Study: Will County among few Illinois counties to see population growth over past decade

Will County was one of only a handful of counties in Illinois to see population growth over the last decade, according to a study by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

Only nine of the state’s 102 counties saw population growth over the last ten years, according to the CMAP study: Kendall, Champaign, Monroe, Kane, Will, Grundy, Williamson, DuPage and McLean.

While the 2020 U.S. Census data has yet to be released, CMAP said it based its findings on five-year estimates from the American Community Survey.

Will County has a population of a little under 690,000, according to the study. Between 2010 and 2019, the population grew by about 7,200, which represents about a 1.06% increase.

Most of the counties with population growth during this time period saw modest changes.

Champaign County grew by about 2.8%, Monroe by about 2.38%, Kane by about 1.82%, Grundy by about 0.98%, Williamson by about 0.44%, DuPage by about 0.28% and McLean by about 0.11%.

Kendall County saw the largest growth during the decade with an increase of about 6.65%.

Doug Pryor of the Will County Center for Economic Development said the county’s relative success in attracting people should not be surprising as it is the “job growth center of the state.” Specifically, he pointed to the county’s leading role in single family housing development, high quality school districts and transportation options.

“All of those things come together to create a place where people want to live,” Pryor said.

Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, D-Shorewood, said the results of the CMAP study didn’t surprise her. She added that the county’s schools and culture makes workers want to live here.

“Will County has a lot to offer people,” Bertino-Tarrant said.

Still the CMAP study found more troubling trends for Illinois as a whole.

Last year marked the seventh straight in which the state saw population loss. Illinois has about 12.5 million residents, about a 2% decrease since the beginning of the last decade.

Over that period of time, West Virginia was the only state in the country to see a higher rate of population loss.

“That is very significant,” Pryor said of the state’s sustained net losses in population over the last 10 years.

Pryor said it was hard to explain exactly why Illinois was losing so many residents, though there could be many factors.

He added that other Midwestern states have seen population losses as southern states have seen gains due to factors like jobs, climate and residents retiring.