Carroll, IA, Iowa: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+42%. Democratic peak: D+53 in 1964.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+42MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 20,5942024 5-year
- Median household income
- $72,9302024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 92.9%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+53 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+48 in 1920MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Carroll, IA, IAOne 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 | 3,153 | 7,814 | 11,140 | ||
| R | 3,454 | 7,737 | 11,335 | ||
| R | 3,309 | 6,638 | 10,682 | ||
| R | 4,947 | 5,601 | 10,674 | ||
| D | 5,302 | 4,922 | 10,387 | ||
| R | 4,689 | 5,762 | 10,524 | ||
| R | 4,463 | 4,879 | 9,568 | ||
| D | 4,333 | 3,392 | 8,790 | ||
| D | 3,800 | 3,439 | 9,475 | ||
| D | 5,437 | 3,701 | 9,273 | ||
| R | 4,960 | 5,021 | 10,077 | ||
| R | 3,885 | 5,017 | 9,737 | ||
| D | 5,333 | 4,094 | 9,608 | ||
| D | 4,608 | 4,415 | 9,285 | ||
| D | 4,809 | 3,927 | 9,202 | ||
| D | 7,807 | 2,387 | 10,207 | ||
| D | 7,064 | 4,648 | 11,721 | ||
| R | 5,085 | 5,816 | 10,913 | ||
| R | 4,139 | 7,473 | 11,628 | ||
| D | 5,711 | 3,974 | 9,786 | ||
| R | 4,799 | 4,833 | 9,659 | ||
| D | 5,526 | 5,376 | 10,923 | ||
| D | 6,285 | 3,259 | 10,503 | ||
| D | 7,174 | 2,265 | 9,499 | ||
| D | 6,134 | 4,014 | 10,169 | ||
| R | 1,994 | 3,590 | 8,744 | ||
| R | 2,174 | 6,320 | 8,671 | ||
| R | 2,085 | 2,408 | 4,535 | ||
| D | 2,326 | 664 | 4,282 | ||
| D | 2,510 | 1,865 | 4,448 | ||
| R | 2,040 | 2,290 | 4,471 | ||
| D | 2,434 | 2,224 | 4,698 | ||
| D | 2,417 | 2,066 | 4,524 | ||
| D | 2,375 | 1,592 | 4,082 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
51.6%
Irish
13.3%
English
6.0%
American
5.1%
French
1.2%
Italian
1.1%
Scottish
1.1%
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: 41.1 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
$72,930
Carroll, IA ranks near the middle of US counties.
Carroll, IA$72,930
Iowa$75,059
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
7.9%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 185.5%
Working age (18–64)8.4%
Seniors (65+)11.8%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
98.0%
speak English only
Spanish1.6%
Other Indo-European0.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 18.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Carroll sits in west-central Iowa's heavily agricultural corridor, where presidential margins have shifted decisively rightward over the past two decades as rural depopulation reshapes the electorate.
The Democratic margin in Carroll, IA peaked at fifty-three points in 1964. By 2012 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was forty-two points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $72,930 sits well below state and national norms, and 8% 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.
Carroll, IA, Iowa — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/16140/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Carroll, IA, Iowa vote in 2024?
In 2024, Carroll, IA, Iowa voted Republican by 41.8 points (R+42), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 11,140 votes cast, 3,153 went Democratic and 7,814 went Republican.
What is Carroll, IA, Iowa's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Carroll, IA, Iowa as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 19 times, Republican 15 times, and other 0 times.
When did Carroll, IA, Iowa last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Carroll, IA, Iowa voted Democratic was 2008.
How many people live in Carroll, IA, Iowa?
Carroll, IA, Iowa has a population of 20,594 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Carroll, IA, Iowa?
Median household income in Carroll, IA, Iowa is $72,930 — below the national median of $80,734. The Iowa state median is $75,059.
What is the political history of Carroll, IA, Iowa?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Carroll, IA, Iowa from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 19 went Democratic and 15 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.