Worth Township is one of 29 townships in

Cook County 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 percent of all residents of Illinois live within Cook 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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, its population was 152,934, with its most populous municipalities including Oak Lawn (pop. 58,362), Evergreen Park (19,943), Alsip (pop. 19,063), and

Chicago Ridge Chicago Ridge is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 14,433. It is a suburb of Chicago. History Chicago Ridge takes its name from ridges left behind when trainloads of dirt were brought out ...

(pop. 14,433). It was founded in 1849, when the county voted to subdivide itself into townships. The township hall is located at 11601 S. Pulaski Road in Alsip. Other township municipalities include Hometown and Merrionette Park, as well as portions of Blue Island, Crestwood, Worth, Palos Heights, Robbins and Bridgeview. Worth Township's approximate borders are

Harlem Avenue Harlem Avenue is a major north–south street located in Chicago and its west, southwest, and northwest suburbs. It stretches from Glenview Road in Glenview to the intersection of East South Street and South Drecksler Road in Peotone, where ...

( Illinois Route 43) on the west, 87th Street on the north, Western Avenue on the east and 135th Street on the south. The township, however, does not include the parts of the city of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

(namely, zip code 60655, which is mostly the Mount Greenwood neighborhood) that lie within these boundaries. Near its southern boundary, the township is crossed by the Cal-Sag Channel.

Geography

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Worth Township has a total area of , of which (or 98.95%) is land and (or 1.05%) is water.

Borders

Worth Township is bordered on the north by Stickney Township and the Chicago community of Ashburn, on the west by Palos Township, on the south by Bremen Township, and on the east by Calumet Township and the Chicago communities of Beverly, Mount Greenwood and Morgan Park.

Cities, towns, villages

* Alsip * Blue Island (approximately 40% of the city, northwest of 135th Street and Western Avenue) * Bridgeview (approximately one-half square mile, east of Harlem Avenue) *

(Beverly Country Club, Mount Greenwood and Mount Hope Cemeteries) *

* Crestwood (nearly half the village, north of 135th Street) * Evergreen Park * Hometown * Merrionette Park * Oak Lawn * Palos Heights (half the city, east of Harlem) * Robbins (one quarter of the village, north of 135th Street) * Worth (two thirds of the village, east of Harlem) The south edge of the city of

is within this township geographically but is a separate entity, with exception of two cemeteries and a golf course.

Unincorporated Towns

* Hazel Green at

Adjacent townships

* Stickney Township (north) * Calumet Township (east) * Thornton Township (southeast) * Bremen Township (south) * Orland Township (southwest) * Palos Township (west) * Lyons Township (northwest)

Cemeteries

The township contains these sixteen cemeteries: Beverly Memorial Park, Burr Oak Cemetery, Chapel Hills Gardens South, Ever Rest (historical), Evergreen, First Evangelical Lutheran, Hazel Green, Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Lincoln Cemetery, Mount Greenwood, Mount Hope, Oak Hill, Restvale Cemetery, Saint Benedict Catholic, Saint Mary's and Sauerbier-Burkhardt.

Major highways

Interstate 294 Interstate 294 (I-294) is a tolled auxiliary Interstate Highway in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Forming the southern portion of the Tri-State Tollway in Illinois, I-294 runs from South Holland at I-80/ I-94 and Illino ...

* U.S. Route 12 * U.S. Route 20 * Illinois Route 43 *

Illinois Route 50 Illinois Route 50 (IL 50) is a north–south state highway in northeastern Illinois. It runs from the junction with U.S. Route 45 (US 45) and U.S. Route 52 (US 52) in West Kankakee north to US 41 in Skokie. In Chicago and t ...

Illinois Route 83 Illinois Route 83 (IL 83) is a major north–south state highway in northeast Illinois. It stretches from U.S. Route 30 (US 30, Lincoln Highway) by Lynwood and Dyer, Indiana, north to the Wisconsin border by Antioch at Wisconsin ...

Airports and landing strips

* Alsip Fire Department Heliport * Christ Hospital Heliport

Landmarks

* Burr Oak Woods (

Cook County Forest Preserves The Forest Preserve District of Cook County is a governmental commission in Cook County, Illinois, that owns and manages land containing forest, prairie, wetland, streams, and lakes. These land holdings are primarily managed as undeveloped nat ...

) (east half) * Elizabeth A Conkey Forest (Cook County Forest Preserves) * Joshua P. Young House

Lakes

* Lake Arrowhead

Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 152,934 people, 57,145 households, and 36,413 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 62,150 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 64.53%

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 ...

, 12.50%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.71% Native American, 2.04% Asian, 0.04%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 9.93% from other races, and 10.26% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 22.40% of the population. There were 57,145 households, out of which 29.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.42% were married couples living together, 12.45% had a female householder with no spouse present, and 36.28% were non-families. 32.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.32. The township's age distribution consisted of 22.4% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 26% from 25 to 44, 26.3% from 45 to 64, and 17.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.4 males. The median income for a household in the township was $64,333, and the median income for a family was $80,145. Males had a median income of $50,240 versus $36,108 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 township was $31,359. About 8.5% of families and 11.1% 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 14.3% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those age 65 or over.

Governance

Worth Township is governed by 8 elected officials, chosen every four years. The current administration is:

Education

Worth Township is served by three public high school districts: Community High School District 218 ( Dwight D. Eisenhower High School, Harold L. Richards High School and Alan B. Shepard High School), Oak Lawn Community High School District 229 and

Evergreen Park Community High School District 231 Evergreen Park Community High School, is a public high school located in Evergreen Park, Illinois southwest of Chicago. The high school has about 950 students in grades 9–12. Students originate from the Evergreen Park Elementary School Dist ...

. *

Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment, fourth-large ...

(some students)

Trinity Christian College Trinity Christian College is a private Christian college in Palos Heights, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1959 by a group of Chicago businessmen who wanted to establish a college providing students with a Christian higher education ...

is located in Worth Township, in Palos Heights.

Political districts

Illinois's 1st congressional district Illinois's first congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Illinois. Based in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, the district includes much of the South Side of Chicago and continues southwest to Joliet, Illinois, ...

* Illinois's 4th congressional district *

Illinois's 6th congressional district Illinois's 6th congressional district covers parts of Cook and DuPage counties. It has been represented by Democrat Sean Casten since 2019. Composition By county Cities and CDPs with 10,000 or more people * Chicago – 2,665,039 * Or ...

* State House District 27 * State House District 28 * State House District 31 * State House District 35 * State House District 36 * State Senate District 14 * State Senate District 16 * State Senate District 18

Record pension

In 2002, Lawrence Hupe, the Worth Township school treasurer, retired with one of the largest government pensions in Illinois after receiving annual bonuses exceeding 25% of his salary in the last five years of his 25-year service. At $153,835, Hupe's pension exceeded the state governor's salary. His employer, the Worth Township Board of School Trustees, reported to the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund that Hupe took home an extra $302,000 above his salary between 1998 and 2002. Hupe claimed that the additional payments were in lieu of unused annual leave. Hupe's successor was paid a salary of $87,500, just 57% of Hupe's pension.Tim Novak
"Mystery cash eases retirement"
''Chicago Sun-Times'', April 9, 2003.

References

*

United States National Atlas

External links

Worth Township official website

Township Officials of Illinois

Cook County official site
{{authority control Townships in Cook County, Illinois Townships in Illinois 1849 establishments in Illinois