Defiance, OH, Ohio: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+40%. Republican peak: R+40 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+40MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 38,3432024 5-year
- Median household income
- $73,0642024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 86.7%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 11.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+35 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+40 in 2024MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Defiance, OH, OHOne 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 | 5,667 | 13,302 | 19,260 | ||
| R | 5,981 | 13,038 | 19,381 | ||
| R | 5,368 | 11,688 | 18,603 | ||
| R | 7,732 | 10,176 | 18,461 | ||
| R | 8,399 | 10,407 | 19,232 | ||
| R | 6,975 | 11,397 | 18,516 | ||
| R | 6,175 | 9,540 | 16,242 | ||
| R | 6,343 | 7,469 | 15,893 | ||
| R | 5,735 | 7,195 | 17,211 | ||
| R | 5,448 | 9,566 | 15,153 | ||
| R | 5,004 | 10,951 | 16,130 | ||
| R | 5,096 | 9,358 | 15,639 | ||
| R | 5,850 | 7,526 | 13,679 | ||
| R | 4,377 | 8,914 | 13,630 | ||
| R | 5,686 | 7,348 | 13,959 | ||
| D | 8,707 | 5,048 | 13,755 | ||
| R | 5,207 | 8,912 | 14,119 | ||
| R | 3,941 | 8,786 | 12,727 | ||
| R | 4,161 | 8,834 | 12,995 | ||
| R | 4,454 | 5,927 | 10,409 | ||
| R | 3,634 | 7,450 | 11,084 | ||
| R | 4,313 | 8,010 | 12,323 | ||
| D | 5,608 | 5,000 | 11,670 | ||
| D | 6,532 | 3,871 | 10,595 | ||
| R | 3,487 | 6,289 | 9,776 | ||
| R | 3,227 | 4,841 | 9,213 | ||
| R | 3,723 | 5,987 | 9,890 | ||
| D | 3,359 | 2,565 | 6,055 | ||
| D | 2,784 | 872 | 5,504 | ||
| D | 3,754 | 2,531 | 6,482 | ||
| D | 3,216 | 3,032 | 6,392 | ||
| D | 3,766 | 2,684 | 6,578 | ||
| D | 4,239 | 2,414 | 6,703 | ||
| D | 3,311 | 2,062 | 5,876 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
34.9%
Irish
9.1%
English
8.9%
American
6.1%
Italian
2.5%
French
2.3%
Polish
1.7%
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
$73,064
Defiance, OH ranks near the middle of US counties.
Defiance, OH$73,064
Ohio$71,389
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
10.5%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1811.4%
Working age (18–64)10.7%
Seniors (65+)6.2%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
94.8%
speak English only
Spanish3.4%
Other Indo-European1.7%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 17.8% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Defiance anchors a rural northwest Ohio labor market built around auto-parts and industrial production, a demographic profile that has tracked closely with working-class realignment trends visible across the Great Lakes region over the past two election cycles.
The Democratic margin in Defiance, OH peaked at thirty-five points in 1912. By 1968 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was forty points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $73,064 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.
Defiance, OH, Ohio — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/19580/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Defiance, OH, Ohio vote in 2024?
In 2024, Defiance, OH, Ohio voted Republican by 39.6 points (R+40), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 19,260 votes cast, 5,667 went Democratic and 13,302 went Republican.
What is Defiance, OH, Ohio's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Defiance, OH, Ohio as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 10 times, Republican 24 times, and other 0 times.
When did Defiance, OH, Ohio last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Defiance, OH, Ohio voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Defiance, OH, Ohio?
Defiance, OH, Ohio has a population of 38,343 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Defiance, OH, Ohio?
Median household income in Defiance, OH, Ohio is $73,064 — below the national median of $80,734. The Ohio state median is $71,389.
What is the political history of Defiance, OH, Ohio?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Defiance, OH, Ohio from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 10 went Democratic and 24 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.