Polk County, Wisconsin: Farm Belt county. In 2024, voted R+31%. Republican peak: R+77 in 1904.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+31MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Farm BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 45,5552024 5-year
- Median household income
- $77,2192024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 93.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.3%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+31 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+77 in 1904MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Burnett County, WI · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Polk CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Polk 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 | −36.4% |
| 1896 | −51.3% |
| 1900 | −57.8% |
| 1904 | −77.1% |
| 1908 | −50.9% |
| 1912 | −0.6% |
| 1916 | −9.0% |
| 1920 | −67.9% |
| 1924 | −33.3% |
| 1928 | −51.4% |
| 1932 | +21.6% |
| 1936 | +19.3% |
| 1940 | −9.4% |
| 1944 | −8.4% |
| 1948 | +14.2% |
| 1952 | −23.9% |
| 1956 | −8.3% |
| 1960 | −10.7% |
| 1964 | +31.5% |
| 1968 | −3.5% |
| 1972 | −6.6% |
| 1976 | +15.6% |
| 1980 | +2.5% |
| 1984 | −0.4% |
| 1988 | +13.2% |
| 1992 | +12.7% |
| 1996 | +18.0% |
| 2000 | −3.0% |
| 2004 | −3.9% |
| 2008 | −1.8% |
| 2012 | −9.0% |
| 2016 | −27.5% |
| 2020 | −27.5% |
| 2024 | −30.9% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 9,567 | 18,296 | 28,222 | ||
| R | 9,370 | 16,611 | 26,371 | ||
| R | 7,565 | 13,810 | 22,745 | ||
| R | 10,073 | 12,094 | 22,573 | ||
| R | 10,876 | 11,282 | 22,643 | ||
| R | 11,173 | 12,095 | 23,503 | ||
| R | 8,961 | 9,557 | 19,762 | ||
| D | 8,334 | 5,387 | 16,413 | ||
| D | 7,746 | 5,446 | 18,071 | ||
| D | 8,981 | 6,866 | 15,975 | ||
| R | 8,034 | 8,106 | 16,269 | ||
| D | 7,607 | 7,207 | 16,296 | ||
| D | 8,485 | 6,159 | 14,924 | ||
| R | 5,738 | 6,567 | 12,533 | ||
| R | 5,179 | 5,583 | 11,433 | ||
| D | 7,215 | 3,754 | 11,003 | ||
| R | 5,148 | 6,387 | 11,565 | ||
| R | 4,985 | 5,894 | 10,906 | ||
| R | 4,274 | 6,966 | 11,282 | ||
| D | 5,330 | 3,974 | 9,572 | ||
| R | 4,489 | 5,329 | 9,945 | ||
| R | 4,979 | 6,031 | 11,248 | ||
| D | 5,618 | 3,596 | 10,499 | ||
| D | 5,421 | 3,425 | 9,232 | ||
| R | 2,177 | 6,905 | 9,190 | ||
| O | 317 | 2,793 | 7,434 | ||
| R | 752 | 4,796 | 5,960 | ||
| R | 1,713 | 2,080 | 4,062 | ||
| O | 830 | 848 | 3,125 | ||
| R | 816 | 2,788 | 3,871 | ||
| R | 296 | 2,985 | 3,489 | ||
| R | 694 | 2,735 | 3,530 | ||
| R | 891 | 2,861 | 3,837 | ||
| R | 585 | 1,477 | 2,448 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
33.9%
Irish
9.9%
English
7.1%
American
4.7%
French
3.3%
Polish
3.1%
Italian
2.8%
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: 46.7 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
$77,219
Polk County ranks in the top 25% of US counties.
Polk County$77,219
Wisconsin$77,485
United States$80,734
Polk 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
8.2%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1810.7%
Working age (18–64)7.6%
Seniors (65+)6.8%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.9%
speak English only
Spanish0.8%
Other Indo-European0.8%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.3%
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 62.8% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Polk County's largely rural, non-college electorate has shifted steadily rightward over the past decade, producing a 30-point Republican presidential margin in 2024 despite sitting on the Minnesota border in a competitive swing state.
The Republican margin here reached seventy-seven points in 1904. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved three points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was thirty-one points.
A population of 45,555, a 94% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $77,219 describe an agricultural county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Burnett County and Delta 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.
Polk County, Wisconsin. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/55095/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More farm belt counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Polk County, Wisconsin vote in 2024?
In 2024, Polk County, Wisconsin voted Republican by 30.9 points (R+31), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 28,222 votes cast, 9,567 went Democratic and 18,296 went Republican.
What is Polk County, Wisconsin's political typology?
Akashic places Polk 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 23 times, and other 2 times.
When did Polk County, Wisconsin last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Polk County, Wisconsin voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Polk County, Wisconsin?
Polk County, Wisconsin has a population of 45,555 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Polk County, Wisconsin?
Median household income in Polk County, Wisconsin is $77,219 — below the national median of $80,734. The Wisconsin state median is $77,485.
What is the political history of Polk County, Wisconsin?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Polk County, Wisconsin from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 9 went Democratic and 23 went Republican. The county's typology — "Farm Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.