Dane County, Wisconsin: Realigning Affluent Suburb county. In 2024, voted D+52%. Republican peak: R+61 in 1920.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+52MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Realigning Affluent SuburbAkashic typology
- Population
- 572,6742024 5-year
- Median household income
- $89,9752024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 77.3%2024 5-year
- Black
- 5.2%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 7.8%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+53 in 2020MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+61 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Denver County, CO · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Dane CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Dane 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 | +2.7% |
| 1896 | −15.8% |
| 1900 | −20.3% |
| 1904 | −30.8% |
| 1908 | −9.0% |
| 1912 | +23.2% |
| 1916 | +17.0% |
| 1920 | −60.9% |
| 1924 | −26.0% |
| 1928 | −10.5% |
| 1932 | +16.2% |
| 1936 | +39.0% |
| 1940 | +29.4% |
| 1944 | +23.2% |
| 1948 | +20.7% |
| 1952 | −1.0% |
| 1956 | −2.7% |
| 1960 | +4.2% |
| 1964 | +43.0% |
| 1968 | +19.3% |
| 1972 | +17.2% |
| 1976 | +12.4% |
| 1980 | +16.7% |
| 1984 | +11.6% |
| 1988 | +20.6% |
| 1992 | +25.1% |
| 1996 | +25.9% |
| 2000 | +28.6% |
| 2004 | +33.1% |
| 2008 | +47.0% |
| 2012 | +43.5% |
| 2016 | +47.3% |
| 2020 | +52.6% |
| 2024 | +51.5% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 273,995 | 85,454 | 365,929 | ||
| D | 260,121 | 78,794 | 344,728 | ||
| D | 217,697 | 71,275 | 309,354 | ||
| D | 216,071 | 83,644 | 304,181 | ||
| D | 205,984 | 73,065 | 282,939 | ||
| D | 181,052 | 90,369 | 274,249 | ||
| D | 142,317 | 75,790 | 232,739 | ||
| D | 109,347 | 59,487 | 192,302 | ||
| D | 114,724 | 61,957 | 210,122 | ||
| D | 105,414 | 69,143 | 175,934 | ||
| D | 94,659 | 74,823 | 170,685 | ||
| D | 85,609 | 57,545 | 168,405 | ||
| D | 82,321 | 63,466 | 152,552 | ||
| D | 79,567 | 56,020 | 137,026 | ||
| D | 59,951 | 39,917 | 104,061 | ||
| D | 68,118 | 27,124 | 95,426 | ||
| D | 47,045 | 43,245 | 90,502 | ||
| R | 36,891 | 38,955 | 76,213 | ||
| R | 37,987 | 38,724 | 76,927 | ||
| D | 35,486 | 22,934 | 60,664 | ||
| D | 37,076 | 23,021 | 60,651 | ||
| D | 40,331 | 21,845 | 62,787 | ||
| D | 35,856 | 15,233 | 52,908 | ||
| D | 26,841 | 19,083 | 47,823 | ||
| R | 19,126 | 23,680 | 43,170 | ||
| O | 2,081 | 12,280 | 39,208 | ||
| R | 4,879 | 22,842 | 29,488 | ||
| D | 9,859 | 6,931 | 17,273 | ||
| D | 9,017 | 5,244 | 16,250 | ||
| R | 7,818 | 9,441 | 18,009 | ||
| R | 5,679 | 11,041 | 17,386 | ||
| R | 6,129 | 9,396 | 16,087 | ||
| R | 6,521 | 9,080 | 16,186 | ||
| D | 6,833 | 6,445 | 14,346 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
32.3%
Irish
13.0%
English
10.0%
Polish
5.1%
Italian
3.9%
American
2.4%
French
2.2%
African American
4.2%
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: 35.7 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
$89,975
Dane County ranks in the top 10% of US counties.
Dane County$89,975
Wisconsin$77,485
United States$80,734
Dane County ranks in the top 10% 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
10.6%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 188.7%
Working age (18–64)11.5%
Seniors (65+)6.6%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
88.5%
speak English only
Spanish4.8%
Asian & Pacific Islander3.3%
Other Indo-European2.6%
Other languages0.7%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 63.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Home to Madison and the University of Wisconsin, Dane County delivered a 51.5-point Democratic margin in 2024 — the widest of any Wisconsin county — driven by high educational attainment and a dense concentration of students, state workers, and professionals.
Once reliably Republican — a margin of sixty-one points in 1920 at its widest — Dane County has trended Democratic. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved one point toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was fifty-two points.
A median household income of $89,975 — among the higher at this geographic scale — and a population of 572,674 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Denver County and Multnomah 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.
Dane County, Wisconsin. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/55025/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Dane County, Wisconsin vote in 2024?
In 2024, Dane County, Wisconsin voted Democratic by 51.5 points (D+52), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 365,929 votes cast, 273,995 went Democratic and 85,454 went Republican.
What is Dane County, Wisconsin's political typology?
Akashic places Dane County, Wisconsin in the "Realigning Affluent Suburb" typology — College-educated, affluent suburbs — the one bloc moving toward the Democratic 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 25 times, Republican 8 times, and other 1 times.
When did Dane County, Wisconsin last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Dane County, Wisconsin voted Republican was 1956.
How many people live in Dane County, Wisconsin?
Dane County, Wisconsin has a population of 572,674 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Dane County, Wisconsin?
Median household income in Dane County, Wisconsin is $89,975 — above the national median of $80,734. The Wisconsin state median is $77,485.
What is the political history of Dane County, Wisconsin?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Dane County, Wisconsin from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 25 went Democratic and 8 went Republican. The county's typology — "Realigning Affluent Suburb" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.