representatives, Bill Mitchell of the 87th district and Adam Brown of the 101st district, proposed statehood for Cook County. Mitchell said that Chicago is "dictating its views" to the rest of the state and Brown added that Chicago "overshadows" the rest of Illinois.[38]

Infrastructure

Canals

Construction of the Erie Canal in New York State made a connection from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes in 1821. As the Midwest farms proved productive, with much grain to sell to other parts of the US, Chicago and Cook County saw the benefit of a canal to improve the link from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. The Illinois and Michigan Canal was completed in 1848, extending from the Bridgeport neighborhood in Chicago on the Chicago River, to the Illinois River at the cities of LaSalle-Peru. This canal spurred the growth of Chicago and the areas around it, as water travel was the primary way to ship grain or other commodities in that part of the 19th century. The Illinois and Michigan Canal ceased major operation in 1933. Portions are now designated as a National Historic Corridor. The two canals and the Great Lakes cemented trade ties between the Midwest and the Northeast, encouraging farmers to grow more than they needed to feed themselves in Illinois, with a large market for grain now open to them. Towns in Cook County along the Canal grew. From a national perspective, the trade ties made the South region of the US less important to the Northeast as a trade partner.

The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, completed in 1900, largely replaced the functions of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. This canal resulted in the reversal of the direction of flow of the main stem and the South branch of the Chicago River; they used to empty into Lake Michigan and now those river sections flow toward the Des Plaines River. The Sanitary and Ship Canal was built to serve many aims, including ending using Lake Michigan as a sewer, sending waste water through treatment plants and sending it away from Lake Michigan. It is also a waterway for movement of ships.

Railway network

The next major technology for transportation was railroads. Chicago and the towns along the canal and rivers understood the value of being a hub of a major network. Rail lines spurred out from Chicago by the 1850s, with major growth in the rail network for freight and passenger transportation coming after the Civil War, when the transcontinental railroads were completed, coast to coast across the US, stopping in Chicago, the heart of Cook County.

Major highways

Following on the well-established position of Chicago as a transportation hub, the Interstate highway network maintained Chicago as a hub of that network, as well as serving the travel needs within the region.

Airports

When the age of air travel began in the 20th century, Midway Airport was built on one square mile of land and served as the major Chicago area airport from 1927 to 1955. Midway International Airport has been enlarged and continues to operate as of 2020. As air travel became more important for passenger travel, and then for select freight commodities, O'Hare International Airport was built adjacent to a military airfield in the northwest part of Cook County. The City of Chicago annexed the land for the airport, so that the city controls both airports serving a large area. During the second half of the 20th century, it was the world's busiest airport. The approach of Cook County and Chicago to air travel has been the same as the approach to canal, railroad and highway transportation, to serve as a major national hub.

There has been a long running plan for a third major airport to serve the south side of the city and the southern and southwestern suburbs, the Proposed Chicago south suburban airport intended for Peotone, Illinois. The state of Illinois has been addressing this topic since 1986. Some land has been acquired, but there is not a functioning airport there, as of August 2020.

Communities

 
 
Largest cities or towns in Cook County, Illinois
2018 U.S. Census Bureau Estimate[39]
Rank County Pop.
 
Chicago 		1 Chicago Cook / DuPage 2,705,994
2 Elgin Cook / Kane 111,683
3 Cicero Cook 81,597
4 Arlington Heights Cook 75,249
5 Evanston Cook 73,509
6 Schaumburg Cook / DuPage 71,290
7 Palatine Cook 68,053
8 Skokie Cook 63,280
9 Des Plaines Cook 58,959
10 Orland Park Cook / Will 58,312

Cities

Towns

Villages

Unincorporated communities

Other Communities

Historic Site

Townships

The county is divided into 29 townships, in addition to the cities of Chicago and Evanston.

Worth TownshipWheeling TownshipThornton TownshipStickney TownshipStickney TownshipSchaumburg TownshipRiverside TownshipRiver Forest TownshipRich TownshipProviso TownshipPalos TownshipPalatine TownshipOrland TownshipOak Park TownshipNorwood Park TownshipNorthfield TownshipNiles TownshipNew Trier TownshipMaine TownshipLyons TownshipLeyden TownshipLemont TownshipHanover TownshipEvanstonElk Grove TownshipCicero TownshipCalumet TownshipBremen TownshipBloom TownshipBerwyn TownshipBarrington Township 
Cook County townships (clickable)

Current townships & Independent cities

The 29 townships and 2 independent cities of Cook County, with their populations as of the 2010 Census, are:[40]

Former townships

Chicago's eight former townships and annexed parts of others no longer have any governmental structure or responsibility since their annexations, but their names and boundaries are still used on property plats and by Cook County for tax assessment purposes. In 2014, Evanston Township was dissolved by voters and its functions were absorbed by the city of Evanston.[41]

Adjacent counties

 
Cook County and adjacent counties, from ISS Expedition 37 in 2013.

Cook County is one of three U.S. counties (the others being Wayne County, West Virginia and Apache County, Arizona) to border two counties of the same name, neither of which is in the same state as the county itself (Lake County, Illinois and Lake County, Indiana).

