Ottawa, KS, Kansas: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+40%. Republican peak: R+58 in 1928.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+40MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 26,1062024 5-year
- Median household income
- $77,2072024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 90.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.1%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 4.8%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+27 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+58 in 1928MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Ottawa, KS, KSOne 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 | 3,676 | 8,773 | 12,759 | ||
| R | 3,690 | 8,479 | 12,477 | ||
| R | 2,892 | 7,185 | 11,082 | ||
| R | 3,694 | 6,984 | 10,990 | ||
| R | 4,433 | 7,079 | 11,739 | ||
| R | 3,921 | 7,391 | 11,476 | ||
| R | 3,321 | 5,925 | 9,658 | ||
| R | 3,552 | 5,007 | 9,835 | ||
| R | 2,968 | 3,699 | 9,883 | ||
| R | 3,592 | 4,777 | 8,465 | ||
| R | 2,523 | 6,284 | 8,899 | ||
| R | 2,726 | 5,525 | 8,808 | ||
| R | 3,607 | 4,760 | 8,578 | ||
| R | 2,056 | 6,011 | 8,267 | ||
| R | 2,524 | 4,875 | 8,239 | ||
| D | 4,410 | 3,725 | 8,221 | ||
| R | 2,824 | 6,158 | 9,029 | ||
| R | 2,591 | 6,557 | 9,181 | ||
| R | 2,532 | 6,983 | 9,584 | ||
| R | 3,467 | 5,145 | 8,834 | ||
| R | 2,880 | 5,375 | 8,310 | ||
| R | 3,542 | 6,393 | 10,020 | ||
| R | 4,503 | 6,007 | 10,538 | ||
| R | 4,690 | 4,887 | 9,742 | ||
| R | 1,951 | 7,346 | 9,370 | ||
| R | 2,324 | 6,008 | 8,960 | ||
| R | 2,606 | 5,216 | 8,005 | ||
| D | 4,128 | 3,885 | 8,601 | ||
| O | 1,970 | 672 | 4,889 | ||
| R | 2,155 | 2,658 | 5,040 | ||
| R | 1,310 | 2,855 | 4,543 | ||
| R | 2,605 | 2,872 | 5,571 | ||
| D | 3,152 | 2,609 | 5,810 | ||
| R | 0 | 2,431 | 4,796 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
23.3%
Irish
13.9%
English
12.8%
American
8.9%
French
1.7%
Italian
1.5%
Scottish
1.5%
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: 39.7 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
$77,207
Ottawa, KS ranks near the middle of US counties.
Ottawa, KS$77,207
Kansas$74,275
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
8.7%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 186.7%
Working age (18–64)8.4%
Seniors (65+)18.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.7%
speak English only
Spanish1.9%
Other languages0.6%
Other Indo-European0.4%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 65.3% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Ottawa anchors Franklin County in eastern Kansas, where rural commodity-farming interests overlap with a modest manufacturing base, producing a reliably Republican-leaning electorate that occasionally narrows at the county level.
The Democratic margin in Ottawa, KS peaked at twenty-seven 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 $77,207 sits well below state and national norms, and 9% 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, KS, Kansas — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/36840/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Ottawa, KS, Kansas vote in 2024?
In 2024, Ottawa, KS, Kansas voted Republican by 39.9 points (R+40), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 12,759 votes cast, 3,676 went Democratic and 8,773 went Republican.
What is Ottawa, KS, Kansas's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Ottawa, KS, Kansas as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 3 times, Republican 30 times, and other 1 times.
When did Ottawa, KS, Kansas last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Ottawa, KS, Kansas voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Ottawa, KS, Kansas?
Ottawa, KS, Kansas has a population of 26,106 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Ottawa, KS, Kansas?
Median household income in Ottawa, KS, Kansas is $77,207 — below the national median of $80,734. The Kansas state median is $74,275.
What is the political history of Ottawa, KS, Kansas?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Ottawa, KS, Kansas from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 3 went Democratic and 30 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.