Effingham County, Illinois

Effingham County is a county in Illinois, United States, about 95 miles east of St. Louis,
Missouri, where Interstate 57 crosses Interstate 70. It had a population of 34,668 at the 2020
census, an estimated 34,522 by 2024, and covers 480 square miles (1,243 km2) centred near
39°04′N 88°35′W.

Effingham is the county seat and the county’s largest city; its postal code is 62401. The
county holds 2 cities and 8 incorporated towns, plus 7 unincorporated communities across 15
townships, and it runs on Central Time. Its FIPS code is 17049.

Towns & Villages in Effingham County

Effingham County has 17 named places on record: 2 cities and 8 incorporated towns (Illinois
law calls most of these villages, but the table below groups them under one Town label), plus 7
unincorporated communities with no local government of their own.

Two names on this list are easy to confuse with places outside the county. Mason, the village
in Mason Township, is a different place from Mason County, Illinois, further west along the
Illinois River. Montrose sits mostly in St. Francis Township, but Teutopolis holds the eastern
edge of that same township, so the two villages effectively share a border inside it.

Townships

Effingham County’s 15 townships sum to the county’s full 2020 population of 34,668.
Douglas Township, which holds most of the city of Effingham, accounts for more than a third of
that total on its own.

ZIP Codes

• 62401 — Effingham
• 62411 — Altamont
• 62467 — Teutopolis
• 62424 — Dieterich
• 62473 — Watson
• 62414 — Beecher City
• 62426 — Edgewood
• 62443 — Mason
• 62445 — Montrose
• 62461 — Shumway

Dexter, Elliottstown, Funkhouser, Gilmore, Heartville, Keptown and Moccasin have no ZIP code of
their own; mail to these unincorporated communities is delivered under the nearest incorporated
town’s code.

Geography

Effingham County sits in south-central Illinois, on the low till plains and prairie that cover
most of the state between the Kaskaskia and Little Wabash river systems. Of its 480 square miles,
479 are land and 1.2 are water, about 0.3 percent — the county has no large natural lake,
and its water surface is mostly farm ponds and small tributary streams feeding the Little Wabash
River, which crosses the county’s eastern side.

Cumberland County borders the county to the northeast and Shelby County to the northwest,
neither with a live profile on this site yet. Jasper County lies to the east, Clay County to the south, and Fayette County to the west.

Demographics

Effingham County had a population of 34,668 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the county near 34,522 residents by 2024, essentially flat over the period. Effingham and
Altamont are the two largest communities, together holding well under half the county’s
population, since the remaining roughly 15,500 residents live in the county’s villages and
unincorporated areas rather than concentrated in a single second city. Median household income
runs $80,404, below Illinois’s statewide figure of $80,306. Population density works out to
about 72.4 people per square mile of land, low for Illinois and typical of a rural downstate
county built around one regional hub.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 2,757 people,
followed by manufacturing at 2,378 and retail trade at 2,292. The retail and hospitality share is
unusually large for a county this size, driven by Effingham’s position at the junction of
Interstate 57 and Interstate 70, which the city markets as the “Crossroads of
Opportunity” and which supports a much wider range of restaurants and lodging than most
towns of comparable population carry. The county’s hospital campus in Effingham, rebuilt
after a 1949 fire that killed 74 people and prompted fire-code reforms nationwide, remains a
major health care employer. West of the city on Interstate 70 stands the Cross at the Crossroads,
a 198-foot steel cross raised in 2001, one of the tallest crosses in the country and a landmark
for the roughly 35,000 vehicles that pass daily. The county’s largest annual event is the
Effingham County Fair, held each summer at the fairgrounds in Altamont.

History

The Illinois General Assembly organised Effingham County on 15 February 1831, carving it out of
Fayette and Crawford counties. Accounts differ on the source of the name: some credit a local
surveyor, others a British peer, Thomas Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham, and some county histories
trace it instead to the Anglo-Saxon term for “Effa’s home.” Effingham itself was
first settled in 1814 as Broughton and became the county seat in 1859. German Catholic settlers
led by Clemens Uptmor founded Teutopolis in 1839 along the National Road, now US Route 40, after
buying roughly 10,080 acres and platting the town on a plan modeled on Cincinnati’s
original layout; it remains the only town in the United States with that name.

Getting There

Interstate 57 and Interstate 70 cross at Effingham, the only interchange of the two routes in
Illinois. US Route 40 and US Route 45 also run through the county, along with Illinois Routes 32,
33, 37 and 128.

• St. Louis, Missouri — about 95 miles southwest
• Springfield, Illinois — about 80 miles northwest
• Mattoon — about 30 miles north
• Salem — about 30 miles south

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, about 95 miles southwest, is the nearest major
commercial airport; Effingham County Memorial Airport, on the edge of the city, handles general
aviation traffic. Amtrak’s City of New Orleans train stops at the Effingham station on its
Chicago–Carbondale–New Orleans route.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Effingham County located?
It sits in south-central Illinois at the junction of Interstate 57 and Interstate 70, about 95
miles east of St. Louis, bordered by Shelby, Cumberland, Jasper, Clay and Fayette counties.

What is the population of Effingham County?
34,668 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 34,522.

How big is Effingham County?
480 square miles (1,243 km2), of which 479 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Effingham County?
Effingham, organised as the county seat in 1859, is the county’s largest city.

How many towns and villages are in Effingham County?
Ten incorporated places — the cities of Effingham and Altamont, the town of Mason, and the
villages of Beecher City, Dieterich, Edgewood, Montrose, Shumway, Teutopolis and Watson —
plus seven unincorporated communities: Dexter, Elliottstown, Funkhouser, Gilmore, Heartville,
Keptown and Moccasin.

What ZIP codes does Effingham County use?
62401 for Effingham, 62411 for Altamont, 62467 for Teutopolis, 62424 for Dieterich, 62473 for
Watson, 62414 for Beecher City, 62426 for Edgewood, 62443 for Mason, 62445 for Montrose and 62461
for Shumway.

What is Effingham County known for?
Sitting at the only Interstate 57/Interstate 70 interchange in Illinois, and for the Cross at the
Crossroads, a 198-foot steel cross that is one of the tallest in the country.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Illinois.