| Rank |
County |
Total Direct Payments
1995-2012 | Pct of
Total | Running
Percentage |
| 1 | Iroquois County, Illinois | $116,914,925 | 2.8% | 2.8% |
| 2 | La Salle County, Illinois | $115,978,706 | 2.7% | 5.5% |
| 3 | McLean County, Illinois | $115,844,738 | 2.7% | 8.2% |
| 4 | Champaign County, Illinois | $102,716,408 | 2.4% | 10.7% |
| 5 | Livingston County, Illinois | $101,290,775 | 2.4% | 13.1% |
| 6 | Bureau County, Illinois | $89,780,029 | 2.1% | 15.2% |
| 7 | Henry County, Illinois | $85,589,229 | 2.0% | 17.2% |
| 8 | Vermilion County, Illinois | $82,062,824 | 1.9% | 19.2% |
| 9 | Lee County, Illinois | $79,092,445 | 1.9% | 21.0% |
| 10 | Christian County, Illinois | $78,944,452 | 1.9% | 22.9% |
| 11 | Sangamon County, Illinois | $77,561,413 | 1.8% | 24.7% |
| 12 | DeKalb County, Illinois | $76,979,549 | 1.8% | 26.5% |
| 13 | Whiteside County, Illinois | $75,237,774 | 1.8% | 28.3% |
| 14 | Ogle County, Illinois | $73,421,551 | 1.7% | 30.1% |
| 15 | Kankakee County, Illinois | $69,712,660 | 1.6% | 31.7% |
| 16 | Logan County, Illinois | $69,522,902 | 1.6% | 33.4% |
| 17 | Macoupin County, Illinois | $66,173,686 | 1.6% | 34.9% |
| 18 | Montgomery County, Illinois | $62,373,093 | 1.5% | 36.4% |
| 19 | Shelby County, Illinois | $62,270,015 | 1.5% | 37.9% |
| 20 | Warren County, Illinois | $61,836,135 | 1.5% | 39.3% |
| 21 | Knox County, Illinois | $60,285,657 | 1.4% | 40.8% |
| 22 | Hancock County, Illinois | $59,442,995 | 1.4% | 42.2% |
| 23 | Edgar County, Illinois | $59,427,027 | 1.4% | 43.6% |
| 24 | Macon County, Illinois | $55,776,575 | 1.3% | 44.9% |
| 25 | Morgan County, Illinois | $55,471,273 | 1.3% | 46.2% |
| 26 | Stephenson County, Illinois | $53,430,940 | 1.3% | 47.5% |
| 27 | Tazewell County, Illinois | $52,780,724 | 1.2% | 48.7% |
| 28 | Woodford County, Illinois | $51,473,390 | 1.2% | 49.9% |
| 29 | Mercer County, Illinois | $50,713,797 | 1.2% | 51.1% |
| 30 | Douglas County, Illinois | $50,490,599 | 1.2% | 52.3% |
| 31 | McDonough County, Illinois | $50,346,014 | 1.2% | 53.5% |
| 32 | Piatt County, Illinois | $49,827,932 | 1.2% | 54.7% |
| 33 | Pike County, Illinois | $48,275,687 | 1.1% | 55.8% |
| 34 | Ford County, Illinois | $48,005,028 | 1.1% | 57.0% |
| 35 | Adams County, Illinois | $47,470,882 | 1.1% | 58.1% |
| 36 | Fulton County, Illinois | $46,732,617 | 1.1% | 59.2% |
| 37 | Carroll County, Illinois | $44,976,582 | 1.1% | 60.3% |
| 38 | Coles County, Illinois | $44,613,459 | 1.1% | 61.3% |
| 39 | Washington County, Illinois | $44,249,304 | 1.0% | 62.4% |
| 40 | Madison County, Illinois | $44,137,982 | 1.0% | 63.4% |
| 41 | Mason County, Illinois | $43,978,598 | 1.0% | 64.4% |
| 42 | Fayette County, Illinois | $41,567,601 | 1.0% | 65.4% |
| 43 | Grundy County, Illinois | $41,445,641 | 1.0% | 66.4% |
| 44 | Jasper County, Illinois | $41,171,774 | 1.0% | 67.4% |
| 45 | Will County, Illinois | $40,606,732 | 1.0% | 68.3% |
| 46 | Clark County, Illinois | $39,587,253 | 0.9% | 69.3% |
| 47 | Saint Clair County, Illinois | $39,188,023 | 0.9% | 70.2% |
| 48 | De Witt County, Illinois | $38,935,471 | 0.9% | 71.1% |
| 49 | Greene County, Illinois | $38,639,958 | 0.9% | 72.0% |
| 50 | Peoria County, Illinois | $37,274,407 | 0.9% | 72.9% |
| 51 | Wayne County, Illinois | $36,891,905 | 0.9% | 73.8% |
| 52 | Henderson County, Illinois | $36,237,296 | 0.9% | 74.6% |
| 53 | Clinton County, Illinois | $35,537,338 | 0.8% | 75.5% |
| 54 | McHenry County, Illinois | $34,495,429 | 0.8% | 76.3% |
| 55 | Effingham County, Illinois | $34,068,581 | 0.8% | 77.1% |
| 56 | Crawford County, Illinois | $33,289,110 | 0.8% | 77.9% |
| 57 | Stark County, Illinois | $32,964,138 | 0.8% | 78.7% |
| 58 | Winnebago County, Illinois | $32,773,872 | 0.8% | 79.4% |
| 59 | Marshall County, Illinois | $32,526,070 | 0.8% | 80.2% |
| 60 | White County, Illinois | $32,139,766 | 0.8% | 81.0% |
| 61 | Kane County, Illinois | $32,065,548 | 0.8% | 81.7% |
| 62 | Moultrie County, Illinois | $31,861,284 | 0.8% | 82.5% |
| 63 | Menard County, Illinois | $31,548,808 | 0.7% | 83.2% |
| 64 | Richland County, Illinois | $31,491,650 | 0.7% | 84.0% |
| 65 | Kendall County, Illinois | $30,748,220 | 0.7% | 84.7% |
| 66 | Lawrence County, Illinois | $29,956,131 | 0.7% | 85.4% |
| 67 | Jo Daviess County, Illinois | $29,860,859 | 0.7% | 86.1% |
