akashic
1876–2024
Grand Rapids, MN·Minnesota

Grand Rapids, MN peaked at D+49; 2024 delivered R+20.

Iron Range gateway where timber-era labor politics meet modern rural realignment

1876 — 2024·38 elections
MN
Latest
R+20
in 2024
Archetype
Populist
since the recent cycles
Population
45,275
2024 ACS

Grand Rapids, MN, Minnesota: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+20%. Republican peak: R+64 in 1904.

Key facts

2024 presidential margin
R+20MIT Election Lab
Political archetype
PopulistAkashic typology
Population
45,2752024 5-year
Median household income
$68,6032024 5-year
White (non-Hispanic)
88.8%2024 5-year
Black
0.8%2024 5-year
Hispanic / Latino
1.5%2024 5-year
Peak Democratic margin
D+49 in 1964MIT Election Lab
Peak Republican margin
R+64 in 1904MIT 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
−20.1%
10,46715,86326,840
R
−16.8%
10,78615,23926,561
R
−16.4%
9,01512,92023,880
D
+9.8%
12,85210,50123,919
D
+12.9%
13,46010,30924,395
D
+10.6%
13,29010,70524,367
D
+4.8%
10,5839,54521,714
D
+20.5%
10,7066,50620,473
D
+17.6%
9,6215,95220,838
D
+11.3%
10,5178,35819,053
D
+10.3%
11,4559,30620,948
D
+16.9%
12,1348,36822,228
D
+31.2%
12,9796,64620,281
D
+6.8%
8,6837,55816,583
D
+34.6%
10,5124,89816,206
D
+48.8%
12,0544,13716,231
D
+23.8%
10,7616,61517,408
D
+15.3%
8,7376,40815,178
D
+16.2%
9,1286,57315,782
D
+36.1%
9,6534,33414,716
D
+34.8%
8,7874,22713,095
D
+30.8%
9,8995,19615,254
D
+41.4%
8,8963,59412,819
D
+17.9%
5,6163,78210,237
R
−22.9%
3,1225,1038,656
R
−54.1%
4964,9618,255
R
−30.0%
1,9303,9736,813
D
+10.8%
1,5041,1633,153
O
+9.4%
6994462,689
R
−40.2%
6841,8832,982
R
−64.5%
2931,7962,332
R
−29.4%
4137701,216
R
−6.5%
7248261,561
R
−13.0%
5206861,279
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Demographics

Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
26.5%
Irish
9.0%
English
7.2%
American
4.8%
French
3.6%
Italian
3.2%
Polish
2.8%
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: 46.9 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
1.3%
85+
1.6%
3.3%
75–84
3.9%
7.9%
65–74
7.6%
7.6%
55–64
7.5%
5.9%
45–54
5.4%
5.8%
35–44
5.7%
5.0%
25–34
4.7%
3.5%
18–24
3.0%
8.1%
5–17
7.3%
2.5%
<5
2.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Median household income
2024 inflation-adjusted dollars
$68,603
Grand Rapids, MN ranks near the middle of US counties.
Grand Rapids, MN$68,603
Minnesota$89,062
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
12.2%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1814.7%
Working age (18–64)12.3%
Seniors (65+)7.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
98.1%
speak English only
Spanish0.7%
Other Indo-European0.7%
Other languages0.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Catholic & Orthodox
13.8%
Mainline Protestant
12.3%
Other Christian
9.9%
Pentecostal & Holiness
1.9%
Methodist
1.2%
Baptist
0.2%
Non-Christian
0.1%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 60.6% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

The Grand Rapids micropolitan area anchors Itasca County, a historically DFL-leaning Iron Range county that has shifted markedly toward Republicans in recent cycles, tracking a broader working-class realignment visible across Minnesota's northern resource economies.

The Democratic margin in Grand Rapids, MN peaked at forty-nine points in 1964. By 2016 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was twenty points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.

The economic context is the key. The median household income of $68,603 sits well below state and national norms, and 12% 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.
Grand Rapids, MN, Minnesota — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/24330/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0

Frequently asked questions

How did Grand Rapids, MN, Minnesota vote in 2024?
In 2024, Grand Rapids, MN, Minnesota voted Republican by 20.1 points (R+20), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 26,840 votes cast, 10,467 went Democratic and 15,863 went Republican.
What is Grand Rapids, MN, Minnesota's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Grand Rapids, 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 22 times, Republican 11 times, and other 1 times.
When did Grand Rapids, MN, Minnesota last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Grand Rapids, MN, Minnesota voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Grand Rapids, MN, Minnesota?
Grand Rapids, MN, Minnesota has a population of 45,275 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Grand Rapids, MN, Minnesota?
Median household income in Grand Rapids, MN, Minnesota is $68,603 — below the national median of $80,734. The Minnesota state median is $89,062.
What is the political history of Grand Rapids, MN, Minnesota?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Grand Rapids, MN, Minnesota from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 22 went Democratic and 11 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.