Illinois 15 is not a traditional rural district. While there are many small towns and important rural communities in this district, the vast majority of the population lives in four major urban centers: Champaign-Urbana, Bloomington-Normal, Danville and Kankakee. In fact, US Census Bureau statistics show that more than two thirds of the population lives in these urban areas of the 15th District.

15th District Map

The 15th District includes all or part of the following eleven counties: Champaign, McLean, Vermilion, Kankakee, Livingston, Iroquois, DeWitt, Ford, Piatt, Douglas and Edgar.

Illinois' 15th District is more than farm country.

While agribusiness continues to be critically important in Central Illinois, the 15th District is no longer just a farming district. It is a high-tech corridor in the heartland, fueled by two major research universities, large financial services and insurance companies and major manufacturing operations.

It is a district populated by highly skilled, highly educated workers. The labor force is predominantly professional and white-collar, followed by a significant number of unionized workers in manufacturing and trades settings.

In fact, The Census Bureau says that there are nearly twice as many people in this district who have post-graduate degrees than are engaged principally in farming.

Pioneering research on the World Wide Web was conducted at the renowned National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois campus in Champaign-Urbana. Champaign County leads the area as a technical center and plans are underway for development of a Midwest high-tech super-corridor to be located there.

State Farm Insurance bases its worldwide operations in Bloomington-Normal with over 10,000 professional employees. The Galant rolls off the line at the Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Illinois where 3,000 UAW members report to work every day.