Education

Public school districts

Main article: List of school districts in Cook County, Illinois

Colleges and universities

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Lowest and Highest Points in Cook County". Illinois State Geological Survey. Retrieved November 30, 2016. Greater than 950 ft max and Less than 580 ft min
  2. ^ a b Streamwood Quadrangle – Illinois – Cook Co (Map). 1:24,000. 7.5-Minute Series (Topographic). United States Geological Survey. 2013.
  3. ^ a b Chicago Loop Quadrangle – Illinois – Cook Co (Map). 1:24,000. 7.5-Minute Series (Topographic). United States Geological Survey. 2013.
  4. ^ . www.cookcountyil.gov. Archived from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  5. ^ "County Population Estimates". Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  6. ^ Read "Growing Populations, Changing Landscapes: Studies from India, China, and the United States" at NAP.edu. 2001. doi:10.17226/10144. ISBN 978-0-309-07554-1. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  7. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  8. ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  9. ^ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  10. ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  11. ^ . United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  12. ^ "County Median Home Price". National Association of Realtors. Archived from the original on April 15, 2022. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  13. ^ U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics 2010, Table DP-1, 2010 Demographic Profile Data. U.S. Census website . Retrieved June 22, 2014.
  14. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  15. ^ "Language Map Data Center". www.mla.org.
  16. ^ American FactFinder Archived February 10, 2020, at archive.today
  17. ^ American FactFinder Archived February 10, 2020, at archive.today
  18. ^ "County Membership Report Cook County (Illinois)". The Association of Religion Data Archives. 2010. Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  19. ^ "Social Capital Variables Spreadsheet for 2014". PennState College of Agricultural Sciences, Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development. December 8, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  20. ^ a b "Monthly Averages for Chicago, Illinois". The Weather Channel. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
  21. ^ "Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2010 – County". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved July 11, 2015.
  22. ^ Gove, Samuel Kimball (1996). Illinois Politics and Government: The Expanding Metropolitan Frontier. Politics and Governments of the American States. University of Nebraska Press. p. 156. ISBN 0-8032-7014-3. LCCN 95046017. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  23. ^ (PDF). 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 1, 2007. Retrieved December 16, 2008.
  24. ^ . Chicago Tribune. 2008. Archived from the original on March 2, 2008. Retrieved March 2, 2008.
  25. ^ . ChicagoBusiness. Archived from the original on March 2, 2008. Retrieved March 2, 2008.
  26. ^ "Cook County Board 'rejects' sales tax increase repeal". Chicago Tribune. July 22, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2008.
  27. ^ Elejalde-Ruiz, Alexia. "Cook County approves $13 hourly minimum wage affecting suburbs". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  28. ^ Slowik, Ted (June 28, 2017). "Slowik: Towns are right to opt out of Cook County minimum wage law". Daily Southtown. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  29. ^ Sauter, Alexander Kent, Thomas C. Frohlich, Sam Stebbins, Evan Comen and Michael B. "The most Democratic counties in each state". USA TODAY. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  30. ^ "Bernard E. Epton Is Dead at 66; Ran for Mayor of Chicago in '83". The New York Times. December 14, 1987. Retrieved February 11, 2014.
  31. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org.
  32. ^ "The Popular Vote of the United States, in the Presidential Election of 1844". New York Daily Herald. No. 5270. November 7, 1848. p. 2. Retrieved August 2, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. ^ Cleveland, Charles (September 1977). . Illinois Issues. Archived from the original on September 8, 2006.
  34. ^ . WLS-TV News (abc7chicago.com). June 25, 2004. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011.
  35. ^ The Leader-Chicago Bureau (November 8, 2004). . The Illinois Leader. Archived from the original on November 26, 2004.
  36. ^ . Archived from the original on December 17, 2004.
  37. ^ PinPoint Sales Tax Lookup May 6, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Zip2tax.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-21.
  38. ^ "2 GOP legislators propose separating Cook County from Illinois". SJ-R.com. November 22, 2011. Cf. Winston County, Alabama.
  39. ^ "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts". 2018 Populations.
  40. ^ "accessed May 17, 2011". Factfinder2.census.gov. October 5, 2010. Retrieved April 4, 2014.[dead link]
  41. ^ Dietrich, Matthew (September 19, 2014). "Evanston Township ceases to exist". HuffPost.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cook County, Illinois.
 
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Cook County.

