Lawrence County, Illinois Population and Demographics

In this article, we'll explore the population statistics for Lawrence County, Illinois, including popular demographics data like median age, number of households, household income, gender, employment and unemployment rates, occupations, religion, and more.

We are using the latest American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year survey data from the US Census Bureau, which is accurate up to 2021.

Table of Contents

Population

There is a lot of data that lets us see how many people live in Lawrence County, Illinois. The most basic data is the total population, which is the total number of people living in Lawrence County, Illinois. The estimated population of Lawrence County, Illinois is 15,465 people, with a median age of 40.8.

We can look at the total population in Lawrence County over the last 5 years to see how much it has changed.

Year Population Change 5-Year Change
2021
15,465
 -2.31% -6.03%
2020
15,830
 -1.27% -
2019
16,033
 -0.96% -
2018
16,189
 -1.63% -
2017
16,457
 - -

Population of Lawrence County, Illinois by Race and Ethnicity

We can also look at how the population has changed over the last 5 years by each of the race/ethnicity types as defined by the US Census Bureau.

Race 2021 2017 Change
White
84.3%
84.6%
 -0.35%
Black/African American
9.6%
8.6%
 +11.63%
Native
0.2%
0.3%
 -33.33%
Hispanic
2.9%
3.8%
 -23.68%
Asian
0.2%
0.4%
 -50.00%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
0%
0%
 0.00%
Two Or More Races
2.6%
2.4%
 +8.33%
Other
0.1%
0%
 0.00%

This data can be very important for a number of reasons, including social and economic research, planning and development, and marketing to a multi-cultural population.

Note that the Native group includes both Native American and Alaskan Native people.

Population of Lawrence County, Illinois by Age and Gender

The age and gender of a population is another interesting demographic statistic because it lets us track trends in the population over time. For example, we can see how the population has changed over the last 5 years by median age as a total, and also by male and female.

Year Total Male Female
2021 40.8 -1.92% 38.9 -2.26% 44.2 -0.23%
2020 41.6 -1.89% 39.8 +0.76% 44.3 -3.49%
2019 42.4 +3.41% 39.5 +1.54% 45.9 +5.28%
2018 41 -0.49% 38.9 -0.77% 43.6 +1.4%
2017 41.2 - 39.2 - 43 -

The median age of Lawrence County, Illinois gives you an idea of the age distribution, with half of the population being older than the median age and half being younger.

This can then be used to infer and compare against birth rates, parent ages, and more metrics to understand the population. For example, an increasing median age indicates an aging population, which can be a sign of a declining population in terms of birth rates and workforce participation.

Age 2021 2017
(Years) Male Female Male Female
0 to 9 861 -24.9% 962 -13.56% 663 824
10 to 19 838 +15.46% 782 -4.94% 973 741
20 to 29 1,447 +1.15% 787 -9.52% 1,462 711
30 to 39 1,469 -3.73% 831 -13.81% 1,404 718
40 to 49 1,501 -6.13% 878 -9.93% 1,406 786
50 to 59 1,215 -2.61% 1,102 -25.23% 1,172 825
60 to 69 923 +3.41% 860 +10.9% 949 948
70+ 780 -1.06% 1,221 -6.49% 759 1,124

Median Household Income

The latest median household income of Lawrence County, Illinois is $52,020.00.

In simple terms, the median income is the middle income of a group of people. Half of the people in the group make more than the median income, and half make less. The median income is a good indicator of the overall income of a group of people, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more.

Median Income by Age

We can also look at the median income by age to see how the median income varies by age, and how it compares to the overall median income for Lawrence County.

  • Under 25
    $32,054.00
  • 25 to 44
    $59,211.00
  • 45 to 64
    $67,297.00
  • 65 and over
    $39,455.00

Average Household Income

Whenever we ask what is the average household income in Lawrence County, we are actually talking about the mean household income.

This is calculated by adding up all the incomes of all the households in Lawrence County, and then dividing that number by the total number of households. This is a good way to get a general idea of the average income of a group of people, but it can be skewed by a very high or very low incomes.

The average household income of Lawrence County, Illinois is currently $74,047.00.

In terms of accurately summarizing income at a geographic level, the median income is a better metric than the average income because it isn't affected by a small number of very high or very low incomes.

If you had an area where the average income was greater than the median, it can mean that there is significant income inequality, with income being concentrated in a small number of wealthy households.

4.20% of households in Lawrence County are classed as high income households (making $200,000+ per year).

Household Income Tiers

The US Census Bureau divides households into income tiers based on the median income for the area. This is a good way to compare the income of Lawrence County against other areas.

  • Less than $24,999
    20.19%
  • $25,000 to $49,999
    28.15%
  • $50,000 to $74,999
    18.30%
  • $75,000 to $99,999
    9.38%
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    14.24%
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    5.54%
  • $200,000 or more
    4.20%

Per Capita Income

The per capita income in Lawrence County is $27,244.00.

