Greene County is a

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 ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

. According to the 2020 United States census, it has a population of 11,843. 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 Carrollton. A notable

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

area, the Koster Site, has produced evidence of more than 7,000 years of human habitation. Artifacts from the site are displayed at the Center for American Archeology in Kampsville, Illinois.

History

Greene County is named in honor of General

Nathanael Greene Major general (United States), Major General Nathanael Greene (August 7, 1742 – June 19, 1786) was an American military officer and planter who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War. He emerge ...

, a hero of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. In 1821, three years after Illinois became a state, Greene County was established, being carved out of what was previously Madison county and St. Clair county before that. Over the course of the next 18 years four more counties were formed out of what was once Greene Country. These include Scott, Morgan, Macoupin and Jersey counties. This left Greene county with approximately 546 square miles of land located in western-central Illinois near the Illinois River, which was an important resource that provided both a means for travel and to ship goods. Like much of southern Illinois the earliest settlers in the county came from Southern states such as North and South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. By the time of the Civil War, 1860, the population of Greene County had grown to 16,093 and 10% of the adult population had been born in the Northeast, 15% were foreign born, 25% were born in Southern states, and almost 50% had been born in the Midwest. Of the population born in the Midwest many could still trace their roots to the South, with almost 80% of them having parents born in a Southern state. File:Greene County Illinois 1821.png, Greene County from its creation in 1821 to 1823, including unorganized territory temporarily attached to it. File:Greene County Illinois 1823.png, Greene County between 1823 and 1825 File:Greene County Illinois 1825.png, Greene between 1825 and 1829 File:Greene County Illinois 1829.png, Greene between 1829 and 1839 File:Greene County Illinois 1839.png, Greene in 1839 after the creation of Jersey County reduced Greene to its current size

Geography

According to the

US Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.6%) is water.

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Carrollton have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1912 and a record high of was recorded in July 1934. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in January to in May.

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 67 *

Illinois Route 16 Illinois Route 16 (IL 16) is an east–west highway in central Illinois. Its western terminus is at the Joe Page Bridge over the Illinois River in Hardin, Illinois, Hardin, while its eastern terminus is at Paris, Illinois, Paris at Illinoi ...

* Illinois Route 100 * Illinois Route 106 * Illinois Route 108 * Illinois Route 267

Adjacent counties

* Scott County - north * Morgan County - north * Macoupin County - east * Jersey County - south * Calhoun County - southwest * Pike County - northwest

National protected area

* Two Rivers National Wildlife Refuge (part: Apple Creek Division)

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 13,886 people, 5,570 households, and 3,777 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 6,389 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.9% white, 0.9% black or African American, 0.2% American Indian, 0.1% Asian, 0.3% from other races, and 0.7% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 0.8% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 30.7% were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 14.7% were Irish, 13.3% were English, and 12.1% were American. Of the 5,570 households, 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.0% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 32.2% were non-families, and 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.95. The median age was 41.6 years. The median income for a household in the county was $41,450 and the median income for a family was $52,049. Males had a median income of $38,185 versus $27,231 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,107. About 11.8% of families and 15.1% 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 22.1% of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

* Carrollton * Greenfield * Roodhouse * White Hall

Villages

* Eldred * Hillview * Kane * Rockbridge * Wilmington

Unincorporated communities

* Athensville * Barrow * Belltown * Boyle *

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

* Fayette * Woody * Wrights

Townships

* Athensville * Bluffdale * Carrollton * Kane * Linder * Patterson * Rockbridge * Roodhouse *

Rubicon The Rubicon (; ; ) is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, just south of Cesena and north of Rimini. It was known as ''Fiumicino'' until 1933, when it was identified with the ancient river Rubicon, crossed by Julius Caesar in 49 BC. The ri ...

* Walkerville * White Hall * Woodville * Wrights

Population ranking

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2020 census of Greene County. † ''county seat''

Politics

Greene County was reliably Democratic from the beginning through 1948; only one Republican Party nominee carried the county vote during that period. Since then it has usually voted for the Republican presidential nominee (14 of 18 elections). As one of the most northerly “southern” counties in Illinois, Greene County was rock-ribbed Democratic for the seventy years after the Civil War, which it opposed as a “

Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Their various meanings depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, the Northeastern United Stat ...

” war. Not until considerable anti-Catholic sentiment against

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was the 42nd governor of New York, serving from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's presidential nominee in the 1 ...

turned many voters to

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

did the county support a Republican presidential nominee. However, with the coming of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, opposition to American involvement led to gains for

Wendell Willkie Wendell Lewis Willkie (born Lewis Wendell Willkie; February 18, 1892 – October 8, 1944) was an American lawyer, corporate executive and the 1940 History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican nominee for president. Willkie appeale ...

and Thomas E. Dewey, although apart from the 1960 election – also influenced by Catholicism – Greene was a

bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Re ...

county throughout the period from 1928 to 2004.

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 ...

’s 2016 tally of 21.68 percent of the county’s vote is 14.3 percent worse than any Democratic presidential candidate before 2012. As of February 2025, the county is one of 7 that voted to join the state of Indiana.