Houston County, Minnesota: Farm Belt county. In 2024, voted R+16%. Republican peak: R+73 in 1920.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+16MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Farm BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 18,6532024 5-year
- Median household income
- $79,8252024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 93.7%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.3%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 1.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+13 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+73 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Jo Daviess County, IL · similarity 0.98
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Houston CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Houston 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 | +8.8% |
| 1896 | −34.6% |
| 1900 | −32.2% |
| 1904 | −54.8% |
| 1908 | −37.8% |
| 1912 | +3.7% |
| 1916 | −40.3% |
| 1920 | −73.2% |
| 1924 | −45.8% |
| 1928 | −30.1% |
| 1932 | +13.1% |
| 1936 | +7.5% |
| 1940 | −39.5% |
| 1944 | −37.1% |
| 1948 | −14.7% |
| 1952 | −48.9% |
| 1956 | −36.0% |
| 1960 | −21.9% |
| 1964 | +6.2% |
| 1968 | −22.7% |
| 1972 | −34.9% |
| 1976 | −11.1% |
| 1980 | −24.9% |
| 1984 | −23.1% |
| 1988 | −9.5% |
| 1992 | −1.0% |
| 1996 | +5.1% |
| 2000 | −5.7% |
| 2004 | −3.2% |
| 2008 | +10.7% |
| 2012 | +3.2% |
| 2016 | −13.9% |
| 2020 | −12.9% |
| 2024 | −16.5% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 4,667 | 6,547 | 11,428 | ||
| R | 4,853 | 6,334 | 11,440 | ||
| R | 4,145 | 5,616 | 10,604 | ||
| D | 5,281 | 4,951 | 10,446 | ||
| D | 5,906 | 4,743 | 10,883 | ||
| R | 5,276 | 5,631 | 11,082 | ||
| R | 4,502 | 5,077 | 10,167 | ||
| D | 4,153 | 3,674 | 9,450 | ||
| R | 3,744 | 3,853 | 10,451 | ||
| R | 3,936 | 4,777 | 8,825 | ||
| R | 3,512 | 5,645 | 9,245 | ||
| R | 3,218 | 5,582 | 9,481 | ||
| R | 3,861 | 4,853 | 8,926 | ||
| R | 2,467 | 5,186 | 7,790 | ||
| R | 2,703 | 4,450 | 7,681 | ||
| D | 3,885 | 3,433 | 7,326 | ||
| R | 3,080 | 4,807 | 7,890 | ||
| R | 2,133 | 4,538 | 6,680 | ||
| R | 1,830 | 5,365 | 7,223 | ||
| R | 2,623 | 3,540 | 6,231 | ||
| R | 1,847 | 4,036 | 5,908 | ||
| R | 2,082 | 4,825 | 6,944 | ||
| D | 3,156 | 2,701 | 6,100 | ||
| D | 3,052 | 2,335 | 5,478 | ||
| R | 1,937 | 3,615 | 5,573 | ||
| R | 402 | 2,782 | 5,192 | ||
| R | 598 | 4,101 | 4,787 | ||
| R | 744 | 1,783 | 2,581 | ||
| O | 762 | 659 | 2,775 | ||
| R | 745 | 1,700 | 2,524 | ||
| R | 434 | 1,546 | 2,031 | ||
| R | 884 | 1,765 | 2,733 | ||
| R | 991 | 2,087 | 3,166 | ||
| D | 1,509 | 1,243 | 3,010 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
37.3%
Irish
11.0%
American
7.6%
English
6.6%
Polish
2.4%
Italian
2.3%
French
2.3%
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
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: 45.1 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
$79,825
Houston County ranks in the top 25% of US counties.
Houston County$79,825
Minnesota$89,062
United States$80,734
Houston 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
6.6%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 184.5%
Working age (18–64)6.7%
Seniors (65+)10.7%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.5%
speak English only
Other Indo-European1.6%
Spanish1.0%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.8%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 37.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Houston County hugs Minnesota's southeastern corner along the Mississippi River, a rural, agriculture-rooted area that has shifted steadily toward Republican margins over the past two decades, landing at R+16.4 in 2024.
The Republican margin here reached seventy-three points in 1920. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved four points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was sixteen points.
A population of 18,653, a 94% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $79,825 describe an agricultural county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Jo Daviess County and Warren 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.
Houston County, Minnesota. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/27055/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in Minnesota
More farm belt counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Houston County, Minnesota vote in 2024?
In 2024, Houston County, Minnesota voted Republican by 16.5 points (R+16), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 11,428 votes cast, 4,667 went Democratic and 6,547 went Republican.
What is Houston County, Minnesota's political typology?
Akashic places Houston County, Minnesota 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 7 times, Republican 26 times, and other 1 times.
When did Houston County, Minnesota last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Houston County, Minnesota voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Houston County, Minnesota?
Houston County, Minnesota has a population of 18,653 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Houston County, Minnesota?
Median household income in Houston County, Minnesota is $79,825 — below the national median of $80,734. The Minnesota state median is $89,062.
What is the political history of Houston County, Minnesota?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Houston County, Minnesota from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 7 went Democratic and 26 went Republican. The county's typology — "Farm Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.