Bemidji, MN, Minnesota: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+6%. Republican peak: R+73 in 1904.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+6MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 46,5122024 5-year
- Median household income
- $68,9752024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 70.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+48 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+73 in 1904MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Bemidji, 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 | 11,493 | 12,898 | 24,874 | ||
| R | 11,426 | 12,188 | 24,189 | ||
| R | 8,688 | 10,783 | 21,564 | ||
| D | 11,818 | 9,637 | 22,051 | ||
| D | 12,019 | 9,762 | 22,236 | ||
| D | 10,592 | 10,237 | 21,131 | ||
| R | 7,301 | 8,346 | 17,217 | ||
| D | 8,006 | 5,806 | 15,848 | ||
| D | 7,210 | 5,204 | 15,987 | ||
| D | 7,566 | 6,652 | 14,380 | ||
| D | 7,481 | 7,414 | 14,998 | ||
| D | 7,432 | 6,481 | 15,537 | ||
| D | 7,540 | 5,214 | 13,285 | ||
| R | 5,194 | 5,947 | 11,393 | ||
| D | 5,034 | 3,912 | 9,565 | ||
| D | 5,967 | 3,184 | 9,166 | ||
| D | 4,653 | 4,482 | 9,157 | ||
| R | 3,807 | 3,974 | 7,797 | ||
| R | 4,092 | 4,817 | 8,962 | ||
| D | 6,020 | 3,126 | 9,580 | ||
| D | 5,490 | 2,705 | 8,256 | ||
| D | 7,036 | 3,511 | 10,713 | ||
| D | 6,507 | 2,182 | 8,957 | ||
| D | 4,386 | 2,318 | 7,222 | ||
| R | 2,221 | 4,062 | 6,522 | ||
| O | 323 | 2,960 | 6,404 | ||
| R | 1,427 | 4,518 | 7,375 | ||
| D | 1,912 | 1,331 | 4,028 | ||
| O | 790 | 490 | 3,025 | ||
| R | 648 | 1,882 | 2,969 | ||
| R | 234 | 1,953 | 2,371 | ||
| R | 767 | 1,339 | 2,158 | ||
| D | 213 | 202 | 421 | ||
| D | 57 | 44 | 127 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
24.4%
Irish
6.6%
English
6.0%
American
5.4%
French
3.1%
Polish
1.9%
Italian
1.6%
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: 35.3 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
$68,975
Bemidji, MN ranks near the middle of US counties.
Bemidji, MN$68,975
Minnesota$89,062
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
16.1%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1818.4%
Working age (18–64)15.7%
Seniors (65+)12.2%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
95.3%
speak English only
Other languages2.9%
Spanish0.8%
Other Indo-European0.7%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 65.2% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Bemidji anchors a region where Beltrami County's large Ojibwe population and surrounding rural white communities produce split-ticket patterns unusual for outstate Minnesota, making it a reliable bellwether for northern district races.
The Democratic margin in Bemidji, MN peaked at forty-eight points in 1936. By 2016 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was six points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $68,975 sits well below state and national norms, and 16% 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.
Bemidji, MN, Minnesota — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/13420/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Bemidji, MN, Minnesota vote in 2024?
In 2024, Bemidji, MN, Minnesota voted Republican by 5.6 points (R+6), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 24,874 votes cast, 11,493 went Democratic and 12,898 went Republican.
What is Bemidji, MN, Minnesota's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Bemidji, 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 20 times, Republican 12 times, and other 2 times.
When did Bemidji, MN, Minnesota last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Bemidji, MN, Minnesota voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Bemidji, MN, Minnesota?
Bemidji, MN, Minnesota has a population of 46,512 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Bemidji, MN, Minnesota?
Median household income in Bemidji, MN, Minnesota is $68,975 — below the national median of $80,734. The Minnesota state median is $89,062.
What is the political history of Bemidji, MN, Minnesota?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Bemidji, MN, Minnesota from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 20 went Democratic and 12 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.