Putnam County, Indiana: Farm Belt county. In 2024, voted R+52%. Republican peak: R+52 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+52MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Farm BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 37,2802024 5-year
- Median household income
- $78,3782024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 91.4%2024 5-year
- Black
- 3.3%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.3%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+28 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+52 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Carroll County, IN · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Putnam CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Putnam County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
—
Margin—
Turnout—
Harris +50Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1876–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
| Year | Margin (D minus R) |
|---|---|
| 1876 | No data |
| 1880 | No data |
| 1884 | No data |
| 1888 | No data |
| 1892 | +8.6% |
| 1896 | +10.1% |
| 1900 | +10.2% |
| 1904 | +7.2% |
| 1908 | +8.5% |
| 1912 | +28.3% |
| 1916 | +9.0% |
| 1920 | +2.6% |
| 1924 | −1.7% |
| 1928 | −12.2% |
| 1932 | +15.8% |
| 1936 | +10.9% |
| 1940 | +1.6% |
| 1944 | −5.1% |
| 1948 | −2.6% |
| 1952 | −19.7% |
| 1956 | −18.7% |
| 1960 | −15.6% |
| 1964 | +8.1% |
| 1968 | −19.1% |
| 1972 | −40.4% |
| 1976 | −8.4% |
| 1980 | −26.3% |
| 1984 | −39.3% |
| 1988 | −29.7% |
| 1992 | −15.4% |
| 1996 | −17.2% |
| 2000 | −27.2% |
| 2004 | −36.6% |
| 2008 | −12.0% |
| 2012 | −32.5% |
| 2016 | −49.1% |
| 2020 | −50.2% |
| 2024 | −51.9% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 3,871 | 12,566 | 16,766 | ||
| R | 3,946 | 12,278 | 16,597 | ||
| R | 3,356 | 10,637 | 14,818 | ||
| R | 4,507 | 9,005 | 13,829 | ||
| R | 6,334 | 8,086 | 14,646 | ||
| R | 4,103 | 8,908 | 13,136 | ||
| R | 4,123 | 7,352 | 11,871 | ||
| R | 3,962 | 5,958 | 11,616 | ||
| R | 3,487 | 5,341 | 12,048 | ||
| R | 3,850 | 7,119 | 11,021 | ||
| R | 3,392 | 7,820 | 11,272 | ||
| R | 3,996 | 7,090 | 11,748 | ||
| R | 5,116 | 6,063 | 11,297 | ||
| R | 3,339 | 7,879 | 11,243 | ||
| R | 3,692 | 5,873 | 11,410 | ||
| D | 6,275 | 5,331 | 11,630 | ||
| R | 4,798 | 6,583 | 11,423 | ||
| R | 4,572 | 6,684 | 11,280 | ||
| R | 4,446 | 6,632 | 11,118 | ||
| R | 4,814 | 5,072 | 9,963 | ||
| R | 4,857 | 5,386 | 10,283 | ||
| D | 6,020 | 5,832 | 11,901 | ||
| D | 6,177 | 4,961 | 11,207 | ||
| D | 6,168 | 4,438 | 10,968 | ||
| R | 4,177 | 5,351 | 9,603 | ||
| R | 4,759 | 4,930 | 10,032 | ||
| D | 5,417 | 5,140 | 10,746 | ||
| D | 2,965 | 2,453 | 5,668 | ||
| D | 2,922 | 1,354 | 5,545 | ||
| D | 3,131 | 2,626 | 5,926 | ||
| D | 3,005 | 2,586 | 5,830 | ||
| D | 3,251 | 2,632 | 6,049 | ||
| D | 3,218 | 2,622 | 5,909 | ||
| D | 2,754 | 2,289 | 5,405 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
13.5%
American
12.5%
English
11.9%
Irish
7.4%
Scottish
2.7%
Italian
2.1%
French
1.0%
African American
2.6%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
2024 ACS
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 38.4 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
85+
75–84
65–74
55–64
45–54
35–44
25–34
18–24
5–17
<5
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Median household income
Inflation-adjusted dollars
$78,378
Putnam County ranks in the top 25% of US counties.
Putnam County$78,378
Indiana$71,957
United States$80,734
Putnam County ranks in the top 25% of US counties by median household income.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
8.7%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1810.1%
Working age (18–64)8.6%
Seniors (65+)5.8%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.2%
speak English only
Spanish1.7%
Other Indo-European1.1%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.8%
Other languages0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 71.2% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Putnam County, anchored by Greencastle and DePauw University, still posts some of the widest Republican presidential margins in the state despite hosting a liberal-arts campus — a pattern common to small Indiana counties where rural precincts dominate the overall tally.
The Republican margin here reached fifty-two points in 2024. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved two points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was fifty-two points.
A population of 37,280, a 91% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $78,378 describe an agricultural county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Carroll County and DeKalb County.
Most similar counties
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Putnam County, Indiana. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/18133/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More farm belt counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Putnam County, Indiana vote in 2024?
In 2024, Putnam County, Indiana voted Republican by 51.9 points (R+52), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 16,766 votes cast, 3,871 went Democratic and 12,566 went Republican.
What is Putnam County, Indiana's political typology?
Akashic places Putnam County, Indiana in the "Farm Belt" typology — Rural Plains and Midwest farm counties — Republican, with modest recent movement. The typology is a data-driven cluster built from vote share, vote swing, race and ethnicity, income, language spoken at home, religion, and ancestry. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the county has voted Democratic 12 times, Republican 22 times, and other 0 times.
When did Putnam County, Indiana last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Putnam County, Indiana voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Putnam County, Indiana?
Putnam County, Indiana has a population of 37,280 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Putnam County, Indiana?
Median household income in Putnam County, Indiana is $78,378 — below the national median of $80,734. The Indiana state median is $71,957.
What is the political history of Putnam County, Indiana?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Putnam County, Indiana from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 12 went Democratic and 22 went Republican. The county's typology — "Farm Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.