Rice Lake, WI, Wisconsin: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+29%. Republican peak: R+75 in 1920.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+29MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 46,7972024 5-year
- Median household income
- $65,9332024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 91.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.3%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+30 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+75 in 1920MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Rice Lake, 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 | 8,941 | 16,726 | 26,809 | ||
| R | 9,194 | 15,803 | 25,346 | ||
| R | 7,889 | 13,614 | 22,671 | ||
| R | 10,890 | 11,443 | 22,692 | ||
| D | 12,078 | 10,457 | 22,886 | ||
| R | 11,696 | 12,030 | 23,937 | ||
| R | 8,928 | 9,848 | 19,904 | ||
| D | 8,025 | 6,158 | 17,191 | ||
| D | 8,063 | 6,572 | 20,230 | ||
| D | 8,951 | 8,527 | 17,570 | ||
| R | 8,061 | 9,587 | 17,772 | ||
| R | 8,654 | 8,791 | 18,685 | ||
| D | 8,678 | 7,393 | 16,382 | ||
| R | 5,376 | 8,418 | 14,045 | ||
| R | 5,183 | 7,526 | 13,589 | ||
| D | 8,332 | 5,701 | 14,056 | ||
| R | 6,464 | 8,640 | 15,145 | ||
| R | 5,419 | 8,634 | 14,126 | ||
| R | 4,902 | 10,013 | 14,981 | ||
| D | 6,148 | 5,516 | 12,016 | ||
| R | 5,585 | 7,137 | 12,823 | ||
| R | 6,183 | 7,806 | 14,227 | ||
| D | 7,419 | 5,067 | 13,355 | ||
| D | 7,413 | 3,852 | 11,701 | ||
| R | 3,185 | 8,455 | 11,746 | ||
| O | 377 | 2,703 | 9,180 | ||
| R | 742 | 6,887 | 8,176 | ||
| R | 1,863 | 2,746 | 4,997 | ||
| O | 1,065 | 1,414 | 3,970 | ||
| R | 1,266 | 3,247 | 4,886 | ||
| R | 625 | 3,575 | 4,566 | ||
| R | 943 | 2,950 | 4,054 | ||
| R | 1,324 | 2,772 | 4,282 | ||
| R | 767 | 1,818 | 3,169 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
36.3%
Irish
9.3%
English
7.0%
Polish
3.7%
French
3.7%
American
3.4%
Italian
3.2%
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: 44.9 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
$65,933
Rice Lake, WI ranks near the middle of US counties.
Rice Lake, WI$65,933
Wisconsin$77,485
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
11.0%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1815.5%
Working age (18–64)9.4%
Seniors (65+)13.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.0%
speak English only
Spanish2.2%
Other Indo-European1.0%
Other languages0.5%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 49.3% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Rice Lake anchors Barron County, a historically competitive slice of northwest Wisconsin where manufacturing employment and agricultural roots produce volatile presidential-year swings that regularly exceed statewide margins.
The Democratic margin in Rice Lake, WI peaked at thirty points in 1932. By 2012 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was twenty-nine points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $65,933 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.
Rice Lake, WI, Wisconsin — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/39960/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Rice Lake, WI, Wisconsin vote in 2024?
In 2024, Rice Lake, WI, Wisconsin voted Republican by 29.0 points (R+29), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 26,809 votes cast, 8,941 went Democratic and 16,726 went Republican.
What is Rice Lake, WI, Wisconsin's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Rice Lake, 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 9 times, Republican 23 times, and other 2 times.
When did Rice Lake, WI, Wisconsin last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Rice Lake, WI, Wisconsin voted Democratic was 2008.
How many people live in Rice Lake, WI, Wisconsin?
Rice Lake, WI, Wisconsin has a population of 46,797 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Rice Lake, WI, Wisconsin?
Median household income in Rice Lake, WI, Wisconsin is $65,933 — below the national median of $80,734. The Wisconsin state median is $77,485.
What is the political history of Rice Lake, WI, Wisconsin?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Rice Lake, WI, Wisconsin from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 9 went Democratic and 23 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.