Lake County population up 9.2%

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Crowds shop at Gurnee Mills. Lake County's population surpassed 700, 000 in the 2010 census. | Thomas Delany Jr.~Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 16, 2011 10:00AM

Newly released population figures for Lake County raised eyebrows Tuesday among county officials, who were expecting to see a higher total.

According to the U.S. Census, Lake County’s 2010 population was 703,462, up 59,106 from the year 2000 figure of 644,356.

“I thought it was going to be higher, in the neighborhood of 710,000 to 713,000,” said County Administrator Barry Burton.

Waukegan remained the county’s most populous town with 89,078 residents, up from 87,901 in 2000.

Burton said the biggest significance of the census figures for the county is that they will be used to draw up new County Board districts as part of the 10-year redistricting process. Burton said a County Board committee would be formed to study the data and recommend new district maps, which must be equal in population size.

Burton said officials will also check to see if the new figures will have any impact on federal grants, but he said he isn’t expecting any significant changes.

“It doesn’t really affect the county budget,” he said. “It is what it is.”

County Board Chairman David Stolman said he had expected to see the county gain more residents than it did in the past 10 years, and suggested the economy may have played a role.

“I would have thought there would be more people,” Stolman said.

Stolman said the lower figure could point to a trend that could delay the time it takes the county to reach the population mark that would require a split of the County and Forest boards into separate memberships.

State Sen. Suzi Schmidt, R-Lake Villa, who served the past 10 years as chairman of the County Board, was surprised by the figure.

“Wow, that’s lower than I thought,” she said, adding that she believes the county had estimated the current population at about 712,000. “We must have lost people.”

Schmidt said that with taxes going up in Illinois and jobs moving to Wisconsin, she feels there is a real possibility that the 2010 population reflects a migration toward Wisconsin or other destinations.

“With jobs relocating outside of Illinois, people say they are moving,” she said. “I hear that all the time.”