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Peoria County was formed in 1825 out of Fulton County. It was named for the Peoria, an Illiniwek people who lived there. It included most of the western valley of the Illinois River up to the Chicago river portage.
Gallery timeline
Peoria County at creation, with unorganized territory attached to it.[3]
Peoria County 1826–1827. The newly created Mercer and Warren Counties were temporarily attached to Peoria.[3]
Peoria County 1827–1830. The creation of Tazewell County left Peoria with only a small tract of unorganized territory east of the Illinois River, whose border was not defined.
In 1830, Warren County organized a government.
In 1831, Peoria County's present borders were established and Mercer County was attached to Warren.
Geography
According to the US Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 631 square miles (1,630 km2), of which 619 square miles (1,600 km2) is land and 11 square miles (28 km2) (1.8%) is water.[4] The county is drained by Spoon River, Kickapoo Creek, Elbow Creek, and Copperas Creek.[5]
In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Peoria have ranged from a low of 14 °F (−10 °C) in January to a high of 86 °F (30 °C) in July, although a record low of −27 °F (−33 °C) was recorded in January 1884 and a record high of 113 °F (45 °C) was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 1.50 inches (38 mm) in January to 4.17 inches (106 mm) in May.[6]
US Decennial Census[9] 1790–1960[10] 1900–1990[11] 1990–2000[12] 2010–2019[1]
As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 181,830 people, including 73,253 households. The population density was 301.2 inhabitants per square mile (116.3/km2). There were 83,034 housing units at an average density of 134.1 per square mile (51.8/km2).[4]
The racial makeup of the county was 73.5% white alone, 18.8% black or African American alone, 4.1% Asian alone, 0.4% American Indian alone, .1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, 3.1% listed two or more races, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, and 69.4% were white and not of Hispanic or Latino origin.[13] In terms of ancestry, per the 2010 US Census, 28.3% were German, 14.8% were Irish, 10.4% were English, and 5.5% were American.[14]
Of the 75,793 households, 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.1% were married couples living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 37.7% were non-families, and 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age was 36.8 years.[15]
The median income for a household in the county was $49,747 and the median income for a family was $63,163. Males had a median income of $51,246 versus $32,881 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,157. About 10.3% of families and 14.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.8% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.[16]
Peoria County is governed by an 18-member County Board which meets on the second Thursday of each month. Each member represents a district with roughly 10,000 residents.[20]
District
Board Member
Residence
In office since
Party
1
Sharon K. Williams
Peoria
2012
Democratic
2
Camille Coates
Peoria
2022
Democratic
3
Betty Duncan
Peoria
2020
Democratic
4
Brandy Bryant
Peoria
2019
Democratic
5
James C. Dillon (Chair)
West Peoria
2006
Democratic
6
Dr. Eden Blair
Peoria
2019
Democratic
7
Phillip Salzer
Peoria
unknown
Democratic
8
Nathan Hoerr
Peoria
2022
Republican
9
Danny Phelan
Peoria Heights
2022
Democratic
10
Rob Reneau
Peoria
2018
Democratic
11
Linda E. Daley
Peoria
2019
Republican
12
Daniel Kelch
Edwards
2022
Republican
13
Terry Ruthland
Chillicothe
2022
Republican
14
Brian Elsasser
Princeville
1998
Republican
15
Steven B. Rieker
Peoria
2016
Republican
16
Matt Windish
Brimfield
2018
Republican
17
Jennifer Groves Allison
Peoria
2019
Democratic
18
Paul Rosenbohm
Peoria
2010
Republican
The County also elects an Auditor, Circuit Clerk, Coroner, County Clerk, Sheriff, State's Attorney, Regional Superintendent (Education), and Treasurer to four-year terms.
Office
Current Holder
In office since
Party
Auditor
Jessica Thomas
2018
Democratic
Circuit Clerk
Bobby Spears
2002
Democratic
Coroner
Jamie Harwood
2016
Democratic
County Clerk
Rachael Parker
2019
Democratic
Sheriff
Chris Watkins
2022
Republican
State's Attorney
Jodi Hoos
2019
Democratic
Regional Superintendent
Elizabeth Crider
2014
Democratic
Treasurer
Nicole Bjerke
2017
Republican
Politics
United States presidential election results for Peoria County, Illinois[21]
Prior to 1992, Peoria County, like most of central Illinois, was powerfully Republican. Usually, it only voted for Democratic Party presidential candidates when they won nationally by a landslide. It began trending away from the GOP in the mid-1980s, as evidenced when Ronald Reagan only carried it with 55 percent of the vote in 1984 even as he was winning reelection in a landslide nationally.
From 1992 onward, the county has backed the Democratic candidate in every presidential election, though never by a margin greater than 10 percent aside from 2008 when Illinoisan Barack Obama won it by nearly 14 points. This relative closeness in results was most evident in 2004 when the county backed John Kerry over George W. Bush by only 70 votes.
In the Illinois Senate, Peoria County is represented by Republican Win Stoller of the 37th Legislative District and Democrat Dave Koehler of the 46th Legislative District. In the Illinois House of Representatives, Peoria County is represented by Republican Ryan Spain of the 73rd Representative District, Republican Travis Weaver of the 91st Representative District and Democrat Jehan Gordon-Booth of the 92nd Representative District.
![[icon]](File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small}
![Peoria County at creation, with unorganized territory attached to it.[3]](File:Peoria_County_Illinois_1825.png)
![Peoria County 1826–1827. The newly created Mercer and Warren Counties were temporarily attached to Peoria.[3]](File:Peoria_County_Illinois_1826.png)