Per capita income is the average income of a person in a given area. It is calculated by dividing the total income of Lawrence County by the total population of Lawrence County.

This is different from the average or mean income because it includes and accounts for all people in Lawrence County, Illinois, including people like children, the elderly, unemployed people, retired people, and more.

Education Levels

We can also look at the education levels in Lawrence County to see how many people have a high school degree, a bachelor's degree, or a graduate degree.

Educational attainment is a good indicator of the overall education level of a population, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more to see how education levels affect income, unemployment rates, and more.

  • Master's degree or higher
    6.96%
  • Bachelor's degree
    17.48%
  • Some college or associate's degree
    17.18%
  • High school diploma or equivalent
    54.51%
  • Less than high school diploma
    3.89%

Employment

Employment rates are all based around the total population in Lawrence County that are over the age of 16.

The total population of Lawrence County over the age of 16 is 12,862.

Of those people, a total of 49.80% are working or actively looking for work. This is called the labor force participation rate.

The participation rate is a useful market measure because it shows the relative amount of labor resources available to the economy.

The employment to total population rate in Lawrence County is 46.60%.

Employment by Age

We can look at the employment rates by age to see how it compares to the overall employment rate.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
16 to 19 years 598 46.70% 17.60%
20 to 24 years 975 54.20% 10.80%
25 to 29 years 1,198 57.30% 11.80%
30 to 34 years 1,143 60.30% 12.30%
35 to 44 years 2,138 63.50% 5.70%
45 to 54 years 2,032 70.30% 3.00%
55 to 59 years 998 59.90% 1.50%
60 to 64 years 1,114 45.60% 0.60%
65 to 74 years 1,501 13.00% 2.10%
75 years and over 1,165 11.70% 0.00%

Employment by Race

Another very interesting employment statistic we can look at is the employment and unemployment rates by race in Lawrence County. The table below shows the rates for each of the ethnicity groups types defined by the US Census Bureau.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
White 10,889 54.50% 6.60%
Black or African American 1,367 6.70% 0.00%
American Indian and Alaska Native 27 7.40% 100.00%
Asian 34 35.30% 0.00%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0 0.00% 0.00%
Other 121 17.40% 0.00%
Two or more races 424 80.70% 4.10%
Hispanic or Latino 431 10.70% 2.20%
Not Hispanic or Latino 10,635 55.70% 6.60%

Occupations

In this section we can look at the most common occupations in Lawrence County as well as the gender breakdown and earnings of them.

The total population of civilian employees that are 16 years old or older in Lawrence County is 5,998, with median earnings of $34,543.00.

Women in Lawrence County, Illinois earning approximately 64.40% of the men's earnings.

Population Earnings
Total 5,998 $34,543.00
Male 3,202 $43,735.00
Female 2,796 $28,154.00

Occupations by Category

In the table below, we can break down the population and earnings even further by occupation. The list of occupation categories below will show you how many people are employed in each category and the median earnings of each profession.

Occupation Employed Earnings
Management 554 $51,389.00
Business and Financial 220 $41,818.00
Computer and Mathematical 34 $30,714.00
Architecture and Engineering 30 $82,000.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 31 $55,625.00
Community and Social Service 126 $31,250.00
Legal 19 $0.00
Educational and Library 281 $41,705.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 41 $38,750.00
Healthcare Practitioners 409 $43,537.00
Healthcare Support 458 $17,333.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 38 $40,000.00
Law Enforcement 106 $66,346.00
Food Preparation and Serving 352 $16,563.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 195 $17,604.00
Personal Care and Service 113 $18,750.00
Sales 360 $34,412.00
Office and Administrative Support 622 $26,429.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 45 $27,125.00
Construction and Extraction 435 $62,813.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 139 $60,972.00
Production 684 $34,684.00
Transportation and Material Moving 356 $50,665.00

Occupations by Gender

The table below shows the same occupations from the list above, but we have split them by male and female to see how many male and females work in each occupation, the median earnings, and the male to female ratio of earnings.

That last metric is important because it can be used to look at the gender pay gap between men and women.

Occupation Male Female
Population Earnings Population Earnings
Management 421 $81,985.00 133 $33,953.00
Business and Financial 67 $42,386.00 153 $39,219.00
Computer and Mathematical 22 $0.00 12 $0.00
Architecture and Engineering 17 $80,375.00 13 $0.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 2 $0.00 29 $44,375.00
Community and Social Service 27 $42,344.00 99 $22,241.00
Legal 0 $0.00 19 $0.00
Educational and Library 104 $72,143.00 177 $17,269.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 24 $47,857.00 17 $0.00
Healthcare Practitioners 16 $30,000.00 393 $43,537.00
Healthcare Support 0 $0.00 458 $17,333.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 28 $0.00 10 $0.00
Law Enforcement 88 $66,154.00 18 $75,938.00
Food Preparation and Serving 109 $9,427.00 243 $16,808.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 113 $26,625.00 82 $14,211.00
Personal Care and Service 31 $31,750.00 82 $12,159.00
Sales 197 $36,875.00 163 $34,081.00
Office and Administrative Support 258 $7,259.00 364 $28,167.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 35 $25,875.00 10 $0.00
Construction and Extraction 435 $62,813.00 0 $0.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 139 $60,972.00 0 $0.00
Production 539 $34,776.00 145 $29,609.00
Transportation and Material Moving 291 $51,693.00 65 $32,750.00

Households and Family Size

A household defined bu the US Census Bureau is a group of people who occupy a housing unit. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, group of rooms, or single room occupied as separate living quarters.