    February 06, 2023
    cook, county, illinois, cook, county, redirects, here, other, uses, cook, county, disambiguation, cook, county, most, populous, county, state, illinois, second, most, populous, county, united, states, after, angeles, county, california, more, than, residents, . Cook County redirects here For other uses see Cook County disambiguation Cook County is the most populous county in the U S state of Illinois and the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County California More than 40 of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County As of 2020 the population was 5 275 541 Its county seat is Chicago the most populous city in Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States Cook County IllinoisCountyFrom top left to right Cook County Circuit Court at Daley Center with Chicago Picasso Frank Lloyd Wright s Studio Forest Preserve aerial view of Downtown Chicago aerial view of Evanston Montrose Avenue Beach in ChicagoFlagSealLocation within IllinoisIllinois location within the United StatesCoordinates 41 48 31 N 87 53 20 W 41 80861 N 87 88889 W 41 80861 87 88889 Coordinates 41 48 31 N 87 53 20 W 41 80861 N 87 88889 W 41 80861 87 88889CountryUnited StatesStateIllinoisRegionNorthern IllinoisMetro areaChicago MetropolitanIncorporatedJanuary 15 1831 192 years ago 1831 01 15 Named forDaniel CookCounty seatChicagoLargest cityChicagoIncorporated municipalities134 total 23 cities 1 town 111 villages located entirely or partiallywithin county boundaries Government TypeCounty BodyBoard of Commissioners Board PresidentToni R Preckwinkle D County Board17 commissionersArea County1 635 sq mi 4 230 km2 Land945 sq mi 2 450 km2 Water690 sq mi 1 800 km2 Metro10 874 sq mi 28 160 km2 Rank6th largest county in IllinoisHighest elevation 1 2 950 ft 290 m Lowest elevation 1 3 580 ft 180 m Population 2020 County5 275 541 Density3 200 sq mi 1 200 km2 Time zoneUTC 6 Central Summer DST UTC 5 Central ZIP Code prefixes600xx 608xxArea codes224 847 312 872 773 872 708Congressional districts1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th and 11thFIPS code17 031GNIS feature ID1784766Websitewww cookcountyil govCook County was incorporated in 1831 and named for Daniel Pope Cook an early Illinois statesman It achieved its present boundaries in 1839 Within one hundred years the county recorded explosive population growth going from a trading post village with a little over 600 residents to four million citizens rivalling Paris by the Great Depression During the first half of the 20th century it had the absolute majority of Illinois s population There are more than 800 local governmental units and nearly 130 municipalities located wholly or partially within Cook County the largest of which is Chicago The city is home to approximately 54 of the entire county s population 4 The part of the county outside of the Chicago and Evanston city limits is divided into 29 townships these often divide or share governmental services with local municipalities Townships within Chicago were abolished in 1902 but are retained for real estate assessment purposes Evanston Township was formerly coterminous with the City of Evanston but was abolished in 2014 County government is overseen by the Cook County Board and countywide state government offices include the Circuit Court of Cook County the Cook County State s Attorney the Cook County Sheriff and the Cook County Assessor Geographically the county is the sixth largest in Illinois by land area and the largest by total area It shares the state s Lake Michigan shoreline with Lake County Including its lake area Cook County has a total area of 1 635 square miles 4 234 6 km2 the largest county in Illinois of which 945 square miles 2 447 5 km2 is land and 690 square miles 1 787 1 km2 42 16 is water Land use in Cook County is mostly urban and densely populated Within Cook County the State of Illinois took advantage of its Lake Michigan access and the Chicago Portage beginning with the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1848 This helped make the region a central transit hub for the nation Chicago with its location on the Great Lakes and via the St Lawrence Seaway is a global port city giving Cook County an international shipping port Cook County s population is larger than that of 28 different U S states and territories and larger than the population of 11 of the 13 Canadian provinces and territories 5 Cook County is included in the Chicago metropolitan Combined Statistical Area CSA which has a population of approximately 10 million people Contents 1 History 2 Demographics 2 1 Ethnicity 2 2 Religion 3 Geography 3 1 Climate and weather 3 2 National protected areas 4 Government and politics 4 1 Government 4 2 Politics 4 3 Secession movements 5 Infrastructure 5 1 Canals 5 2 Railway network 5 3 Major highways 5 4 Airports 6 Communities 6 1 Cities 6 2 Towns 6 3 Villages 6 4 Unincorporated communities 6 5 Other Communities 6 6 Historic Site 6 7 Townships 6 7 1 Current townships amp Independent cities 6 7 2 Former townships 6 8 Adjacent counties 7 Education 7 1 Public school districts 7 2 Colleges and universities 8 See also 9 References 10 External linksHistory EditCook County was created on January 15 1831 out of Putnam County by an act of the Illinois General Assembly It was the 54th county established in Illinois and was named after Daniel Cook one of the earliest and youngest statesmen in Illinois history He served as the second U S Representative from Illinois and the state s first Attorney General In 1839 DuPage County was carved out of Cook County Cook County from 1831 to 1836 Cook County 1836 39 after the creation of McHenry and Will Counties Cook County s current size was formed in 1839 by the creation of DuPage County The shape of Cook County and the neighboring counties has remained the same since DuPage County was formed The population in each county and the split of agriculture compared to residential and industrial activity has changed dramatically over the intervening decades to 2020 The county began with 10 201 people in the Census of 1840 growing rapidly to 5 150 233 people estimated for 2019 by the US Census Growth was rapid in the 19th century with the County reaching 2 4 million people by 1910 In the 20th century the County reached 5 1 million population Cook County is nearly completely developed with little agricultural land remaining near the outer county boundaries 6 Demographics EditHistorical