page_title: Southern Illinois
section_title: Metro East
hierarchical_section_title: Southern Illinois / Microregions / Metro East
caption_attribution_description: English: Granite City City Hall
context_page_description: Southern Illinois is the southern third of the state of Illinois. The southern part of Illinois has a unique cultural and regional history. Part of downstate Illinois, the Southern Illinois region is bordered by the two most voluminous rivers in the United States: the Mississippi River below its connecting Missouri River to the west, and the Ohio River to the east and south with the Wabash as tributary.
  Southern Illinois' most populated city is Belleville at 44,478. Other principal cities include Alton, Centralia, Collinsville, Edwardsville, Effingham, Godfrey, O'Fallon, Harrisburg, Herrin, West Frankfort, Mt. Vernon, Marion, and Carbondale, where the main campus of Southern Illinois University is located. Residents may also travel to amenities in St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee; Evansville, Indiana; and Paducah, Kentucky. The region is home to Scott Air Force Base, a major military installation.
  The area has a population of 1.2 million people, who live mostly in rural towns and cities separated by extensive farmland and the Shawnee National Forest.
context_section_description: The most populous region of Southern Illinois is the Illinois side of the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area. Noted areas are Cahokia Mounds, the American Bottom, and East St. Louis, which has had a turbulent history related to industrialization and labor, immigration and the struggle for equal rights.
  Population: 702,579
  Counties
  Clinton
  Jersey
  Madison
  Monroe
  St. Clair
  Bond
  Calhoun
  Macoupin
  Principal cities
  Belleville (St. Clair)
  Alton (Madison)
  Granite City (Madison)
  O'Fallon (St. Clair)
  East St. Louis (St. Clair)
  Collinsville (Madison)
  Edwardsville (Madison)
  City populations
  41,906
  26,861
  28,908
  29,031
  26,922
  24,635
  25,071
caption: Granite City downtown and city hall, population:29,849.
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK EASYSHARE CX7300 DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "230", "Image YResolution": "230", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Version 1.0000", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "338", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2548", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8856", "EXIF ExposureTime": "49/62500", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2004:01:01 12:20:44", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2004:01:01 12:20:44", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "87/50", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1031/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "433/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "433/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "59/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2080", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1544", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2518", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "37", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}