There are currently 5,449 households in Lawrence County, with an average household size of 2.41 people.

A family is defined as a group of two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together in the same household.

There are 3,353 families in Lawrence County with an average family size of 3.07 people.

Households by Marital Status

The four categories of household by marital status are:

  • Married-couple family
  • Male householder with no spouse present
  • Female household with no spouse present
  • Nonfamily household

The table below shows the total number of households and families, with the average sizes of each.

Married Male Female Nonfamily
Total Households 2,665 189 499 2,096
Average Household Size 3.08 3.57 3.67 1.14
Total Families 2,665 189 499 0
Average Household Size 3.04 3.07 3.24 0

Poverty

Of the 3,353 families in Lawrence County, 9.60% are considered to be below the poverty threshold.

The table below shows the latest poverty thresholds in Lawrence County:

Household Size Poverty Threshold
1 Person $14,580.00
2 People $19,720.00
3 People $24,860.00
4 People $30,000.00
5 People $35,140.00
6 People $40,280.00
7 People $45,420.00
8 People $50,560.00

Housing

There are 6,361 housing units in Lawrence County, Illinois.

The table below shows the split between occupied and vacant units:

Total Percentage
Occupied 5,449 85.66%
Vacant 912 14.34%

17.80% of the total 6,361 housing units in Lawrence County are rental units. This is approximately 1,132 properties.

For owner-occupied housing units, a total of 4,098 are occupied by the owner - or 64.42% of the total.

Rental Rates

The median rent for a property in Lawrence County is $731.00.

In the chart below, we can look at the number of rental properties in Lawrence County that fall into a particular rent range. These can then be used to compare with other areas, or to see how they have changed over time.

  • No rent paid
    219
  • Less than $500
    232
  • $500 to $999
    781
  • $1,000 to $1,499
    106
  • $1,500 to $1,999
    11
  • $2,000 to $2,499
    0
  • $2,500 to $2,999
    0
  • $3,000 or more
    2

Property Value

The median value of a property in Lawrence County is $81,500.00.

Just like with rental rates, we can look at the number of properties in Lawrence County that fall into a particular value range.

  • Less than $50,000
    914
  • $50,000 to $99,999
    1,782
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    590
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    397
  • $200,000 to $299,999
    311
  • $300,000 to $499,999
    65
  • $500,000 to $999,999
    26
  • $1,000,000 or more
    13

Property Age

We can also look at the age of properties in Lawrence County. The chart below shows the number of properties in Lawrence County that fall into a particular age range.

  • 1939 or earlier
    1,910
  • 1940 to 1949
    457
  • 1950 to 1959
    763
  • 1960 to 1969
    618
  • 1970 to 1979
    813
  • 1980 to 1989
    625
  • 1990 to 1999
    742
  • 2000 to 2009
    371
  • 2010 to 2013
    62
  • 2014 or later
    0

Vehicles per Household

The number of vehicles available per household can be a good indicator of the level of affluence in an area. The chart below shows the number of households in Lawrence County that have a particular number of vehicles available.

  • No vehicles available
    258
  • 1 vehicle available
    1,857
  • 2 vehicles available
    1,855
  • 3 or more vehicles available
    1,479

Commuting to Work

In this section, we can also look at how people in Lawrence County get to work. The chart below shows the number of people in Lawrence County that commute to work in a particular way.

23.7 minutes is the average travel time to work for people in Lawrence County.

These commute times can be compared to other date like income and educational levels to see how they relate to each other and if there are any trends in the data that might suggest a correlation.

  • Less than 5 minutes
    369
  • 5 to 9 minutes
    770
  • 10 to 14 minutes
    859
  • 15 to 19 minutes
    797
  • 20 to 24 minutes
    616
  • 25 to 29 minutes
    510
  • 30 to 34 minutes
    684
  • 35 to 39 minutes
    214
  • 40 to 44 minutes
    81
  • 45 to 59 minutes
    233
  • 60 to 89 minutes
    346
  • 90 or more minutes
    156

Summary

We've covered a LOT of demographic and population data for Lawrence County, Illinois in this article! Hopefully you have found it very useful in your research of the area.

If you use any of the data found on this page, please consider linking back to USPopulation.org as the source and if you have any feedback or data requests, click here to contact us.

Places in Lawrence County, Illinois

We have data for 13 places in Lawrence County, Illinois. Click on a place below to see more information about the demographics of that place.