DeKalb County, Illinois

• White (non-Hispanic) 71,499 71.0%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 14,647 14.5%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 6,810 6.8%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 2,262 2.2%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 4,813 4.8%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 179 0.2%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 493 0.5%

• Under 18 21,723 21.6%
• 18–24 18,343 18.2%
• 25–44 25,402 25.2%
• 45–64 21,215 21.1%
• 65 and over 14,020 13.9%

Median household income

$78,556

90% interval $73,888–$83,224

−$4,771 vs IL · 26th of 102

Below poverty line

11.6%

90% interval 9.4%–13.8%

+0.1 pp vs IL · 57th of 102

Unemployment (12-mo)

4.7%

−0.15 pp vs. state

County GDP

$5.7B

0.49% of state

Avg. annual pay

$59,423

Establishments

1,984

• Education & health services 9,340 25.6%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 8,614 23.6%
• Manufacturing 3,436 9.4%
• Leisure & hospitality 3,334 9.1%
• Professional & business services 1,858 5.1%
• Public administration 1,458 4.0%
• Other services 1,278 3.5%
• Financial activities 882 2.4%
• Information 141 0.4%

The sectors listed cover 83.1% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

61.4%

−5.7 pp vs IL · 98th of 102

Median gross rent

$1,049

−$225 vs IL · 12th of 102

Owner-occupied

24,280

Renter-occupied

15,270

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 59% of the county workforce. Substantial intra-sector overlap among panelists is likely; confirm employer relationships before sector-specific framing.

• Moderate wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Manufacturing, $72,078/yr) pays 3.2× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $22,240/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Institutional employer scale

  Average establishment employs 18 workers, typical of an institutional-employer economy where large hospitals, plants, schools, and government agencies dominate. Expect many panelists to share an employer rather than work for themselves.

• Democratic 23,648 50.1%
• Republican 22,716 48.1%
• Other / third-party 822 1.7%

• Spanish 7,803 8.2%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 604 0.6%
• Arabic 452 0.5%
• Tagalog 438 0.5%
• Chinese 295 0.3%
• Vietnamese 133 0.1%
• German or other West Germanic 83 0.1%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 72 0.1%
• Korean 14 0.0%

Households

39,550

Family households

23,762

60.1% of households

Married couples w/ children

6,797

28.6% of families

Single-mother families

3,073

12.9% of families

Veterans

4,092

5.2% of civilians 18+

• Catholic 25,409 25.3%
• Mainline Protestant 11,755 11.7%
• Evangelical Protestant 8,701 8.7%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 6,779 6.8%
• Black Protestant 700 0.7%
• Orthodox 100 0.1%

Health insured

94.9%

±0.6 pp

Uninsured

5.1%

±0.6 pp

50th of 102

With a disability

11.1%

±0.9 pp

91st of 102

Bachelor's or higher

33.0%

±1.6 pp

−4.8 pp vs IL · 15th of 102

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

7.7%

90% interval 6.8%–8.6% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

23rd Judicial Circuit Court

Judges

12 (Combined Circuit Judge + Associate Judge counts per circuit. Vintage 2024-2025; hand-sourced from per-circuit official court websites and the 2023-2024 Illinois Blue Book (ilsos.gov) judge roster, cross-referenced against the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts directory. Cook County total of ~400 reflects the Circuit Court of Cook County's combined elected Circuit Judges (~257) plus appointed Associate Judges (~145), the largest unified trial court in the United States. Several smaller downstate circuits carry estimates (see source comments).)

Court seats

Sycamore, Yorkville

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

9

11.4 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

8