populationCensus Pop 184010 201 185043 385325 3 1860144 954234 1 1870349 966141 4 1880607 52473 6 18901 191 92296 2 19001 838 73554 3 19102 405 23330 8 19203 053 01726 9 19303 982 12330 4 19404 063 3422 0 19504 508 79211 0 19605 129 72513 8 19705 492 3697 1 19805 253 655 4 3 19905 105 067 2 8 20005 376 7415 3 20105 194 675 3 4 20205 275 5411 6 U S Decennial Census 7 1790 1960 8 1900 1990 9 1990 2000 10 2010 2019 11 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 married couples living together 15 6 had a female householder with no husband present and 35 7 were non families 29 4 of all households were someone living alone including 9 3 who were 65 years of age or older The average household size was 2 68 and the average family size was 3 38 2000 census age pyramid for Cook County In the county the population age distribution was 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 per capita income for the county was 23 227 About 10 6 of families and 13 5 of the population were below the poverty line including 18 9 of those under age 18 and 10 3 of those age 65 or over As of the fourth quarter of 2021 the median home value in Cook County was 299 571 an increase of 11 7 from the prior year 12 According to Census Bureau estimates the county s population had decreased by 3 4 between the 2000 census and the 2010 census 5 194 675 The county s population had grown slightly again by 2017 5 211 263 Ethnicity Edit Demographics 2010 13 Demographic ProportionWhite 55 4 Black 24 8 Asian 6 2 Islander 0 0 Native 0 4 Other 13 1 Hispanic any race 24 0 As of the 2010 Census the population of the county was 5 194 675 White Americans made up 55 4 of Cook County s population non Hispanic whites represented 43 9 of the population African Americans made up 24 8 of the population Native Americans made up 0 4 of Cook County s population Asian Americans made up 6 2 of the population 1 8 Indian 1 2 Filipino 1 2 Chinese 0 7 Korean 0 3 Vietnamese 0 2 Japanese 0 8 Other Pacific Islander Americans made up less than 0 1 of the population People from other races made up 10 6 of the population people from two or more races made up 2 5 of the county s population Hispanics and Latinos of any race made up 24 0 of Cook County s population As of the 2000 Census 14 there were 5 376 741 people 1 974 181 households and 1 269 398 families residing in the county The population density was 5 686 inhabitants per square mile 2 195 km2 There were 2 096 121 housing units at an average density of 2 216 per square mile 856 km2 The racial makeup of the county was 56 27 white 26 14 Black or African American 0 29 Native American 4 84 Asian 0 05 Pacific Islanders 9 88 from other races and 2 53 from two or more races 19 93 of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race 9 1 were of Polish 8 1 German 7 9 Irish and 5 7 Italian ancestry 17 63 reported speaking Spanish at home 3 13 speak Polish 15 Whites Hispanic and non Hispanic number roughly 2 793 500 There are about 2 372 500 non Hispanic whites residing in Cook County Sizeable non Hispanic white populations are those of German 11 4 Irish 10 3 Polish 9 7 Italian 6 1 and British 4 1 descent There are also significant groups of Swedish 1 5 Russian 1 5 French 1 3 Greek 1 2 Czech 1 0 Dutch 1 0 Lithuanian 0 9 and Norwegian 0 8 descent Black Americans are the second largest racial group Black Americans form over one quarter 25 4 of Cook County s population Blacks of non Hispanic origin form 25 2 of the population black Hispanics make up the remaining 0 2 of the populace There are roughly 1 341 000 African Americans of both Hispanic and non Hispanic origin living in Cook County 1 328 000 are non Hispanic blacks Roughly 52 500 people were of Sub Saharan African ancestry making up 1 0 of the total population Approximately 10 300 residents of Cook County are of Native American ancestry They consist of Cherokee Chippewa Navajo and Sioux Native Americans of Hispanic origin represent a sizeable portion of the Native American population Nearly 6 000 Native Americans are of non Hispanic origin and some 4 300 are of Hispanic origin Over 40 of the Native American racial group is of Hispanic descent Non English speakers in Cook County Asian Americans are a very sizeable racial group in the county numbering about 301 000 The Asian population is ethnically diverse and includes roughly 87 900 Indians 61 700 Filipinos 60 700 Chinese 35 000 Koreans 13 700 Vietnamese and 11 100 Japanese Roughly 30 800 are of other Asian ethnic groups such as Thai Cambodian and Hmong Approximately 3 000 residents are of Pacific Islander heritage This group includes roughly Native Hawaiians Guamanians Samoans and various people of other Pacific Islander groups Hispanic and Latino Americans make up over one fifth 22 8 of Cook County s population Roughly 1 204 000 Latinos live in the county Mexicans are the most common Latino group Cook County s 925 000 Mexican Americans make up 17 5 of its population Roughly 127 000 Puerto Ricans live in the county while over 12 200 Cubans reside in the county There are some 140 000 Hispanics and Latinos of other nationalities living in Cook County i e Colombian Bolivian etc and they collectively make up 2 6 of the county s population 16 17 Religion Edit In 2010 statistics the largest religious group in Cook County was the Archdiocese of Chicago with 1 947 223 Catholics worshipping at 371 parishes followed by 209 195 non denominational adherents with 486 congregations an estimated 201 152 Muslims with 62 congregations 68 865 NBC Baptists with 99 congregations 49 925 ELCA Lutherans with 145 congregations 49 909 SBC Baptists with 181 congregations 45 979 LCMS Lutherans with 120 congregations 39 866 UCC Christians with 101 congregations 33 584 UMC Methodists with 121 congregations and 32 646 AG Pentecostals with 64 congregations Altogether 59 6 of the population was claimed as members by religious congregations although members of historically African American denominations were underrepresented due to incomplete information 18 In 2014 Cook County had 2 001 religious organizations second only to Los Angeles County out of all US counties 19 Geography EditChicago IllinoisClimate chart explanation J F M A M J J A S O N D 2 2 32 18 1 8 38 24 3 47 32 3 7 59 42 3 7 70 51 4 3 80 61 3 7 84 66 3 9 83 65 3 2 76 57 2 7 64 46 3 3 49 35 2 6 37 24Average max and min temperatures in FPrecipitation totals in inchesSource The Weather Channel 20 Metric conversionJ F M A M J J