Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+21%. Republican peak: R+68 in 1920.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+21MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 30,6232024 5-year
- Median household income
- $71,0232024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 83.9%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.6%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 10.8%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+39 in 1892MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+68 in 1920MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Albert Lea, MN, MNOne cell per constituent county, colored by 2024 presidential margin from deep red (Republican) through neutral to deep blue (Democratic), ordered bluest first.
R+60D+60
One cell per constituent county. Ordered by 2024 D-vs-R margin (bluest first). Hover for county-level numbers.
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 6,448 | 10,003 | 16,704 | ||
| R | 6,889 | 9,578 | 16,818 | ||
| R | 6,041 | 8,808 | 16,051 | ||
| D | 9,326 | 6,969 | 16,706 | ||
| D | 9,915 | 6,955 | 17,280 | ||
| D | 9,733 | 7,681 | 17,666 | ||
| D | 8,514 | 6,843 | 16,139 | ||
| D | 8,458 | 5,166 | 15,988 | ||
| D | 7,759 | 5,089 | 17,813 | ||
| D | 8,836 | 7,226 | 16,218 | ||
| D | 9,338 | 8,413 | 17,867 | ||
| R | 8,212 | 8,475 | 17,785 | ||
| D | 9,470 | 8,220 | 18,018 | ||
| R | 7,163 | 9,747 | 17,130 | ||
| D | 8,671 | 7,315 | 16,563 | ||
| D | 10,554 | 6,136 | 16,709 | ||
| R | 8,018 | 8,970 | 17,010 | ||
| R | 7,138 | 7,632 | 14,781 | ||
| R | 6,525 | 8,450 | 15,021 | ||
| D | 7,825 | 5,238 | 13,276 | ||
| D | 6,486 | 5,728 | 12,246 | ||
| D | 6,942 | 6,683 | 13,680 | ||
| D | 7,378 | 4,653 | 12,305 | ||
| D | 5,838 | 4,931 | 11,052 | ||
| R | 2,859 | 7,815 | 10,750 | ||
| R | 480 | 6,139 | 9,630 | ||
| R | 1,131 | 6,772 | 8,263 | ||
| R | 1,347 | 2,418 | 4,025 | ||
| O | 880 | 672 | 3,944 | ||
| R | 976 | 2,465 | 4,032 | ||
| R | 461 | 2,876 | 3,678 | ||
| R | 838 | 2,934 | 3,956 | ||
| R | 1,179 | 3,400 | 4,706 | ||
| D | 2,004 | 743 | 3,271 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
30.0%
Irish
9.5%
English
6.2%
American
3.9%
Polish
2.2%
French
1.3%
Scottish
1.0%
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.
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 44.3 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.
Median household income
2024 inflation-adjusted dollars
$71,023
Albert Lea, MN ranks near the middle of US counties.
Albert Lea, MN$71,023
Minnesota$89,062
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
10.6%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1812.1%
Working age (18–64)10.5%
Seniors (65+)8.7%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
91.4%
speak English only
Spanish5.1%
Asian & Pacific Islander2.9%
Other Indo-European0.6%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 41.2% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Albert Lea anchors a southern Minnesota metro where food-processing employment draws a growing Latino workforce alongside longtime Scandinavian-heritage residents, producing a demographic mix that has tightened margins in recent cycles.
The Democratic margin in Albert Lea, MN peaked at thirty-nine points in 1892. By 2016 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was twenty-one points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $71,023 sits well below state and national norms, and 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The shift here is part of a broader realignment of working-class places across the country.
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/10660/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota vote in 2024?
In 2024, Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota voted Republican by 21.3 points (R+21), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 16,704 votes cast, 6,448 went Democratic and 10,003 went Republican.
What is Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 17 times, Republican 16 times, and other 1 times.
When did Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota?
Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota has a population of 30,623 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota?
Median household income in Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota is $71,023 — below the national median of $80,734. The Minnesota state median is $89,062.
What is the political history of Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Albert Lea, MN, Minnesota from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 17 went Democratic and 16 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.