Wonder Lake is a village in McHenry County,

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 ...

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. It is a

commuter village A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

in the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities. ...

. The population was 3,973 at the 2020 census. However including surrounding unincorporated subdivisions, the population is estimated at 10,000.

Geography

Wonder Lake is located at (42.38427, -88.367814). According to the 2010 census, Wonder Lake has a total area of , of which (or 80.68%) is land and (or 19.32%) is water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,345 people, 445 households, and 367 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 488 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.17%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.37%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

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, 0.07% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 1.12% from other races, and 0.97% from two or more races.

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or Latino people of any race were 4.46% of the population. There were 445 households, out of which 45.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.4% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.5% were non-families. 12.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.02 and the average family size was 3.32. In the village, the population was spread out, with 31.9% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 6.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.6 males. The median income for a household in the village was $59,712, and the median income for a family was $62,404. Males had a median income of $49,792 versus $27,500 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the village was $21,428. About 2.6% of families and 2.7% 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 3.3% of those under age 18 and 3.1% of those age 65 or over.

Schools

Harrison School District 36 serves kindergarten through 8th grade students living on the east Side of the village of Wonder Lake. The school mascot is the Hurricane. The school property is located directly east of Harrison-Benwell County Park. The east side of Wonder Lake is served by

McHenry Community High School District 156 McHenry Community High School District 156 is a public school district that serves parts of McHenry County, Illinois. This includes the communities of McHenry, Bull Valley, Wonder Lake, Lakemoor, and McCullom Lake. It also serves small por ...

, while the west side is served by Woodstock Community Unit School District 200.

Lake and village

The name Wonder Lake now refers to both the lake itself and a village incorporated in 1974 from one of the west side unincorporated blocks of homes, Sunrise Ridge, called "subdivisions", that surround most of the lake. Initially named the Village of Sunrise Ridge, the name was changed to the Village of Wonder Lake a few years later. The population of the combined village and all surrounding subdivisions has published population estimates currently over 10,000. The village saw its first major residential developments since before the Great Recession during late 2020. This includes the ongoing construction of the Stonewater subdivision off of Illinois Route 120 on the east side of Wonder Lake. Stonewater is estimated to add close to 10,000 people to the village's population by 2040. Residential development also started around the same time on the west side of the Lake, including the finishing of neighborhood projects that had been abandoned during the recession. In an effort to reverse the filling of the lake with sediment, the village annexed the lake bottom in the early 2000s so as to gain control of the lake bottom and allow proceeding with cleanup. They won this only after a court case, as some people objected to the cost of the cleanup.

Transportation

Pace Pace or paces may refer to: Business *Pace (transit), a bus operator in the suburbs of Chicago, US *Pace Airlines, an American charter airline * Pace Foods, a maker of a popular brand of salsa sold in North America, owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...

provides bus service on Route 807 connecting Wonder Lake to McHenry, Woodstock and other destinations.

References

{{authority control Chicago metropolitan area Villages in McHenry County, Illinois Populated places established in 1974 Villages in Illinois