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Demographics of Will County
Affluence Level in Will County
A middle-class area roughly in line with national averages across income, home values, education, and employment.
People of Will County
Will County, Illinois, is home to 698,450 residents, a population defined by its blend of historic Midwestern roots and accelerating diversity. The county’s character is shaped by a legacy of European settlement, a growing Hispanic and Black presence, and a rising Indian-subcontinent community, all set within a landscape of suburban sprawl and agricultural heritage. With 59.8% of residents identifying as White, 19.3% as Hispanic, 11.5% as Black, and a combined 6% from East/Southeast Asian and Indian-subcontinent backgrounds, Will County is a microcosm of the broader Chicago metropolitan area’s demographic evolution, yet retains a distinctively conservative-leaning, family-oriented identity.
Settlement & growth (pre-1960)
Before American settlement, the region now known as Will County was inhabited by the Potawatomi, Ottawa, and Ojibwe nations, who used the area for hunting and seasonal camps along the Des Plaines, Kankakee, and DuPage Rivers. French explorers and fur traders passed through in the 17th and 18th centuries, but no permanent European settlements took hold until after the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, which forced the Potawatomi to cede their lands. The first American settlers, primarily of Yankee and Scots-Irish stock from New York, New England, and the Mid-Atlantic, arrived in the 1830s and 1840s, drawn by cheap federal land under the Preemption Act of 1841. They founded the county’s earliest towns: Joliet (1833), Lockport (1836), and Plainfield (1834), establishing a farming and milling economy along the Des Plaines River and the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which opened in 1848.
The canal’s construction and the subsequent arrival of railroads in the 1850s triggered a second wave of immigration. Irish laborers, many fleeing the Great Famine, dug the canal and built the rail lines, settling in Joliet and Elwood. German farmers arrived in the 1840s–1860s, establishing tight-knit agricultural communities in Frankfort, Mokena, and New Lenox, where their descendants remain a significant cultural presence. By the 1870s, the county’s economy diversified with the discovery of limestone and coal deposits, fueling Joliet’s rise as an industrial center. Polish immigrants began arriving in the 1880s, drawn by jobs in Joliet’s steel mills, limestone quarries, and the state prison, forming a lasting Polish enclave in the city’s east side. Italian immigrants followed in the 1890s–1910s, settling in Joliet and Romeoville, working in construction and the stone industry. The 1920 census recorded Will County’s population at 73,000, with foreign-born residents making up roughly 15% of the total, overwhelmingly from Germany, Ireland, Poland, and Italy.
The Great Migration of African Americans from the South began in earnest during World War I and accelerated through the 1940s and 1950s. Black families moved to Joliet for industrial jobs in steel, chemical plants, and the railroad, settling primarily in the city’s near-east and near-west sides. By 1960, the county’s population had grown to 191,000, with Black residents comprising about 6% of the total. The post-World War II suburban boom, fueled by the 1956 Interstate Highway Act and the construction of I-55 and I-80, began transforming Will County from a rural-agricultural county into a bedroom community for Chicago commuters. Towns like Bolingbrook (incorporated 1965) and Shorewood (1957) were platted during this period, attracting white middle-class families from Chicago and Cook County.
Modern era (post-1965)
The 1965 Hart-Cellar Act fundamentally reshaped Will County’s demographics, though the effects were slower to arrive than in Cook County. The first post-1965 immigrant wave came from Mexico, with families settling in Joliet’s east side and in Romeoville starting in the 1970s, drawn by construction and manufacturing jobs. The Hispanic population grew steadily, reaching 8% by 1990 and accelerating to 19.3% by 2024, with the largest concentrations now in Joliet (where Hispanics make up over 30% of the city’s population), Plainfield, and Bolingbrook. The Hispanic community is predominantly Mexican-American, with smaller numbers from Puerto Rico and Central America.
The second major post-1965 shift was the growth of the Indian-subcontinent community, which began in the 1990s and accelerated sharply after 2000. Professionals in information technology, healthcare, and engineering moved to Will County for jobs at companies like Caterpillar (Joliet), Amazon distribution centers, and the growing healthcare sector. Today, Indian-subcontinent residents make up 3.2% of the county’s population, with significant enclaves in Bolingbrook, Naperville (which straddles DuPage and Will Counties), and Plainfield. The East/Southeast Asian community (2.8%) is smaller, with Filipino and Vietnamese families concentrated in Joliet and Bolingbrook.
Domestic migration has been equally transformative. Since the 1980s, Will County has been a primary destination for white flight from Chicago and Cook County, with families seeking larger homes, lower taxes, and better schools. This wave has filled towns like Frankfort, New Lenox, and Mokena with upper-middle-class white families, giving these communities a strongly conservative political character. The Black population has grown from 6% in 1960 to 11.5% today, driven by both continued migration from Chicago and natural increase, with concentrations in Joliet, Bolingbrook, and University Park. The foreign-born share remains relatively low at 5.6%, compared to 21% in Cook County, indicating that Will County’s diversity is driven more by domestic migration and second-generation growth than by direct immigration.
The future
Will County’s population is trending toward greater diversity, but in a pattern of distinct enclaves rather than wholesale homogenization. The Hispanic share is projected to reach 25–28% by 2040, driven by higher birth rates and continued immigration, with Joliet and Romeoville becoming majority-Hispanic within 15 years. The Indian-subcontinent community is growing rapidly, likely doubling to 6–7% of the population by 2040, as professionals continue to move to Bolingbrook and Plainfield for tech and healthcare jobs. The white share, while still a majority at 59.8%, is declining slowly as older residents age and younger white families move to exurban counties like Grundy and Kendall.
The county is not tribalizing into hostile camps, but it is sorting by income and lifestyle. Affluent white and Indian families cluster in Frankfort, New Lenox, and Naperville, while Joliet and Bolingbrook are becoming more diverse and working-class. The Black population is stable but not growing rapidly, as many Black families continue to move to more affordable exurban areas. The East/Southeast Asian community is plateauing, with little new immigration from Asia. The cultural identity of Will County is being reshaped by Hispanic and Indian influences, but the county’s conservative political character—rooted in its European-settler history—remains dominant, as new immigrant groups tend to adopt the area’s family-values ethos over time.
For someone moving in now, Will County offers a stable, family-oriented environment with a growing multicultural texture. The county is becoming more diverse, but not in a way that disrupts its fundamental character as a place of safe suburbs, good schools, and conservative politics. The next 10–20 years will see Joliet become a majority-minority city, while the outer suburbs remain predominantly white and affluent. The Indian-subcontinent community will continue to integrate into the professional class, and the Hispanic community will become a larger political and economic force. Will County is not becoming a melting pot, but a mosaic of distinct, self-reinforcing communities—a pattern that suits many relocating families seeking both diversity and stability.
* Values derived from national, state, county, city and local statistics and may differ in a specific area. Last updated: 2026-05-12T05:27:10.000Z
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