A S O N D 55 0 8 45 3 4 76 8 0 93 15 6 94 21 11 109 27 16 93 29 19 98 28 18 82 24 14 69 18 8 84 9 2 67 3 4Average max and min temperatures in CPrecipitation totals in mmAccording to the U S Census Bureau the county has a total area of 1 635 square miles 4 230 km2 of which 945 square miles 2 450 km2 is land and 690 square miles 1 800 km2 42 2 is water 21 It is the sixth largest county in Illinois by land area and the largest in total area Most of the water is in Lake Michigan The highest point is more than 950 feet 290 m 1 2 and is in northwest Barrington Township in the northwest corner of the county The lowest point is less than 580 feet 180 m 1 3 along the Lake Michigan shoreline Climate and weather Edit In July temperatures in Chicago Cook County average daytime highs of 84 F 29 C and nighttime lows of 68 F 20 C and January daytime highs of 31 F 1 C and nighttime lows of 18 F 8 C Winter temperatures will sometimes veer above 40 F 4 C and although not common have also risen over 50 F 10 C on some winter days Average monthly precipitation ranged from 4 30 inches 109 mm in June to 1 77 inches 45 mm in February 20 Cook County is among the few counties in the United States to border two counties with the same name Lake County Illinois and Lake County Indiana Illinois has two such counties Randolph County borders both Perry County Illinois and Perry County Missouri National protected areas Edit Chicago Portage National Historic Site Pullman National MonumentGovernment and politics EditGovernment Edit Main article Government of Cook County Illinois The government of Cook County is primarily composed of the Board of Commissioners headed by the President of the County board other elected officials such as the Sheriff State s Attorney Treasurer Board of Review Clerk Assessor Recorder Circuit Court judges and Circuit Court Clerk as well as numerous other officers and entities Cook County is the only home rule county in Illinois 22 The Cook County Code is the codification of Cook County s local ordinances Cook County s current County Board president is Toni Preckwinkle The Circuit Court of Cook County which is an Illinois state court of general jurisdiction is funded in part by Cook County and accepts more than 1 2 million cases each year for filing 23 The Cook County Department of Corrections also known as the Cook County Jail is the largest single site jail in the nation The Cook County Juvenile Detention Center under the authority of the Chief Judge of the court is the first juvenile center in the nation and one of the largest in the nation 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 third largest public health system in the nation Three hospitals are part of this system John H Stroger Jr Hospital of Cook County Provident Hospital and Oak Forest Hospital of Cook County along with over 30 clinics The Cook County Department of Transportation is responsible for the design and maintenance of roadways in the county These thoroughfares are composed mostly of major and minor arterials with a few local roads Although the County Department of Transportation was instrumental in designing many of the expressways in the county today they are under the jurisdiction of the state The Cook County Forest Preserves organized in 1915 is a separate independent taxing body but the Cook County Board of Commissioners also acts as its Board of Commissioners The district is a belt of 69 000 acres 280 km2 of forest reservations surrounding the city of Chicago The Brookfield Zoo managed by the Chicago Zoological Society and the Chicago Botanic Garden managed by the Chicago Horticultural Society are located in the forest preserves Cook County is the fifth largest employer in Chicago 24 In March 2008 the County Board increased the sales tax by one percent to 1 75 percent This followed a quarter cent increase in mass transit taxes In Chicago the rate increased to 10 25 percent the steepest nominal rate of any major metropolitan area in America In Evanston sales tax reached 10 percent and Oak Lawn residents pay 9 5 percent 25 On July 22 2008 the Cook County board voted against Cook County Commissioner s proposal to repeal the tax increase 26 In 2016 Cook County joined Chicago in adopting a 13 hourly minimum wage 27 Cook County Board chairman John Daley called the wage hike the moral and right thing to do In June 2017 however nearly 75 home rule municipalities passed measures opting themselves out of the increase 28 Politics Edit The county has more Democratic Party members than any other Illinois county and it is one of the most Democratic counties in the United States 29 Since 1932 the majority of its voters have only supported a Republican candidate in a Presidential election three times all during national Republican landslides Dwight Eisenhower over native son Adlai Stevenson II in 1952 and 1956 and Richard Nixon over George McGovern in 1972 Since then the closest a Republican has come to carrying the county was in 1984 when Ronald Reagan won 48 4 percent of the county s vote In 2020 74 percent of the county voted for Joe Biden and 24 percent voted for Donald Trump In 1936 with Franklin D Roosevelt receiving 1 253 164 votes in the county Cook County became the first county in American history where a candidate received one million votes The Cook County Democratic Party represents Democratic voters in 50 wards in the city of Chicago and 30 suburban townships of Cook County The organization has dominated County city and state politics since the 1930s The last Republican mayor of Chicago was William Hale Big Bill Thompson who left office in 1931 with a record of corruption The most successful Republican candidate for mayor since then was Bernard Epton who in 1983 came within 3 3 percentage points of defeating Democrat Harold Washington 30 The county s Republican Party organization is the Cook County Republican Party The last Republican governor to carry the county was Jim Edgar in his 1994 landslide The last Republican senator to do so was Charles H Percy in 1978 United States presidential election results for Cook County Illinois 31 32 Year Republican Whig Democratic Third partyNo No No 2020 558 269 24 01 1 725 973 74 22 41 163 1 77 2016 453 287 20 79 1 611 946 73 93 115 111 5 28 2012 495 542 24 59 1 488 537 73 88 30 740 1 53 2008 487 736 22 82 1 629 024 76 21 20 706 0 97 2004 597 405 29 15 1 439 724 70 25 12 305 0 60 2000 534 542 28 65 1 280 547 68 63 50 818 2 72 1996 461 557 26 73 1 153 