Maple syrup in Illinois, county by county
- Maple farms, 2022
- 69
- +15% since 2017
- Taps, 2022
- 7,756
- -23% since 2017
- Gallons of syrup
- 2,871
- 0.37 gal per tap
- Counties with a page
- 4
- of 30 with maple farms
Reading the map
Where Illinois' sugaring happens
Whiteside County alone holds 180 taps (2% of the state). Counties shaded lightest have the fewest taps; grey counties reported fewer than five maple farms and have no atlas page. Click any county for its season calendar.
USDA publishes no season dates for Illinois, so the county dates below are the unadjusted weather signal. In neighboring states with records, producers reported seasons running one to three weeks later than this rule, so treat these as early-side estimates.
Every county
Illinois maple production and season dates by county
| County | Farms | Taps | Gallons | Taps vs 2017 | Sap usually runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whiteside | 3 | 180 | 33 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| McDonough | 4 | 135 | 15 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Lake | 8 | 107 | 24 | — | Feb 26 – Mar 28 |
| Woodford | 6 | 95 | 18 | — | Feb 14 – Mar 17 |
| La Salle | 5 | 95 | 8 | — | Feb 18 – Mar 21 |
| De Kalb | 5 | 63 | 22 | -30% | Feb 25 – Mar 28 |
| McHenry | 3 | 32 | 5 | -90% | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Stephenson | 3 | 22 | 11 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Will | 3 | 9 | 3 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Bureau | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Douglas | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Effingham | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Franklin | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Grundy | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Henry | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Jackson | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Jo Daviess | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Kane | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Kankakee | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Knox | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Marion | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Ogle | 0 | 0 | 0 | -100% | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Randolph | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Rock Island | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Union | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Wabash | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Jersey | 3 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Adams | 2 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Carroll | 2 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Jefferson | 2 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| McLean | 2 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Sangamon | 2 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Vermilion | 2 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Bond | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Boone | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Calhoun | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Fulton | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Hancock | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Johnson | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Madison | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Menard | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Montgomery | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Morgan | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Schuyler | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Warren | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Williamson | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Winnebago | 1 | withheld | withheld | — | fewer than 5 farms · no page |
| Illinois total | 69 | 7,756 | 2,871 | -23% |
“Withheld” = USDA suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing individual operations. County totals need not sum to the state total for that reason.
About this page
Production figures are copied, unchanged, from Table 37 of the 2022 Census of Agriculture county volume for Illinois. Season dates come from our county maple atlas: 36 seasons of daily temperatures at each county seat scored with the freeze-thaw rule behind our live forecast, calibrated against 117 state-seasons of USDA-reported dates. How the atlas is built, and the downloadable dataset →
Sources · 3
- 1.2022 Census of Agriculture, County Level Data — Illinois, Table 37: Maple Syrup, 2022 and 2017 · USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
- 2.USDA NASS maple syrup reports — approximate average season opened and closed dates, 2011–2022 · USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
- 3.PRISM daily temperature grids (AN81d, 4 km), accessed 2026-10-05 · PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu
FAQ
Illinois maple questions
- Which county in Illinois makes the most maple syrup?
- Whiteside County, with 180 taps and 33 gallons of syrup across 3 farms in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, about 2% of the state's taps. USDA withheld totals for 21 counties to protect individual farms, so the ranking covers published counties.
- How many maple producers are there in Illinois?
- The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 69 farms producing maple syrup in Illinois (60 in 2017), with 7,756 taps and 2,871 gallons of syrup. The Census counts farms, so backyard sugarmakers who don't sell are not included.
- Where does the sap run first in Illinois?
- By our weather record, Woodford County (Eureka) typically starts around February 14, while Lake County (Waukegan) starts around February 26, a spread of about 12 days across the state.
Other states
The county atlas elsewhere
LuckySap · free on iPhone & Android
Know when Illinois' sap will run
LuckySap checks the forecast for your trees and can ping you the night before a strong sap day, then keeps every collection and boil in one season log. Free on iPhone and Android.
