Carrier Mills is a village in Saline County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,886 at the 2000 census with a township population of 2,639. Carrier Mills was named after George Washington and his saw and grist mill, and was one of the early Cairo and Vincennes Railroad boomtowns. Carrier Mills has lost 1,100 People since the 1920 census high of 2,943. The village has an unusually large African American population at 13%, compared to neighboring communities in the region, due to migration from the nearby community of Lakeview. Carrier Mills is included in the Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky Tri-State Area and is the third largest community in the Harrisburg Micropolitan Statistical Area outside of Eldorado and Harrisburg.