289 66 79 111 820 6 48 1992 605 300 28 20 1 249 533 58 21 291 822 13 59 1988 878 582 43 36 1 129 973 55 77 17 589 0 87 1984 1 055 558 48 40 1 112 641 51 02 12 536 0 57 1980 856 574 39 60 1 124 584 51 99 181 939 8 41 1976 987 498 44 69 1 180 814 53 44 41 436 1 88 1972 1 234 307 53 41 1 063 268 46 01 13 462 0 58 1968 960 493 41 11 1 181 316 50 56 194 729 8 33 1964 895 718 36 82 1 537 181 63 18 0 0 00 1960 1 059 607 43 33 1 378 343 56 37 7 319 0 30 1956 1 293 223 56 80 977 821 42 95 5 800 0 25 1952 1 188 973 50 21 1 172 454 49 51 6 512 0 28 1948 1 015 800 45 23 1 216 636 54 17 13 463 0 60 1944 924 659 41 91 1 275 367 57 81 6 165 0 28 1940 938 454 44 38 1 168 141 55 24 8 212 0 39 1936 701 206 34 90 1 253 164 62 36 55 087 2 74 1932 690 146 41 47 919 231 55 23 54 855 3 30 1928 812 063 52 73 716 283 46 51 11 825 0 77 1924 688 973 61 87 226 141 20 31 198 538 17 83 1920 635 197 71 12 197 499 22 11 60 441 6 77 1916 435 695 51 20 379 438 44 59 35 830 4 21 1912 74 851 17 44 130 702 30 44 223 759 52 12 1908 230 400 55 51 152 990 36 86 31 701 7 64 1904 229 848 58 49 103 762 26 41 59 335 15 10 1900 203 760 50 80 186 193 46 42 11 181 2 79 1896 221 823 58 43 152 146 40 08 5 639 1 49 1892 111 254 42 57 144 604 55 33 5 472 2 09 1844 1 119 35 58 2 026 64 42 0 0 00 Secession movements Edit To establish more localized government control and policies which reflect the often different values and needs of large suburban sections of the sprawling county secession movements have been made over the years which called for certain townships or municipalities 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 panhandle Barrington Hanover Palatine Wheeling Schaumburg and Elk Grove from Cook to form Lincoln County in honor of the former U S president and Illinois resident 33 It is likely that Arlington Heights would have been the county seat This northwest suburban region of Cook was at the time moderately conservative and has a population over 500 000 Local legislators led by State Senator Dave Regnar went so far as to propose it as official legislation in the Illinois House The legislation died however before coming to a vote In 2004 Blue Island Mayor Donald E Peloquin organized a coalition 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 Burbank stretching as far west as Orland Park as far east as Calumet City and as far south as Matteson covering an expansive area with a population of over one million residents Peloquin argued that the south suburbs are often shunned by the city although Chicago is not bound or required to do anything for other municipalities and he blamed the Chicago centric policies of Cook County for failing to jumpstart the somewhat depressed south suburban local economy Pending sufficient interest from local communities Peloquin planned a petition drive to place a question regarding the secession on the general election ballot but the idea was not met with success 34 In arguing against the Lincoln County proposal others noted several of the cities involved had power structures law enforcement or de facto mayors for life often accused in the press or civilly or criminally charged with political corruption cronyism and nepotism and themselves being the main factor in their depressed economies rather than anyone in Cook County government The opposition decried that their true reason for joining the secession effort was to start with a clean slate with a new county government by design less willing to enforce responsibility against their abuses of power 35 36 Talk of secession from Cook County amongst some outlying communities again heated up in mid 2008 in response to a highly controversial 1 sales tax hike which has pushed the tax rates across the county communities up amongst the highest in the nation Some border towns in particular had been outraged as people can take their business across the county border paying for instance 7 in Lake County instead of Palatine s 9 5 37 The secession issue eventually died down from the nominal tax increase In 2011 two downstate Republican state representatives Bill Mitchell of the 87th district and Adam Brown of the 101st district proposed statehood for Cook County Mitchell said that Chicago is dictating its views to the rest of the state and Brown added that Chicago overshadows the rest of Illinois 38 Infrastructure EditCanals Edit Construction of the Erie Canal in New York State made a connection from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes in 1821 As the Midwest farms proved productive with much grain to sell to other parts of the US Chicago and Cook County saw the benefit of a canal to improve the link from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River The Illinois and Michigan Canal was completed in 1848 extending from the Bridgeport neighborhood in Chicago on the Chicago River to the Illinois River at the cities of LaSalle Peru This canal spurred the growth of Chicago and the areas around it as water travel was the primary way to ship grain or other commodities in that part of the 19th century The Illinois and Michigan Canal ceased major operation in 1933 Portions are now designated as a National Historic Corridor The two canals and the Great Lakes cemented trade ties between the Midwest and the Northeast encouraging farmers to grow more than they needed to feed themselves in Illinois with a large market for grain now open to them Towns in Cook County along the Canal grew From a national perspective the trade ties made the South region of the US less important to the Northeast as a trade partner The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal completed in 1900 largely replaced the functions of the Illinois and Michigan Canal This canal resulted in the reversal of the direction of flow of the main stem and the South branch of the Chicago River they used to empty into Lake Michigan and now those river sections flow toward the Des Plaines River The Sanitary and Ship Canal was built to serve many aims including ending using Lake Michigan as a sewer sending waste water through treatment plants and sending it away from Lake Michigan It is also a waterway for movement of ships Railway network Edit The next major technology for transportation was railroads Chicago and the towns along the canal and rivers understood the value of being a hub of a major network Rail lines spurred out from Chicago by the 1850s with major growth in the rail network for freight and passenger transportation coming