26,662 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.7% since 2020)
589 square miles of land · 45 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
14 active community water systems list McDonough County in the area they serve, reporting 33,078 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| MACOMB surface water · local government · IL1090350 | 15,051 served |
| WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY buys surface water · state · IL1095510 | 8,000 served |
| BUSHNELL groundwater · local government · IL1090150 | 2,972 served |
| WEST PRAIRIE WATER CO-OP buys groundwater · local government · IL1090030 | 2,395 served |
| COLCHESTER buys surface water · local government · IL1090200 | 1,395 served |
| BLANDINSVILLE surface water · local government · IL1090100 | 569 served |
| GOOD HOPE groundwater · local government · IL1090250 | 536 served |
| INDUSTRY buys groundwater · local government · IL1090300 | 475 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 38 people were held in McDonough County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 215 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 37.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
3 school districts have their office in McDonough County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $43.1 million — $33.9 million to run schools, about $16,653 per student, plus $7.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $19.7 million local (mostly property tax), $16.8 million state, $4.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $19.8 million.
Spent $15.4 million — $10.7 million to run schools, about $16,314 per student, plus $4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.5 million local (mostly property tax), $6.5 million state, $2.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $4.5 million.
Spent $17.5 million — $12.9 million to run schools, about $21,021 per student, plus $4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.7 million local (mostly property tax), $4.8 million state, $2.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $7.8 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost McDonough County about $10.1 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
210 bridges in McDonough County: 112 in good condition, 85 fair, and 13 poor (6.2%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| ILL 9 over DROWNING FORK · built 1960 | 1,850 vehicles a day |
| FAS 441 - CH 9 over CARTER CR · built 1955 | 750 vehicles a day |
| MS-1505 BulingtonR over E Fork Lamoine River · built 1931 | 550 vehicles a day |
| TR 418 over DROWNING FORK · built 1976 | 250 vehicles a day |
| TR 408 over DROWNING FORK · built 1977 | 225 vehicles a day |
| FAS 1439 - CH 8 over CAMP CREEK · built 1937 | 200 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $9.6 million of work in McDonough County in fiscal 2025, about $351 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Illinois are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for McDonough County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have McDonough County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Illinois: the state government and every county in Illinois.
Nearby counties: Schuyler County (21 mi) · Fulton County (25 mi) · Hancock County (26 mi) · Warren County (27 mi) · Henderson County (28 mi) · Brown County (34 mi).