akashic
1876–2024
Decatur, IN·Indiana

Decatur, IN peaked at D+43; 2024 delivered R+53.

A small Indiana metro where manufacturing employment shapes the ballot.

1876 — 2024·38 elections
IN
Latest
R+53
in 2024
Archetype
Populist
since the recent cycles
Population
36,227
2024 ACS

Decatur, IN, Indiana: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+53%. Republican peak: R+53 in 2024.

Key facts

2024 presidential margin
R+53MIT Election Lab
Political archetype
PopulistAkashic typology
Population
36,2272024 5-year
Median household income
$65,2892024 5-year
White (non-Hispanic)
94.2%2024 5-year
Black
0.3%2024 5-year
Hispanic / Latino
4.8%2024 5-year
Peak Democratic margin
D+43 in 1912MIT Election Lab
Peak Republican margin
R+53 in 2024MIT Election Lab
2024 results by constituent county
1 counties · 0 D · 1 R
R+60
D+60
One cell per constituent county. Ordered by 2024 D-vs-R margin (bluest first). Hover for county-level numbers.
38 presidential elections
Source · MIT Election Lab · ICPSR · VEST (precinct-level 2024).
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
R
−52.5%
3,17910,52813,986
R
−52.4%
3,23610,68614,209
R
−51.9%
2,8029,64213,185
R
−39.4%
3,8068,93713,032
R
−25.7%
4,9288,40413,513
R
−46.6%
3,5129,73413,340
R
−38.0%
3,7758,55512,590
R
−21.5%
4,2476,96012,637
R
−18.6%
3,7086,07812,708
R
−36.1%
3,8118,13711,997
R
−33.8%
3,9237,95811,952
R
−14.2%
4,6736,36811,978
R
−12.1%
4,9086,28011,306
R
−30.9%
3,9717,54911,572
R
−9.8%
4,6675,77411,259
D
+21.9%
6,6374,23010,973
R
−23.1%
4,3386,97211,409
R
−33.2%
3,5207,07910,708
R
−23.6%
3,7446,20410,408
R
−2.0%
4,6404,8329,645
R
−19.2%
3,8045,6489,601
R
−8.9%
4,3825,2479,730
D
+27.9%
5,8223,2499,208
D
+33.5%
5,8922,9108,913
D
+0.3%
4,0664,0458,139
D
+12.0%
4,3003,3308,055
R
−6.1%
3,6534,1447,998
D
+22.1%
2,8751,7964,876
D
+42.5%
2,9619174,805
D
+31.7%
3,4041,7265,289
D
+19.4%
2,9731,9675,187
D
+32.2%
3,3371,6885,126
D
+34.4%
3,3401,6135,026
D
+37.1%
2,9061,2474,467
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Demographics

Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
27.8%
English
7.5%
Irish
6.8%
American
6.4%
French
1.5%
Italian
1.4%
Scottish
1.2%
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: 33.2 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
1.1%
85+
1.9%
1.8%
75–84
2.4%
4.3%
65–74
4.9%
5.6%
55–64
5.6%
5.3%
45–54
5.2%
5.3%
35–44
5.0%
6.2%
25–34
5.4%
4.5%
18–24
4.4%
11.5%
5–17
10.9%
4.6%
<5
4.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Median household income
2024 inflation-adjusted dollars
$65,289
Decatur, IN ranks near the middle of US counties.
Decatur, IN$65,289
Indiana$71,957
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
11.2%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1814.0%
Working age (18–64)9.5%
Seniors (65+)13.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
84.0%
speak English only
Other Indo-European13.3%
Spanish2.1%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.7%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Other Christian
38.2%
Mainline Protestant
14.7%
Pentecostal & Holiness
9.3%
Catholic & Orthodox
8.4%
Baptist
7.3%
Methodist
4.6%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 17.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Decatur anchors Adams County, a rural northeast Indiana community where tight-knit Amish and German-heritage populations contribute to some of the state's more consistent conservative margins in federal and statewide contests.

The Democratic margin in Decatur, IN peaked at forty-three points in 1912. By 1968 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was fifty-three points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.

The economic context is the key. The median household income of $65,289 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.
Decatur, IN, Indiana — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/19540/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0

Frequently asked questions

How did Decatur, IN, Indiana vote in 2024?
In 2024, Decatur, IN, Indiana voted Republican by 52.5 points (R+53), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 13,986 votes cast, 3,179 went Democratic and 10,528 went Republican.
What is Decatur, IN, Indiana's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Decatur, IN, Indiana as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 12 times, Republican 22 times, and other 0 times.
When did Decatur, IN, Indiana last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Decatur, IN, Indiana voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Decatur, IN, Indiana?
Decatur, IN, Indiana has a population of 36,227 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Decatur, IN, Indiana?
Median household income in Decatur, IN, Indiana is $65,289 — below the national median of $80,734. The Indiana state median is $71,957.
What is the political history of Decatur, IN, Indiana?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Decatur, IN, Indiana from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 12 went Democratic and 22 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.