after the Civil War when the transcontinental railroads were completed coast to coast across the US stopping in Chicago the heart of Cook County Major highways Edit Following on the well established position of Chicago as a transportation hub the Interstate highway network maintained Chicago as a hub of that network as well as serving the travel needs within the region I 55 I 57 I 80 I 88 I 90 I 94 Chicago Skyway I 190 I 290 I 294 I 355 US 6 US 12 US 14 US 20 US 30 US 34 US 41 US 45 US 66 Illinois Route 1 Illinois Route 7 Illinois Route 19 Illinois Route 21 Illinois Route 25 Illinois Route 38 Illinois Route 43 Illinois Route 50 Illinois Route 53 Illinois Route 56 Illinois Route 58 Illinois Route 59 Illinois Route 62 Illinois Route 64 Illinois Route 68 Illinois Route 72 Illinois Route 83 Illinois Route 110 Illinois Route 171 Illinois Route 390 Illinois Route 394 Airports Edit When the age of air travel began in the 20th century Midway Airport was built on one square mile of land and served as the major Chicago area airport from 1927 to 1955 Midway International Airport has been enlarged and continues to operate as of 2020 As air travel became more important for passenger travel and then for select freight commodities O Hare International Airport was built adjacent to a military airfield in the northwest part of Cook County The City of Chicago annexed the land for the airport so that the city controls both airports serving a large area During the second half of the 20th century it was the world s busiest airport The approach of Cook County and Chicago to air travel has been the same as the approach to canal railroad and highway transportation to serve as a major national hub There has been a long running plan for a third major airport to serve the south side of the city and the southern and southwestern suburbs the Proposed Chicago south suburban airport intended for Peotone Illinois The state of Illinois has been addressing this topic since 1986 Some land has been acquired but there is not a functioning airport there as of August 2020 Communities Edit Largest cities or towns in Cook County Illinois 2018 U S Census Bureau Estimate 39 Rank County Pop Chicago 1 Chicago Cook DuPage 2 705 9942 Elgin Cook Kane 111 6833 Cicero Cook 81 5974 Arlington Heights Cook 75 2495 Evanston Cook 73 5096 Schaumburg Cook DuPage 71 2907 Palatine Cook 68 0538 Skokie Cook 63 2809 Des Plaines Cook 58 95910 Orland Park Cook Will 58 312 Cities Edit Berwyn Blue Island Burbank Calumet City Chicago county seat and largest municipality Chicago Heights Country Club Hills Countryside Des Plaines Elgin part Elmhurst part Evanston Harvey Hickory Hills Hometown Markham Northlake Oak Forest Orland Park Palos Heights Palos Hills Palos Park Park Ridge Prospect Heights Rolling Meadows Towns Edit CiceroVillages Edit Alsip Arlington Heights Barrington partly in Lake County Barrington Hills mostly Bartlett mostly in DuPage County Bedford Park Bellwood Bensenville mostly in DuPage County Berkeley Bridgeview Broadview Brookfield Buffalo Grove mostly in Lake County Burnham Burr Ridge mostly in DuPage County Calumet Park Chicago Ridge Crestwood Deer Park mostly in Lake County Deerfield mostly in Lake County Dixmoor Dolton East Dundee mostly in Kane County East Hazel Crest Elk Grove Village partly in DuPage County Elmwood Park Evergreen Park Flossmoor Ford Heights Forest Park Forest View Frankfort mostly in Will County Franklin Park Glencoe Glenview Glenwood Golf Hanover Park mostly in DuPage County Harwood Heights Hazel Crest Hillside Hinsdale mostly in DuPage County Hodgkins Hoffman Estates partly in Kane County Homewood Indian Head Park Inverness Justice Kenilworth La Grange La Grange Park Lansing Lemont partly in DuPage County and Will County Lincolnwood Lynwood Lyons Matteson Maywood McCook Melrose Park Merrionette Park Midlothian Morton Grove Mount Prospect Niles Norridge North Riverside Northbrook Northfield Oak Brook mostly in DuPage County Oak Forest Oak Lawn Oak Park Olympia Fields Orland Hills Orland Park partly in Will County Palatine Palos Park Park Forest partly in Will County Phoenix Posen Richton Park River Forest River Grove Riverdale Riverside Robbins Roselle mostly in DuPage County Rosemont Sauk Village partly in Will County Schaumburg partly in DuPage County Schiller Park Skokie South Barrington South Chicago Heights South Holland Steger partly in Will County Stickney Stone Park Streamwood Summit Thornton Tinley Park partly in Will County University Park mostly in Will County Westchester Western Springs Wheeling Willow Springs small portion in DuPage County Wilmette Winnetka Woodridge mostly in DuPage County and Will County Worth Unincorporated communities Edit Central Stickney Hines Indian Hill La Grange Highlands Nottingham Park Sag Bridge Sutton Other Communities Edit Orchard Place TechnyHistoric Site Edit Fort DearbornTownships Edit The county is divided into 29 townships in addition to the cities of Chicago and Evanston Cook County townships clickable Current townships amp Independent cities Edit The 29 townships and 2 independent cities of Cook County with their populations as of the 2010 Census are 40 City of Chicago 2 695 598 City of Evanston 74 486 Barrington Township 15 636 Berwyn Township 56 657 Bloom Township 90 922 Bremen Township 110 118 Calumet Township 20 777 Cicero Township 83 891 Elk Grove Township 92 905 Hanover Township 99 538 Lemont Township 21 113 Leyden Township 92 890 Lyons Township 111 688 Maine Township 135 772 New Trier Township 55 424 Niles Township 105 882 Northfield Township 85 102 Norwood Park Township 26 385 Oak Park Township 51 878 Orland Township 97 558 Palatine Township 112 994 Palos Township 54 615 Proviso Township 151 704 Rich Township 76 727 River Forest Township 11 172 Riverside Township 15 594 Schaumburg Township 131 288 Stickney Township 40 772 Thornton Township 169 326 Wheeling Township 153 630 Worth Township 152 633 Former townships Edit Chicago s eight former townships and annexed parts of others no longer have any governmental structure or responsibility since their annexations but their names and boundaries are still used on property plats and by Cook County for tax assessment purposes In 2014 Evanston Township was dissolved by voters and its functions were absorbed by the city of Evanston 41 Evanston Township Jefferson Township Hyde Park Township Lake Township Lake View Township North Township Rogers Park Township South Township West Township Adjacent