Winnebago County was formed on January 16, 1836 out of Jo Daviess and LaSalle counties. It was named for the Winnebago Tribe of American Indians. At the time the county was founded its inhabitants consisted almost entirely of New Englanders and New England transplants from upstate New York. These were "Yankee" settlers, meaning they were descended from the English Puritans who settled New England during the early 1600s. They made up virtually all of Winnebago County's inhabitants during the first several decades of its history. In this regard the county was similar to most of the northern portion of the state of Illinois, and almost all of the neighboring state of Wisconsin. After the conclusion of the Black Hawk War there was an additional surge of immigration from New England. As a result of this heritage the inhabitants of Winnebago County considered themselves, and functioned as, a cultural expansion of early New England culture. In the Presidential election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln won 3,985 votes in Winnebago County, whereas Stephen A. Douglas only won 817 votes.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
Climate and weather
In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Rockford have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1982 and a record high of was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in June.
As of the 2010 census, there were 295,266 people, 115,501 households, and 76,854 families residing in the county. The population density was. There were 125,965 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 77.4% white, 12.2% black or African American, 2.3% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 4.9% from other races, and 2.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 10.9% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 25.6% were German, 13.5% were Irish, 9.4% were American, 8.7% were Swedish, 8.3% were English, and 7.4% were Italian. Of the 115,501 households, 33.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.3% were married couplesliving together, 14.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.5% were non-families, and 27.7% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.07. The median age was 38.3 years. The median income for a household in the county was $47,198 and the median income for a family was $59,814. Males had a median income of $48,358 versus $32,103 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,008. About 11.5% of families and 15.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.0% of those under age 18 and 7.5% of those age 65 or over. Winnebago County is comprised by the following districts represented in 2015-2016 by the following individuals listed along with their political affiliation:
District 1 Faye Lyon District 2 Jim Webster District 3 Steve Schultz District 4 David Boomer District 5 Dave Tassoni District 6 Kieth McDonald District 7 Gary Jury District 8 Eli Nicolosi District 9 Dave Kelley District 10 Joe Hoffman District 11 Dave Fiduccia District 12 Julio Salgado District 13 Angie Goral District 14 L.C. Wilson District 15 Burt Gerl District 16 John F. Sweeney District 17 Fred Wescott District 18 Dorothy Redd District 19 John Guevara District 20 Ted Biondo
Prior to 1992, Winnebago County was a Republican Party stronghold in presidential elections, only backing the Democratic Party candidates in the national landslides of 1936 & 1964. Since then, it has become a swing county, backing the national winner in every presidential election from 1980 to 2012. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the county by only 89 votes over Donald Trump.
