Taylorville is a city in and the county seat of Christian County, Illinois, United States. The population was 10,506 at the 2020 census, making it the county's largest city. History Taylorville was founded on May 24, 1839, and was named after John Taylor, a planning commissioner for the state of Illinois. Taylorville was known (in the early to mid-1990s) to have had a high rate of neuroblastoma, a cancer affecting the adrenal gland and striking children. The local power company Central Illinois Public Service Company was sued and lost for contaminating the groundwater in 1994. Some outer homes and a business in Taylorville were damaged by an F1 tornado on April 2, 2006. On August 11, 2012, a Beechcraft Model 18 airplane crashed into a residential area of Taylorville, killing the pilot but injuring none on the ground. A subsequent NTSB investigation into the accident concluded that an improper flap configuration and failure to maintain the correct airspeed due to pilot error, resulted in the crash. At about 5:15 PM on December 1, 2018, as part of the December 2018 tornado outbreak, a strong tornado hit Taylorville. The tornado injured at least 26 residents and damaged more than 600 homes and businesses, 34 of which were completely destroyed. Damage surveys by the National Weather Service rated the tornado EF3 with winds over . Geography Taylorville is located at (39.540768, −89.288005). According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Taylorville has a total area of , of which (or 84.38%) is land and (or 15.62%) is water. Demographics As of the 2020 census there were 10,506 people, 5,064 households, and 2,507 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 5,336 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 93.81% White, 0.90% African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.94% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.52% from other races, and 3.56% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.65% of the population. There were 5,064 households, out of which 41.33% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.45% were married couples living together, 9.72% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.49% were non-families. 44.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.22% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.96 and the