counties Edit Cook County and adjacent counties from ISS Expedition 37 in 2013 McHenry County Illinois northwest Lake County Illinois north Berrien County Michigan east Lake County Indiana southeast Will County Illinois south DuPage County Illinois west Kane County Illinois westCook County is one of three U S counties the others being Wayne County West Virginia and Apache County Arizona to border two counties of the same name neither of which is in the same state as the county itself Lake County Illinois and Lake County Indiana Education EditPublic school districts Edit Main article List of school districts in Cook County Illinois Colleges and universities Edit Chicago State University City Colleges of Chicago Columbia College Chicago Depaul University Loyola University Chicago National Louis University Northeastern Illinois UniversityNorthwestern University University of Chicago University of Illinois ChicagoSee also Edit Chicago portal Illinois portalChicago metropolitan area Cook County Forest Preserve District Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago National Register of Historic Places listings in Cook County IllinoisReferences Edit a b c d Lowest and Highest Points in Cook County Illinois State Geological Survey Retrieved November 30 2016 Greater than 950 ft max and Less than 580 ft min a b Streamwood Quadrangle Illinois Cook Co Map 1 24 000 7 5 Minute Series Topographic United States Geological Survey 2013 a b Chicago Loop Quadrangle Illinois Cook Co Map 1 24 000 7 5 Minute Series Topographic United States Geological Survey 2013 About Cook County CookCountyIL gov www cookcountyil gov Archived from the original on November 30 2020 Retrieved November 15 2020 County Population Estimates Retrieved April 4 2014 Read Growing Populations Changing Landscapes Studies from India China and the United States at NAP edu 2001 doi 10 17226 10144 ISBN 978 0 309 07554 1 Retrieved November 15 2020 U S Decennial Census United States Census Bureau Retrieved July 4 2014 Historical Census Browser University of Virginia Library Retrieved July 4 2014 Population of Counties by Decennial Census 1900 to 1990 United States Census Bureau Retrieved July 4 2014 Census 2000 PHC T 4 Ranking Tables for Counties 1990 and 2000 PDF United States Census Bureau Archived PDF from the original on March 27 2010 Retrieved July 4 2014 State amp County QuickFacts United States Census Bureau Archived from the original on July 15 2011 Retrieved January 20 2016 County Median Home Price National Association of Realtors Archived from the original on April 15 2022 Retrieved April 14 2022 U S Census Bureau American Community Survey Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics 2010 Table DP 1 2010 Demographic Profile Data U S Census website Retrieved June 22 2014 U S Census website United States Census Bureau Retrieved 2008 01 31 Language Map Data Center www mla org American FactFinder Archived February 10 2020 at archive today American FactFinder Archived February 10 2020 at archive today County Membership Report Cook County Illinois The Association of Religion Data Archives 2010 Archived from the original on November 24 2020 Retrieved December 31 2019 Social Capital Variables Spreadsheet for 2014 PennState College of Agricultural Sciences Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development December 8 2017 Retrieved December 30 2019 a b Monthly Averages for Chicago Illinois The Weather Channel Retrieved January 27 2011 Population Housing Units Area and Density 2010 County United States Census Bureau Archived from the original on February 13 2020 Retrieved July 11 2015 Gove Samuel Kimball 1996 Illinois Politics and Government The Expanding Metropolitan Frontier Politics and Governments of the American States University of Nebraska Press p 156 ISBN 0 8032 7014 3 LCCN 95046017 Retrieved April 4 2014 Circuit Court of Cook County an Informational Guide PDF 2008 Archived from the original PDF on March 1 2007 Retrieved December 16 2008 All the extra cost will be no small change Chicago Tribune 2008 Archived from the original on March 2 2008 Retrieved March 2 2008 Chicago s Largest Employers ChicagoBusiness Archived from the original on March 2 2008 Retrieved March 2 2008 Cook County Board rejects sales tax increase repeal Chicago Tribune July 22 2008 Retrieved July 23 2008 Elejalde Ruiz Alexia Cook County approves 13 hourly minimum wage affecting suburbs Chicago Tribune Retrieved December 6 2016 Slowik Ted June 28 2017 Slowik Towns are right to opt out of Cook County minimum wage law Daily Southtown Retrieved June 30 2017 Sauter Alexander Kent Thomas C Frohlich Sam Stebbins Evan Comen and Michael B The most Democratic counties in each state USA TODAY Retrieved November 15 2020 Bernard E Epton Is Dead at 66 Ran for Mayor of Chicago in 83 The New York Times December 14 1987 Retrieved February 11 2014 Leip David Dave Leip s Atlas of U S Presidential Elections uselectionatlas org The Popular Vote of the United States in the Presidential Election of 1844 New York Daily Herald No 5270 November 7 1848 p 2 Retrieved August 2 2020 via Newspapers com Cleveland Charles September 1977 Carving another county out of Cook Illinois Issues Archived from the original on September 8 2006 Blue Island mayor wants to create Lincoln County WLS TV News abc7chicago com June 25 2004 Archived from the original on June 29 2011 The Leader Chicago Bureau November 8 2004 Split Vote on Cook County secession in the Southland The Illinois Leader Archived from the original on November 26 2004 PROFT Secession The Most Important Vote Cast in the Southland this November Archived from the original on December 17 2004 PinPoint Sales Tax Lookup Archived May 6 2015 at the Wayback Machine Zip2tax com Retrieved on 2013 07 21 2 GOP legislators propose separating Cook County from Illinois SJ R com November 22 2011 Cf Winston County Alabama U S Census Bureau QuickFacts 2018 Populations accessed May 17 2011 Factfinder2 census gov October 5 2010 Retrieved April 4 2014 dead link Dietrich Matthew September 19 2014 Evanston Township ceases to exist HuffPost External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cook County Illinois Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Cook County Cook County Government Website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Cook County Illinois amp oldid 1136975879, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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