Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Wonder Lake, IL

Wonder Lake is a village in McHenry County, Illinois, built around the man-made lake of the same name in the Chicago metropolitan area.

The 2020 census counted 3,973 people in the village itself, but including the surrounding unincorporated subdivisions around the lake, the community's population is estimated at about 10,000.

Wonder Lake itself is a private, man-made recreational lake of about 835 acres, created in 1929 when Nippersink Creek was dammed.

The lake is owned and managed by the Wonder Lake Master Property Owners Association, and beach and lake access is reserved for members of the homeowner associations in the subdivisions around it.

The village was originally incorporated in 1974 under the name Sunrise Ridge and changed its name to Wonder Lake a few years later.

Wonder Lake nearly tripled in size during the 2000s, growing from 1,345 residents in 2000 to 4,026 in 2010, an increase of about 199 percent.

After a successful court case, the village annexed the lake bottom in the early 2000s so it could manage sediment buildup and protect the lake's health.

Census Bureau survey estimates put Wonder Lake at roughly 1,640 households, with an average household size of about 2.6 people.

Wonder Lake's youngest students attend Harrison School District 36, which runs a single pre-K-through-8 school in the village, while older students go on to McHenry High School in District 156.

Growth is still coming: the Stonewater subdivision being built off Illinois Route 120 is projected to add nearly 10,000 residents to the Wonder Lake area by 2040.