Jackson County, Illinois stands out because agriculture and forest both occupy large shares of the county rather than one class overwhelming the entire map. The 2025 summary lists agriculture at 45.15% and forest at 33.93%, followed by developed land at 9.50%, wetlands at 8.25%, and water at 2.94%. Broad farm areas are strongest across the north and part of the western extension, while the southwest and south contain much larger blocks of forest, wetlands, and water.
This page compares four views of that landscape: general land cover, forest and farmland, impervious/developed land, and 1985–2025 class differences. The WebP maps can be viewed on the page, and the four original JPG maps are available together in one download. The set is useful for separating present-day cover, field-versus-forest patterns, hard-surface concentrations, and long-term classification differences without treating them as the same kind of information.
Table of Contents
Agriculture leads at 45.15%, but the 33.93% forest share changes the county map just as strongly
The northern half of Jackson County is dominated by yellow agricultural cover, especially across the north and northeast. Farther west, the projecting part of the county also contains large agricultural areas. The pattern changes quickly toward the southwest and south, where dark green forest expands into broad connected blocks. Because agriculture and forest are separated by only about eleven percentage points, the county does not resemble a uniformly farm-dominated landscape.
Forest is most continuous across the southwest and the southern portion of the county. A second substantial wooded area appears west of the center, while the north contains more fragmented forest pieces inside agricultural land. This difference matters when interpreting the 33.93% countywide figure. The same percentage would look very different if forest were evenly scattered; here, much of it forms larger southern blocks.
Developed cover makes up 9.50% and appears most clearly in two larger clusters in the east-central and central parts of the county. Smaller built nodes and linear road patterns extend beyond those centers. The red developed areas are separated by farms, forest, and wetland cover, so the map shows several distinct concentrations rather than one continuous built-up surface.
Wetlands and water reshape the central-southern part of the county
Wetlands account for 8.25% of Jackson County, a large enough share to be one of the county’s defining land-cover features. A broad wetland area appears south of the center, and additional teal bands occur in the southeast and in winding patterns farther north and east. In several places, wetlands sit directly beside forest or water, creating complex edges that are not visible if the county is described only as a mix of farms and woods.
Water covers 2.94% of the county. Blue areas include a sizable water body west of center, water along the western edge, and elongated water features in the south and southeast. Although the percentage is smaller than the major land classes, the water shapes are visually important because they interrupt forest and agricultural cover and help explain where wetland patches cluster.
The forest-and-farmland map makes the north-south contrast easier to see
The forest-and-farmland view strips away much of the visual competition from developed land and highlights the two dominant covers. Agriculture remains broad across the north and much of the western extension, while forest becomes increasingly prominent toward the southwest and south. The map is especially useful when the goal is to show how a county with a 45.15% agricultural share can also contain a very large 33.93% forest component.
The central portion of the county is more mixed than either extreme. Forest and agriculture meet in irregular edges, and wetland or developed areas break up both classes. This middle zone is important because a countywide average cannot show how rapidly the map changes from large northern field blocks to larger southern forest blocks.
Mean impervious cover is only 2.46%, but hard surfaces concentrate around the main built centers
Impervious surface measures hard materials such as pavement, parking areas, and rooftops that do not readily absorb water. Jackson County has a mean impervious value of 2.46%, while 1.21% of the county falls in the 50%-or-greater impervious category. These values are much lower than the 9.50% developed-land share because developed classes may include lawns, trees, soil, and other permeable surfaces.
The darkest colors are concentrated in the large east-central built cluster and another developed center to its west. Road lines radiate outward, and several smaller nodes appear elsewhere in the county. Large agricultural areas in the west and north remain light, while much of the forested southwest is also close to zero impervious cover. That distribution explains why the countywide average remains modest.
The 11.04% 1985–2025 class difference is dominated by the “other” category
The change map marks cells whose 1985 and 2025 land-cover classifications differ. Jackson County has an overall class-difference value of 11.04%. Of that total, 1.66% is classified to developed, 0.92% is forest loss, 1.13% is agricultural loss, and 7.08% is other class difference. Because the other category is the largest component, the countywide total should not be read as a direct measure of urban expansion or forest clearing.
Purple other-class differences are widely scattered through the north and center, with smaller patches continuing southward. Red developed differences are more noticeable around the present-day built concentrations in the east-central and central parts of the county. Forest-loss and agricultural-loss colors appear as smaller pieces rather than one broad conversion zone.
A class difference can include real land-cover change, but it can also reflect imagery, seasonal vegetation, moisture conditions, classification methods, or mixed pixels. The map notes that classification variation may be included. For a specific site, the change layer should be treated as a starting point and checked against other years of imagery or local records before a conclusion is made.
Each map answers a different practical question about Jackson County
Use the general land cover map when you need the broadest countywide picture. It shows agriculture, forest, developed land, wetlands, and water together and is the best map for explaining why the north and south look so different. The forest-and-farmland map works better when the discussion is specifically about the balance between fields and woods.
The impervious map is the better choice for locating hard surfaces and comparing the main developed centers with the rural parts of the county. The change map serves a different role because it compares two classification years instead of describing current cover. Keeping current land cover and class change in separate panels prevents a viewer from mistaking a historical comparison for today’s land-use pattern.
Thirty-meter raster cells simplify narrow roads, wetland edges, and small forest patches
Annual NLCD products are commonly represented with roughly 30-meter raster cells. A raster divides the surface into a grid and assigns each cell a representative class or value. Where a cell contains more than one surface—such as a road beside cropland or a wetland edge beside forest—the mapped result may simplify that mixed ground into one class or one impervious percentage.
The 2025 map is also a snapshot of one classification year. Construction, crop rotation, water levels, vegetation change, or forest management after the observation period are not automatically included. The 1985–2025 map compares two endpoints and does not reconstruct every change in between. These maps are most useful for county-scale pattern comparison and for identifying places where newer or more detailed information may be needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the largest 2025 land-cover class in Jackson County?
Agriculture is the largest at 45.15%, followed closely by forest at 33.93%. Agriculture is broadest in the north and part of the west, while forest becomes much more continuous in the southwest and south.
Where are the county’s 8.25% wetlands most visible?
The strongest wetland concentrations appear south of the center and in several southeast and northeast corridors. Many wetland areas sit beside forest or open water.
Does the 11.04% 1985–2025 class difference equal physical land-use change?
Not necessarily. Real surface change may be included, but imagery, moisture, vegetation, classification methods, and mixed pixels can also create differences. Other class difference accounts for 7.08%.
Map File Information
The download combines four original JPG maps for Jackson County: 2025 land cover, forest and farmland, impervious/developed land, and the 1985–2025 land-cover class comparison.
- Included Versions: Land Cover Map, Forest & Farmland Map, Impervious/Developed Land Map, and 1985–2025 Land Cover Change Map
- File Type: One ZIP containing four JPG files
- Intended Use: agriculture/forest comparison, wetland and water review, built-surface patterns, class-change reference, teaching, and presentations
Related Maps
- Adams County Illinois Land Cover Map
- Alexander County Illinois Land Cover Map
- Bond County Illinois Land Cover Map
Sources and references
- MRLC Annual NLCD Data – official access point for Annual NLCD land-cover and impervious-surface products.
- USGS Annual NLCD Land Cover Classification – official documentation for land-cover classes and interpretation of the raster product.
- U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line Shapefiles – official geographic boundary source for Jackson County.
Green Map creates custom-edited map images using open geographic data sources such as geoBoundaries, Natural Earth, OpenStreetMap, and government open data.
These maps are edited visual materials, not raw data files, and are provided for education, documents, presentations, and graphic reference.
