US Counties

Hardin County is the second smallest county in Illinois, located in the southeastern corner of the state. Elizabethtown is the county seat.

Henderson County hugs the Mississippi River in western Illinois. It’s where the river’s always on your mind. Oquawka is the county seat.

Henry County sits in the northwest part of Illinois, right in the heartland. It’s crisscrossed by two major interstates (I-80 and I-74).

Iroquois County sits at the eastern edge of Illinois, against the Indiana border. The Iroquois River winds its way through the county.

Jackson County sits in southern Illinois, where the cornfields start giving way to hills and forests. Carbondale is the biggest town here.

Jasper County is a quiet patch of east-central Illinois. It’s pretty much a perfect square. Newton is the county seat, almost in the center.

Jefferson County sits in the middle of southern Illinois. Mount Vernon is the county seat. You can feel the shift from Midwest to South.

Jersey County feels caught between the Midwest and the South. It’s perched right where the Illinois River meets the Mississippi.

Jo Daviess County is tucked away in the northwest corner of Illinois, and it looks nothing like the prairie state. Galena is the county seat.

Johnson County is in the southern tip of Illinois. It’s mostly rolling hills and forests, with the Shawnee National Forest covering a lot.

Kane County stretches west from Chicago, a mix of urban and farmland. Aurora and Elgin are the big cities but Geneva is the county seat.

Kankakee County sits about an hour south of Chicago, but it feels a world away from the big city. The Kankakee River cuts through.

Kendall County is the poster child for Chicago’s expanding suburbs. It was the fastest-growing county in the U.S. for a while.

Knox County is a prairie county that sits in west-central Illinois. Galesburg is the heart of it all, an old railroad town with Knox College.

Lake County is a weird mix of ritzy North Shore suburbs and blue-collar towns. It stretches along Lake Michigan, north of Chicago.