Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+2%. Republican peak: R+69 in 1920.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+2MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 173,9152024 5-year
- Median household income
- $74,5972024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 89.7%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.7%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+28 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+69 in 1920MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Eau Claire, WI, WIOne 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 | 48,973 | 51,127 | 101,648 | ||
| R | 45,603 | 46,658 | 94,213 | ||
| R | 39,227 | 41,247 | 86,593 | ||
| D | 45,903 | 38,578 | 85,738 | ||
| D | 49,385 | 34,451 | 85,241 | ||
| D | 44,819 | 40,103 | 85,961 | ||
| D | 36,180 | 33,756 | 74,048 | ||
| D | 29,945 | 21,420 | 61,521 | ||
| D | 31,708 | 24,130 | 72,306 | ||
| D | 32,597 | 27,421 | 60,377 | ||
| R | 29,549 | 31,387 | 61,280 | ||
| R | 27,438 | 27,835 | 60,834 | ||
| D | 29,801 | 24,525 | 55,446 | ||
| R | 22,510 | 24,334 | 48,066 | ||
| D | 19,637 | 19,571 | 41,690 | ||
| D | 26,686 | 14,977 | 41,735 | ||
| R | 21,033 | 23,117 | 44,215 | ||
| R | 15,893 | 22,903 | 38,900 | ||
| R | 15,934 | 25,498 | 41,512 | ||
| D | 17,673 | 13,971 | 32,144 | ||
| R | 15,529 | 17,161 | 32,871 | ||
| R | 17,379 | 18,376 | 36,003 | ||
| D | 17,919 | 12,562 | 32,056 | ||
| D | 16,010 | 12,279 | 28,764 | ||
| R | 10,370 | 17,593 | 28,116 | ||
| O | 1,189 | 10,284 | 23,391 | ||
| R | 2,296 | 14,606 | 17,800 | ||
| R | 4,523 | 6,246 | 11,229 | ||
| D | 3,755 | 3,749 | 10,113 | ||
| R | 4,062 | 7,507 | 12,141 | ||
| R | 2,894 | 8,087 | 11,574 | ||
| R | 4,413 | 8,593 | 13,401 | ||
| R | 5,293 | 8,123 | 13,787 | ||
| D | 4,913 | 4,694 | 10,691 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
36.8%
Irish
9.9%
English
6.9%
Polish
5.5%
American
3.4%
French
2.9%
Italian
2.5%
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: 38.3 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
$74,597
Eau Claire, WI ranks near the middle of US counties.
Eau Claire, WI$74,597
Wisconsin$77,485
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 1811.1%
Working age (18–64)11.2%
Seniors (65+)11.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
94.5%
speak English only
Asian & Pacific Islander2.0%
Spanish2.0%
Other Indo-European1.4%
Other languages0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 59.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Eau Claire anchors the Chippewa Valley with UW-Eau Claire shaping its demographics, producing margins tighter than the surrounding rural Chippewa and Eau Claire counties and making it a reliable bellwether for northwest Wisconsin.
The Democratic margin in Eau Claire, WI peaked at twenty-eight points in 1964. By 2016 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was two points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $74,597 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.
Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/20740/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin vote in 2024?
In 2024, Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin voted Republican by 2.1 points (R+2), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 101,648 votes cast, 48,973 went Democratic and 51,127 went Republican.
What is Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 15 times, Republican 18 times, and other 1 times.
When did Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin?
Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin has a population of 173,915 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin?
Median household income in Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin is $74,597 — below the national median of $80,734. The Wisconsin state median is $77,485.
What is the political history of Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Eau Claire, WI, Wisconsin from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 15 went Democratic and 18 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.