Ottawa, IL, Illinois: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+20%. Republican peak: R+54 in 1920.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+20MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 147,1812024 5-year
- Median household income
- $72,2962024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 86.2%2024 5-year
- Black
- 2.1%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 10.8%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+15 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+54 in 1920MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Ottawa, IL, ILOne 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 | 28,183 | 42,515 | 71,841 | ||
| R | 30,449 | 42,517 | 74,576 | ||
| R | 26,719 | 37,737 | 69,426 | ||
| R | 32,766 | 32,922 | 67,234 | ||
| D | 38,232 | 31,161 | 70,635 | ||
| R | 33,928 | 37,546 | 71,983 | ||
| D | 32,766 | 31,239 | 66,009 | ||
| D | 30,719 | 22,814 | 61,328 | ||
| D | 32,401 | 23,883 | 71,146 | ||
| R | 31,226 | 32,578 | 64,140 | ||
| R | 28,944 | 41,041 | 70,317 | ||
| R | 23,729 | 40,766 | 69,836 | ||
| R | 32,015 | 37,540 | 70,472 | ||
| R | 28,650 | 45,641 | 74,426 | ||
| R | 30,232 | 38,621 | 72,818 | ||
| D | 41,368 | 31,899 | 73,267 | ||
| R | 36,478 | 41,606 | 78,151 | ||
| R | 25,012 | 49,094 | 74,214 | ||
| R | 28,504 | 48,848 | 77,478 | ||
| R | 27,034 | 37,065 | 64,524 | ||
| R | 29,330 | 41,502 | 73,103 | ||
| R | 39,173 | 40,332 | 79,991 | ||
| D | 37,879 | 34,137 | 74,424 | ||
| D | 39,363 | 28,950 | 69,518 | ||
| R | 28,162 | 36,983 | 65,631 | ||
| R | 8,471 | 32,238 | 53,298 | ||
| R | 9,342 | 35,342 | 47,928 | ||
| R | 21,203 | 30,319 | 53,360 | ||
| O | 10,260 | 7,077 | 30,399 | ||
| R | 10,873 | 17,273 | 30,584 | ||
| R | 7,900 | 18,344 | 28,998 | ||
| R | 12,644 | 17,997 | 31,807 | ||
| R | 12,548 | 17,728 | 30,985 | ||
| D | 13,434 | 12,442 | 27,358 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
25.1%
Irish
15.4%
English
10.3%
Italian
8.4%
Polish
6.0%
American
4.4%
French
2.6%
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: 42.8 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
$72,296
Ottawa, IL ranks near the middle of US counties.
Ottawa, IL$72,296
Illinois$83,390
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
13.0%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1818.9%
Working age (18–64)11.7%
Seniors (65+)8.7%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
92.4%
speak English only
Spanish5.6%
Other Indo-European1.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.4%
Other languages0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 61.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Ottawa anchors the La Salle County micropolitan area, where a historically unionized industrial base has shifted alongside broader rural realignment, producing notable swings in presidential margins over the past three election cycles.
The Democratic margin in Ottawa, IL peaked at fifteen points in 1932. By 2012 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 $72,296 sits well below state and national norms, and 13% 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.
Ottawa, IL, Illinois — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/36837/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Ottawa, IL, Illinois vote in 2024?
In 2024, Ottawa, IL, Illinois voted Republican by 19.9 points (R+20), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 71,841 votes cast, 28,183 went Democratic and 42,515 went Republican.
What is Ottawa, IL, Illinois's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Ottawa, IL, Illinois as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 8 times, Republican 25 times, and other 1 times.
When did Ottawa, IL, Illinois last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Ottawa, IL, Illinois voted Democratic was 2008.
How many people live in Ottawa, IL, Illinois?
Ottawa, IL, Illinois has a population of 147,181 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Ottawa, IL, Illinois?
Median household income in Ottawa, IL, Illinois is $72,296 — below the national median of $80,734. The Illinois state median is $83,390.
What is the political history of Ottawa, IL, Illinois?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Ottawa, IL, Illinois from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 8 went Democratic and 25 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.