Traverse County, Minnesota: Heartland Swing county. In 2024, voted R+32%. Democratic peak: D+62 in 1932.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+32MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Heartland SwingAkashic typology
- Population
- 3,2432024 5-year
- Median household income
- $62,9892024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 86.7%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.6%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 6.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+62 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+56 in 1904MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Red Lake County, MN · similarity 0.98
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Traverse CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Traverse 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 | +9.1% |
| 1896 | +23.3% |
| 1900 | −3.1% |
| 1904 | −55.9% |
| 1908 | −13.7% |
| 1912 | +33.9% |
| 1916 | +0.3% |
| 1920 | −50.3% |
| 1924 | −31.4% |
| 1928 | +21.9% |
| 1932 | +61.7% |
| 1936 | +48.9% |
| 1940 | +18.6% |
| 1944 | +14.0% |
| 1948 | +35.5% |
| 1952 | −1.5% |
| 1956 | +8.0% |
| 1960 | +18.4% |
| 1964 | +35.3% |
| 1968 | +12.7% |
| 1972 | +15.3% |
| 1976 | +27.8% |
| 1980 | −10.4% |
| 1984 | −2.7% |
| 1988 | +13.7% |
| 1992 | +8.5% |
| 1996 | +16.2% |
| 2000 | −9.0% |
| 2004 | −2.3% |
| 2008 | +5.4% |
| 2012 | +4.4% |
| 2016 | −23.3% |
| 2020 | −27.4% |
| 2024 | −31.6% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 596 | 1,165 | 1,801 | ||
| R | 661 | 1,172 | 1,864 | ||
| R | 630 | 1,049 | 1,798 | ||
| D | 943 | 861 | 1,847 | ||
| D | 1,043 | 933 | 2,035 | ||
| R | 1,026 | 1,076 | 2,141 | ||
| R | 884 | 1,074 | 2,106 | ||
| D | 1,135 | 775 | 2,229 | ||
| D | 1,053 | 841 | 2,484 | ||
| D | 1,399 | 1,061 | 2,476 | ||
| R | 1,325 | 1,399 | 2,743 | ||
| R | 1,258 | 1,574 | 3,030 | ||
| D | 2,020 | 1,130 | 3,207 | ||
| D | 1,744 | 1,276 | 3,055 | ||
| D | 1,669 | 1,277 | 3,084 | ||
| D | 2,247 | 1,073 | 3,322 | ||
| D | 2,122 | 1,463 | 3,590 | ||
| D | 1,724 | 1,467 | 3,198 | ||
| R | 1,756 | 1,809 | 3,573 | ||
| D | 2,151 | 1,008 | 3,223 | ||
| D | 1,721 | 1,296 | 3,031 | ||
| D | 2,094 | 1,434 | 3,541 | ||
| D | 2,297 | 761 | 3,144 | ||
| D | 2,633 | 608 | 3,282 | ||
| D | 1,899 | 1,214 | 3,130 | ||
| O | 202 | 1,002 | 2,548 | ||
| R | 550 | 1,759 | 2,403 | ||
| D | 779 | 774 | 1,589 | ||
| O | 561 | 131 | 1,267 | ||
| R | 514 | 685 | 1,247 | ||
| R | 247 | 885 | 1,142 | ||
| R | 720 | 768 | 1,527 | ||
| D | 963 | 589 | 1,607 | ||
| D | 413 | 317 | 1,050 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
45.1%
Irish
7.1%
English
5.3%
American
4.1%
French
2.7%
Polish
2.1%
Italian
0.8%
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: 46.1 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
$62,989
Traverse County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Traverse County$62,989
Minnesota$89,062
United States$80,734
Traverse 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
11.3%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1815.0%
Working age (18–64)9.1%
Seniors (65+)17.7%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
92.3%
speak English only
Spanish5.1%
Other Indo-European1.3%
Other languages0.9%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 35.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Traverse County sits at Minnesota's western edge along the South Dakota border, with a population under 5,000 spread across flat glacial-lake terrain. It has backed Republican presidential candidates by wide margins for over two decades, reflecting broader rural depopulation trends in the region.
The Democratic margin here peaked at sixty-two points in 1932. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved four points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was thirty-two points.
A population of 3,243, a 87% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $62,989 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Red Lake County and Union 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.
Traverse County, Minnesota. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/27155/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More heartland swing counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Traverse County, Minnesota vote in 2024?
In 2024, Traverse County, Minnesota voted Republican by 31.6 points (R+32), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 1,801 votes cast, 596 went Democratic and 1,165 went Republican.
What is Traverse County, Minnesota's political typology?
Akashic places Traverse County, Minnesota 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 20 times, Republican 12 times, and other 2 times.
When did Traverse County, Minnesota last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Traverse County, Minnesota voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Traverse County, Minnesota?
Traverse County, Minnesota has a population of 3,243 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Traverse County, Minnesota?
Median household income in Traverse County, Minnesota is $62,989 — below the national median of $80,734. The Minnesota state median is $89,062.
What is the political history of Traverse County, Minnesota?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Traverse County, Minnesota from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 20 went Democratic and 12 went Republican. The county's typology — "Heartland Swing" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.