| 68 | Clay County, Illinois | $29,559,338 | 0.7% | 86.8% |
| 69 | Cass County, Illinois | $28,394,450 | 0.7% | 87.5% |
| 70 | Randolph County, Illinois | $28,246,060 | 0.7% | 88.2% |
| 71 | Marion County, Illinois | $28,151,279 | 0.7% | 88.8% |
| 72 | Cumberland County, Illinois | $26,829,872 | 0.6% | 89.5% |
| 73 | Hamilton County, Illinois | $26,828,432 | 0.6% | 90.1% |
| 74 | Bond County, Illinois | $26,553,565 | 0.6% | 90.7% |
| 75 | Boone County, Illinois | $26,483,477 | 0.6% | 91.3% |
| 76 | Monroe County, Illinois | $26,452,399 | 0.6% | 92.0% |
| 77 | Rock Island County, Illinois | $26,086,645 | 0.6% | 92.6% |
| 78 | Jersey County, Illinois | $25,467,041 | 0.6% | 93.2% |
| 79 | Gallatin County, Illinois | $24,830,882 | 0.6% | 93.8% |
| 80 | Schuyler County, Illinois | $23,643,570 | 0.6% | 94.3% |
| 81 | Jefferson County, Illinois | $21,719,051 | 0.5% | 94.8% |
| 82 | Perry County, Illinois | $21,122,527 | 0.5% | 95.3% |
| 83 | Wabash County, Illinois | $20,610,362 | 0.5% | 95.8% |
| 84 | Scott County, Illinois | $20,241,421 | 0.5% | 96.3% |
| 85 | Jackson County, Illinois | $17,606,852 | 0.4% | 96.7% |
| 86 | Franklin County, Illinois | $17,505,773 | 0.4% | 97.1% |
| 87 | Saline County, Illinois | $16,842,066 | 0.4% | 97.5% |
| 88 | Brown County, Illinois | $16,569,157 | 0.4% | 97.9% |
| 89 | Edwards County, Illinois | $13,396,034 | 0.3% | 98.3% |
| 90 | Putnam County, Illinois | $12,800,371 | 0.3% | 98.6% |
| 91 | Massac County, Illinois | $10,583,952 | 0.3% | 98.8% |
| 92 | Pulaski County, Illinois | $8,093,808 | 0.2% | 99.0% |
| 93 | Calhoun County, Illinois | $7,996,179 | 0.2% | 99.2% |
| 94 | Alexander County, Illinois | $7,104,709 | 0.2% | 99.4% |
| 95 | Union County, Illinois | $7,064,414 | 0.2% | 99.5% |
| 96 | Williamson County, Illinois | $6,099,341 | 0.1% | 99.7% |
| 97 | Johnson County, Illinois | $4,019,415 | 0.1% | 99.8% |
| 98 | Lake County, Illinois | $3,413,418 | 0.1% | 99.8% |
| 99 | Pope County, Illinois | $2,986,762 | 0.1% | 99.9% |
| 100 | Cook County, Illinois | $1,883,902 | 0.0% | 100.0% |
| 101 | Hardin County, Illinois | $945,657 | 0.0% | 100.0% |
| 102 | DuPage County, Illinois | $918,994 | 0.0% | 100.0% |
Source: Environmental Working Group. Compiled from USDA data.
Note: The information on conservation spending for 2011and 2012 are incomplete due to missing data from USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service. In addition some payments made in 2010 were not assigned to recipients in the data received from NRCS. Those payments are also not included.
The information provided for the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) provides an inaccurate picture of how WRP payments are distributed. USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service uses title companies as intermediaries to finalize wetlands easements under the Wetlands Reserve Program. As a result, the data provided to us shows large sums of money going to these title companies. In reality, the payments are ultimately distributed to landowners participating in the WRP.
Unfortunately, NRCS has not provided the data to show where these farms and wetlands are located or which farmers or landowners are enrolling in the program, so EWG is unable to allocate these large sums of money to individuals beyond the title companies. Therefore, these companies skew the conservation rankings and payment concentration, which EWG cannot avoid unless and until NRCS makes available the additional farm attribution data. Therefore, we have not included WRP payments in the 2011 or 2012 data update.
We have separated data on farm commodity, disaster and conservation payments in order to provide a more accurate picture of top recipients and concentration of payments among the three main categories of USDA programs.
Finally, EWG works hard to ensure the accuracy of the information it provides through its products and services, but obtains data for the Farm Subsidy Database from the U.S. Department of Agriculture pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. Therefore, EWG cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information USDA provides or any analysis based thereon. If you find an error or discrepancy on the site, please contact your local USDA Farm Service Agency office to check its records before contacting EWG.
