THE SALINE COUNTY LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Southern Illinoian Till Plain setting.
Saline County has 380 square miles of land in Illinois. 3 mapped landscape regions meet across Saline County: Southern Illinoian Till Plain, Wabash-Ohio Bottomlands, Northern Shawnee Hills.
Broad terraced river valleys contrast with wooded slopes and dissected glacial plains. Bottomland settings and upland oak landscapes occur close together across the Interior River Valleys and Hills.
Regional context: Interior River Valleys and Hills ↗ · Regional mapping across the county footprint
Where the landscape changes
Saline County intersects 3 mapped regional units. The largest mapped shares are:
- Southern Illinoian Till Plain55.1%
- Wabash-Ohio Bottomlands29.9%
- Northern Shawnee Hills15%
Interior Plateau in Saline County
Open hills, irregular plains and tablelands are developed on limestone and other sedimentary rocks. Oak-hickory woodland, local prairie and cedar-glade settings contribute to this diverse inland plateau.
Read the regional source ↗Finding your parcel within Saline County
The atlas lists 20 cities, towns, townships, and Census communities associated with Saline County, including Mountain, Carrier Mills, Independence. The list includes overlapping geography types and does not divide the county into exclusive service areas.
Saline County by land and water
The Census records 6.94 square miles of water within Saline County, or 1.8% of its total area. That share is close to Saline County’s 1.8%. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Saline County has 57.5 times the land area of nearby Harrisburg city (6.61 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.
The Census boundary meets Franklin County, Gallatin County, Hamilton County, Hardin County, Johnson County, Pope County, Williamson County within Illinois. A tract near one of these lines should be matched to the county identifier on its own records.

