Columbia County, Wisconsin: Farm Belt county. In 2024, voted R+5%. Republican peak: R+70 in 1920.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+5MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Farm BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 58,2722024 5-year
- Median household income
- $85,3512024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 91.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.8%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 4.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+26 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+70 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Sauk County, WI · similarity 0.95
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Columbia CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Columbia County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
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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 | −5.3% |
| 1896 | −32.3% |
| 1900 | −35.6% |
| 1904 | −40.3% |
| 1908 | −25.2% |
| 1912 | +0.2% |
| 1916 | −18.6% |
| 1920 | −69.7% |
| 1924 | −32.7% |
| 1928 | −22.3% |
| 1932 | +25.5% |
| 1936 | +22.1% |
| 1940 | −8.1% |
| 1944 | −13.4% |
| 1948 | −6.5% |
| 1952 | −35.7% |
| 1956 | −32.4% |
| 1960 | −22.0% |
| 1964 | +23.5% |
| 1968 | −11.8% |
| 1972 | −17.4% |
| 1976 | −3.1% |
| 1980 | −8.4% |
| 1984 | −17.7% |
| 1988 | −6.8% |
| 1992 | +1.0% |
| 1996 | +9.1% |
| 2000 | +2.5% |
| 2004 | −2.2% |
| 2008 | +15.3% |
| 2012 | +13.6% |
| 2016 | −2.1% |
| 2020 | −1.5% |
| 2024 | −4.6% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 16,388 | 17,988 | 34,914 | ||
| R | 16,410 | 16,927 | 33,869 | ||
| R | 13,528 | 14,163 | 29,698 | ||
| D | 17,175 | 13,026 | 30,546 | ||
| D | 16,661 | 12,193 | 29,272 | ||
| R | 14,300 | 14,956 | 29,555 | ||
| D | 12,636 | 11,987 | 25,587 | ||
| D | 10,336 | 8,377 | 21,521 | ||
| D | 9,348 | 9,099 | 23,984 | ||
| R | 9,132 | 10,475 | 19,730 | ||
| R | 8,125 | 11,662 | 19,927 | ||
| R | 8,715 | 10,478 | 20,996 | ||
| R | 9,457 | 10,075 | 19,900 | ||
| R | 7,083 | 10,122 | 17,447 | ||
| R | 6,698 | 8,633 | 16,414 | ||
| D | 10,093 | 6,253 | 16,370 | ||
| R | 6,576 | 10,282 | 16,873 | ||
| R | 5,158 | 10,120 | 15,330 | ||
| R | 5,272 | 11,133 | 16,425 | ||
| R | 5,615 | 6,406 | 12,169 | ||
| R | 5,997 | 7,867 | 13,924 | ||
| R | 7,021 | 8,260 | 15,387 | ||
| D | 8,936 | 5,607 | 15,054 | ||
| D | 8,455 | 4,970 | 13,641 | ||
| R | 4,819 | 7,615 | 12,545 | ||
| O | 907 | 4,724 | 11,690 | ||
| R | 1,201 | 7,394 | 8,882 | ||
| R | 2,299 | 3,395 | 5,902 | ||
| D | 2,473 | 2,463 | 5,788 | ||
| R | 2,363 | 4,072 | 6,773 | ||
| R | 1,907 | 4,730 | 7,004 | ||
| R | 2,181 | 4,763 | 7,249 | ||
| R | 2,380 | 4,845 | 7,622 | ||
| R | 2,957 | 3,314 | 6,728 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
40.0%
Irish
12.4%
English
9.4%
Polish
5.0%
American
3.8%
Italian
2.9%
French
2.0%
African American
1.4%
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: 43.7 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
$85,351
Columbia County ranks in the top 25% of US counties.
Columbia County$85,351
Wisconsin$77,485
United States$80,734
Columbia 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
7.8%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 188.7%
Working age (18–64)7.5%
Seniors (65+)7.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
95.5%
speak English only
Spanish2.1%
Other Indo-European1.6%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.6%
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 60.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Columbia County sits along the Wisconsin River between Madison and the Fox Valley, combining small-city Portage with rural townships. It voted Democratic in presidential races as recently as 2012 but has shifted roughly 10 points toward Republicans over the past three cycles.
The Republican margin here reached seventy points in 1920. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved three points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was five points.
A population of 58,272, a 91% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $85,351 describe an agricultural county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Sauk County and Franklin 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.
Columbia County, Wisconsin. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/55021/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More farm belt counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Columbia County, Wisconsin vote in 2024?
In 2024, Columbia County, Wisconsin voted Republican by 4.6 points (R+5), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 34,914 votes cast, 16,388 went Democratic and 17,988 went Republican.
What is Columbia County, Wisconsin's political typology?
Akashic places Columbia County, Wisconsin 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 9 times, Republican 24 times, and other 1 times.
When did Columbia County, Wisconsin last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Columbia County, Wisconsin voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Columbia County, Wisconsin?
Columbia County, Wisconsin has a population of 58,272 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Columbia County, Wisconsin?
Median household income in Columbia County, Wisconsin is $85,351 — above the national median of $80,734. The Wisconsin state median is $77,485.
What is the political history of Columbia County, Wisconsin?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Columbia County, Wisconsin from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 9 went Democratic and 24 went Republican. The county's typology — "Farm Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.