Bear Grove Township, Fayette County, Illinois

Bear Grove Township is one of twenty townships in Fayette County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 553 and it contained 232 housing units. The township was originally known as Johnson Township.

Geography
According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Bear Grove Township has a total area of 37.41 sqmi, of which 37.35 sqmi (or 99.84%) is land and 0.06 sqmi (or 0.16%) is water.

Unincorporated towns

 * Hagarstown

Extinct towns

 * Jimtown

Cemeteries
The township contains these five cemeteries: Bethlehem, Eakle, Evans, McInturff and Wright and Neathery.

Major highways

 * [[Image:I-70.svg|25px]] Interstate 70
 * [[Image:US 40.svg|25px]] U.S. Route 40
 * [[Image:Illinois 140.svg|25px]] Illinois Route 140

Airports and landing strips

 * Lutz Airport
 * Vandalia Municipal Airport

Lakes

 * Vandalia Lake

Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 553 people, 261 households, and 240 families residing in the township. The population density was 14.78 PD/sqmi. There were 232 housing units at an average density of 6.20 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the township was 96.93% White, 0.18% African American, 0.00% Native American, 0.36% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.00% from other races, and 2.53% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.08% of the population.

There were 261 households, out of which 50.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.56% were married couples living together, 18.39% had a female householder with no spouse present, and 8.05% were non-families. 6.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 2.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.08 and the average family size was 3.24.

The township's age distribution consisted of 35.1% under the age of 18, 3.9% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 25.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.1 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $83,203, and the median income for a family was $84,219. Males had a median income of $52,679 versus $31,793 for females. The per capita income for the township was $26,072. About 7.5% of families and 10.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.1% of those under age 18 and 0.0% of those age 65 or over.

School districts

 * Mulberry Grove Community Unit School District 1
 * Vandalia Community Unit School District 203

Political districts

 * Illinois' 19th congressional district
 * State House District 102
 * State Senate District 51