Forest County, Wisconsin: Heartland Swing county. In 2024, voted R+33%. Republican peak: R+69 in 1904.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+33MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Heartland SwingAkashic typology
- Population
- 9,3692024 5-year
- Median household income
- $61,0712024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 78.1%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+54 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+69 in 1904MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Lincoln County, WI · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Forest CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Forest 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 | +1.1% |
| 1896 | −39.2% |
| 1900 | −57.5% |
| 1904 | −69.2% |
| 1908 | −49.0% |
| 1912 | +3.6% |
| 1916 | −7.1% |
| 1920 | −55.2% |
| 1924 | −29.7% |
| 1928 | −6.6% |
| 1932 | +53.5% |
| 1936 | +38.8% |
| 1940 | +27.6% |
| 1944 | +27.2% |
| 1948 | +26.9% |
| 1952 | −5.2% |
| 1956 | −14.3% |
| 1960 | +5.6% |
| 1964 | +39.7% |
| 1968 | +6.5% |
| 1972 | −4.8% |
| 1976 | +22.9% |
| 1980 | +7.1% |
| 1984 | −1.8% |
| 1988 | +7.4% |
| 1992 | +11.7% |
| 1996 | +23.4% |
| 2000 | −5.2% |
| 2004 | −1.9% |
| 2008 | +15.2% |
| 2012 | +5.4% |
| 2016 | −26.6% |
| 2020 | −31.0% |
| 2024 | −33.4% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 1,681 | 3,382 | 5,097 | ||
| R | 1,721 | 3,285 | 5,053 | ||
| R | 1,579 | 2,787 | 4,545 | ||
| D | 2,425 | 2,172 | 4,648 | ||
| D | 2,673 | 1,963 | 4,683 | ||
| R | 2,509 | 2,608 | 5,153 | ||
| R | 2,158 | 2,404 | 4,716 | ||
| D | 2,092 | 1,166 | 3,965 | ||
| D | 1,904 | 1,393 | 4,368 | ||
| D | 2,142 | 1,845 | 4,009 | ||
| R | 2,214 | 2,296 | 4,544 | ||
| D | 2,402 | 2,070 | 4,674 | ||
| D | 2,574 | 1,604 | 4,239 | ||
| R | 1,678 | 1,856 | 3,729 | ||
| D | 1,470 | 1,264 | 3,149 | ||
| D | 2,479 | 1,069 | 3,552 | ||
| D | 1,851 | 1,653 | 3,514 | ||
| R | 1,527 | 2,039 | 3,575 | ||
| R | 1,791 | 1,990 | 3,793 | ||
| D | 2,208 | 1,251 | 3,563 | ||
| D | 2,436 | 1,391 | 3,840 | ||
| D | 2,951 | 1,672 | 4,639 | ||
| D | 3,092 | 1,334 | 4,535 | ||
| D | 2,595 | 768 | 3,413 | ||
| R | 1,677 | 1,918 | 3,631 | ||
| O | 299 | 1,104 | 2,710 | ||
| R | 379 | 1,429 | 1,902 | ||
| R | 637 | 738 | 1,414 | ||
| D | 567 | 518 | 1,350 | ||
| R | 324 | 1,023 | 1,427 | ||
| R | 160 | 991 | 1,201 | ||
| R | 95 | 378 | 492 | ||
| R | 172 | 406 | 597 | ||
| D | 228 | 223 | 471 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
31.9%
Irish
9.8%
Polish
9.6%
English
6.3%
American
5.8%
French
3.0%
Italian
1.9%
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: 49.3 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
$61,071
Forest County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Forest County$61,071
Wisconsin$77,485
United States$80,734
Forest 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
15.2%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1822.8%
Working age (18–64)13.7%
Seniors (65+)11.5%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.3%
speak English only
Other languages1.3%
Other Indo-European0.7%
Spanish0.6%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 59.1% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Forest County's sparse northwoods population and Native American communities — centered on the Potawatomi and Ojibwe reservations — produce unusually complex voting patterns beneath a headline Republican margin that exceeded 33 points in 2024.
The Democratic margin here peaked at fifty-four points in 1932. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved two points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was thirty-three points.
A population of 9,369, a 78% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $61,071 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Lincoln County and Chippewa 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.
Forest County, Wisconsin. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/55041/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Forest County, Wisconsin vote in 2024?
In 2024, Forest County, Wisconsin voted Republican by 33.4 points (R+33), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 5,097 votes cast, 1,681 went Democratic and 3,382 went Republican.
What is Forest County, Wisconsin's political typology?
Akashic places Forest County, Wisconsin 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 17 times, Republican 16 times, and other 1 times.
When did Forest County, Wisconsin last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Forest County, Wisconsin voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Forest County, Wisconsin?
Forest County, Wisconsin has a population of 9,369 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Forest County, Wisconsin?
Median household income in Forest County, Wisconsin is $61,071 — below the national median of $80,734. The Wisconsin state median is $77,485.
What is the political history of Forest County, Wisconsin?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Forest County, Wisconsin from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 17 went Democratic and 16 went Republican. The county's typology — "Heartland Swing" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.