McLean County is a U.S.

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the east central region of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, and is the largest county by land area in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. According to the 2020 Census, it had a population of 170,954. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Bloomington. McLean County is included in the Bloomington–Normal, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Pronunciation

Locally, the second syllable of ''McLean'' is pronounced with a 'long a' (ā, IPA /ei/) sound (i.e. "muh-KLAIN") (as with native son McLean Stevenson), not with a 'long e' (ē, IPA /i/) sound ("muh-KLEEN").

History

The first white settlers in what became McLean County arrived around 1821. The first settlement was Blooming Grove, established in 1822 near present-day Bloomington. McLean County was formed on December 25, 1830, out of Tazewell County. It was named for John McLean,

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

for Illinois, who died in 1830. File:McLean_County_Illinois_1830.png, McLean County from the time of its creation to 1837 File:McLean County Illinois 1837.png, McLean County between 1837 and 1841 File:McLean County Illinois 1841.png, McLean County in 1841, reduced to its present borders

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.2%) is water. It is the largest county in Illinois by land area and third-largest by total area after Cook and

Lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

Counties, which have large portions of their areas on

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

. McLean County is actually larger than the land area of

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

(1045 sq mi).

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Bloomington have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1985 and a record high of was recorded in June 1988. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in May.

Adjacent counties

* Woodford County - northwest * Livingston County - northeast * Ford County - east * Champaign County - southeast * Piatt County - south * DeWitt County - south * Logan County - southwest * Tazewell County - west

Major highways

* * ** * * * ** * * * * * * *

Transit

* Connect Transit * SHOW Bus * Uptown Station * List of intercity bus stops in Illinois

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 169,572 people, 65,104 households, and 40,124 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 69,656 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 84.3% white, 7.3% black or African American, 4.3% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 1.5% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 4.4% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 31.2% were German, 15.4% were Irish, 11.4% were American, and 11.0% were English. Of the 65,104 households, 31.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 38.4% were non-families, and 28.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.02. The median age was 32.1 years. The median income for a household in the county was $57,642 and the median income for a family was $77,093. Males had a median income of $52,271 versus $39,685 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,167. About 6.2% of families and 12.9% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 5.5% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

* Bloomington (seat) * Chenoa * El Paso * Le Roy * Lexington

Town

* Normal

Villages

Anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ', which itself comes from the Greek (). Anch ...

* Arrowsmith * Bellflower * Carlock * Colfax * Cooksville * Danvers * Downs * Ellsworth * Gridley * Heyworth * Hudson * McLean * Saybrook * Stanford * Towanda

Census-designated place

* Twin Grove

Other unincorporated communities

* Barnes * Bentown * Bloomington Heights * Covell * Cropsey * Fletcher * Funks Grove * Gillum * Hendrix * Holder * Kerrick * Laurette * Lytleville * Meadows * Merna * Osman *

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

* Randolph * Sabina * Shirley * Watkins * Weedman *

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

* Yuton

Townships

McLean County is divided into these townships: * Allin *

* Arrowsmith * Bellflower * Bloomington * Bloomington City * Blue Mound * Cheney's Grove * Chenoa * Cropsey * Dale * Danvers * Dawson * Downs * Dry Grove *

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

* Funk's Grove * Gridley * Hudson * Lawndale * Lexington *

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

* Money Creek * Mount Hope * Normal *

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

* Randolph * Towanda *

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

* White Oak * Yates

Ghost towns

* Allin * Benjaminville * Kumler

Government

McLean County has a twenty-member board representing ten districts within the county. Each district elects two members. Districts 1-3 encompass all of the county outside of Bloomington and Normal. Districts 4-6 are within the town limits of Normal, and districts 7-10 are within Bloomington city limits.

Politics

Like most of central Illinois, McLean County is historically Republican-leaning. The only Democrats to gain an absolute majority of the county's vote before the 21st century have been

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

in 1932 and 1936, and

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

by a mere 1.2% in 1964.

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

in 1912 and Illinois resident

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

in 2008 both carried the county by narrow pluralities. In recent years, however, McLean has trended sufficiently Democratic that

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

lost the county by just 1.3 percent, while

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

won the county in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

with a narrow majority. Further solidifying the county's leftward shift in the 2020s, Governor J. B. Pritzker won the county by 1.3% in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, making it the first time since 1948 it supported a Democrat for governor. In

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

became the first Democratic presidential nominee to win McLean County yet lose the presidential election. McLean County is one of only thirteen counties to have voted for Obama in 2008, Romney in 2012, Trump in 2016, and Biden in 2020.

Education

Here is a list of school districts (all fully K-12) with territory in the county, no matter how slight, even if the district's schools and/or administrative offices are not in the county:
Text list
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Blue Ridge Community Unit School District 18 Blue Ridge Community Unit School District 18 is a school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is n ...

* Bloomington School District 87 * El Paso-Gridley Community Unit School District 11 * Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Community Unit School District 5 * Heyworth Community Unit School District 4 * Le Roy Community Unit School District 2 * Lexington Community Unit School District 7 * McLean County Unit School District 5 * Olympia Community Unit School District 16 * Prairie Central Community Unit School District 8 * Ridgeview Community Unit School District 19 * Tri-Valley Community Unit School District 3 Illinois State University is in the county.

Notable persons

* George J. Mecherle, founder of State Farm * Adlai Stevenson II, Governor of Illinois (1949–53), two-time Democratic nominee for the U.S. presidency, and Ambassador to the United Nations (1961–65) * Pokey LaFarge, musician and songwriter * Bonnie Lou, recording artist and television celebrity * William H. Rowe, farmer, businessman, and politician * Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, host of popular 1950/60 T.V. program Life is Worth Living and Catholic Archbishop of the Diocese of Rochester, New York

Notes

References

External links

McLean County Government Web Site

Map of McLean Co., showing political subdivisions
{{Coord, 40.49, -88.85, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-IL_source:UScensus1990 McLean County, Illinois, Illinois counties 1830 establishments in Illinois Populated places established in 1830