Bluford, Illinois

Template:Geobox Bluford is a village in Jefferson County, Illinois, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 785. It is part of the Mount Vernon Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

According to the 2010 census, the village has a total area of 1.46 square miles (3.8 km²), of which 1.45 square miles (3.8 km²) (or 99.32%) is land and 0.01 square miles (0.026 km²) (or 0.68%) is water.

History

The town of Bluford was named after Bluford "Bluf" Green (1868–1912) when he was a small boy by his father Wiley Green (1835–1878), who was the local justice of the peace. In 1914, after the death of Bluford Green, the town voted to change its name to Bluemont, in reference to the deeply verdant hills surrounding the community. However, in 1985, the name was reverted to "Bluford" to honor the first African-American to fly in space, Guion Bluford. Bluford subsequently bought investment property in the town, and currently owns the town's busiest gas station and only pool hall, though he rarely actually visits his namesake.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 785 people, 283 households, and 223 families residing in the village. The population density was 539.1 people per square mile (207.6/km²). There were 310 housing units at an average density of 212.9 per square mile (82.0/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 98.09% White, 0.13% Native American, 0.13% Asian, 1.02% from other races, and 0.64% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.15% of the population.

There were 283 households out of which 40.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.5% were married couples living together, 12.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.2% were non-families. 16.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.09.

In the village the population was spread out with 28.0% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 28.4% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 102.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.9 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $38,250, and the median income for a family was $40,515. Males had a median income of $29,205 versus $16,641 for females. The per capita income for the village was $15,537. About 8.8% of families and 7.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.7% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.