Poweshiek County, Iowa: Heartland Swing county. In 2024, voted R+17%. Republican peak: R+45 in 1920.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+17MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Heartland SwingAkashic typology
- Population
- 18,5452024 5-year
- Median household income
- $67,3912024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 90.3%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+25 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+45 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Marshall County, IA · similarity 0.98
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Poweshiek CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Poweshiek 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 | −13.1% |
| 1896 | −18.8% |
| 1900 | −28.3% |
| 1904 | −41.4% |
| 1908 | −24.2% |
| 1912 | +16.0% |
| 1916 | −18.1% |
| 1920 | −45.3% |
| 1924 | −36.2% |
| 1928 | −29.8% |
| 1932 | +13.9% |
| 1936 | +7.9% |
| 1940 | +0.2% |
| 1944 | +0.6% |
| 1948 | +5.2% |
| 1952 | −29.3% |
| 1956 | −17.6% |
| 1960 | −17.5% |
| 1964 | +25.2% |
| 1968 | −15.0% |
| 1972 | −12.3% |
| 1976 | +1.9% |
| 1980 | −11.7% |
| 1984 | −6.9% |
| 1988 | +13.8% |
| 1992 | +9.0% |
| 1996 | +11.7% |
| 2000 | −1.9% |
| 2004 | +0.8% |
| 2008 | +11.8% |
| 2012 | +9.4% |
| 2016 | −6.5% |
| 2020 | −13.3% |
| 2024 | −16.9% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 4,067 | 5,758 | 10,013 | ||
| R | 4,306 | 5,657 | 10,140 | ||
| R | 4,304 | 4,946 | 9,916 | ||
| D | 5,357 | 4,424 | 9,975 | ||
| D | 5,519 | 4,340 | 10,031 | ||
| D | 5,043 | 4,965 | 10,091 | ||
| R | 4,222 | 4,396 | 8,980 | ||
| D | 4,183 | 3,221 | 8,214 | ||
| D | 4,056 | 3,245 | 9,047 | ||
| D | 4,876 | 3,683 | 8,625 | ||
| R | 4,103 | 4,715 | 8,889 | ||
| R | 3,529 | 4,598 | 9,102 | ||
| D | 4,360 | 4,194 | 8,735 | ||
| R | 3,718 | 4,785 | 8,648 | ||
| R | 3,250 | 4,470 | 8,112 | ||
| D | 5,213 | 3,109 | 8,334 | ||
| R | 3,671 | 5,232 | 8,904 | ||
| R | 3,602 | 5,145 | 8,749 | ||
| R | 3,318 | 6,105 | 9,498 | ||
| D | 4,324 | 3,888 | 8,385 | ||
| D | 4,234 | 4,186 | 8,461 | ||
| D | 4,794 | 4,773 | 9,611 | ||
| D | 4,745 | 4,037 | 8,996 | ||
| D | 4,649 | 3,490 | 8,355 | ||
| R | 2,787 | 5,212 | 8,150 | ||
| R | 1,428 | 4,414 | 8,239 | ||
| R | 2,125 | 5,806 | 8,130 | ||
| R | 1,880 | 2,748 | 4,788 | ||
| O | 1,631 | 902 | 4,545 | ||
| R | 1,661 | 2,794 | 4,678 | ||
| R | 1,212 | 3,137 | 4,649 | ||
| R | 1,765 | 3,199 | 5,074 | ||
| R | 2,013 | 2,969 | 5,076 | ||
| R | 1,776 | 2,359 | 4,447 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
30.6%
Irish
11.4%
English
10.4%
American
5.3%
Scottish
2.7%
Italian
2.4%
French
1.7%
African American
0.8%
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: 41.0 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
$67,391
Poweshiek County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Poweshiek County$67,391
Iowa$75,059
United States$80,734
Poweshiek County ranks near the middle 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
10.7%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 189.5%
Working age (18–64)10.1%
Seniors (65+)17.7%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
94.7%
speak English only
Spanish2.1%
Other Indo-European1.8%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.1%
Other languages0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 65.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Poweshiek County anchors a liberal-arts institution with a national reputation inside a rural Iowa landscape that voted Republican by nearly 17 points in 2024, a gap that illustrates how college towns no longer reliably offset surrounding agricultural precincts.
The Democratic margin here peaked at twenty-five points in 1964. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved four points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was seventeen points.
A population of 18,545, a 90% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $67,391 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Marshall County and Conejos 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.
Poweshiek County, Iowa. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/19157/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More heartland swing counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Poweshiek County, Iowa vote in 2024?
In 2024, Poweshiek County, Iowa voted Republican by 16.9 points (R+17), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 10,013 votes cast, 4,067 went Democratic and 5,758 went Republican.
What is Poweshiek County, Iowa's political typology?
Akashic places Poweshiek County, Iowa in the "Heartland Swing" typology — Industrial Midwest swing counties drifting steadily toward the Republican Party. 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 13 times, Republican 20 times, and other 1 times.
When did Poweshiek County, Iowa last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Poweshiek County, Iowa voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Poweshiek County, Iowa?
Poweshiek County, Iowa has a population of 18,545 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Poweshiek County, Iowa?
Median household income in Poweshiek County, Iowa is $67,391 — below the national median of $80,734. The Iowa state median is $75,059.
What is the political history of Poweshiek County, Iowa?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Poweshiek County, Iowa from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 13 went Democratic and 20 went Republican. The county's typology — "Heartland Swing" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.