Wooster, OH, Ohio: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+39%. Republican peak: R+49 in 1928.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+39MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 116,5882024 5-year
- Median household income
- $73,5742024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 93.3%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.2%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+33 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+49 in 1928MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Wooster, OH, OHOne 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 | 15,898 | 36,764 | 53,150 | ||
| R | 16,660 | 36,759 | 54,283 | ||
| R | 15,031 | 32,270 | 50,845 | ||
| R | 19,808 | 30,251 | 51,562 | ||
| R | 21,712 | 29,342 | 52,276 | ||
| R | 19,786 | 31,879 | 51,848 | ||
| R | 14,779 | 25,901 | 42,436 | ||
| R | 14,850 | 19,628 | 40,548 | ||
| R | 13,953 | 18,350 | 41,982 | ||
| R | 13,571 | 22,320 | 36,208 | ||
| R | 11,323 | 24,475 | 36,103 | ||
| R | 12,129 | 18,962 | 33,942 | ||
| R | 13,087 | 16,976 | 30,754 | ||
| R | 9,260 | 20,368 | 30,076 | ||
| R | 8,891 | 15,151 | 25,970 | ||
| D | 14,806 | 9,890 | 24,696 | ||
| R | 9,511 | 21,273 | 30,784 | ||
| R | 6,984 | 19,469 | 26,453 | ||
| R | 8,414 | 18,074 | 26,488 | ||
| R | 8,868 | 12,152 | 21,090 | ||
| R | 9,506 | 13,616 | 23,122 | ||
| R | 10,748 | 13,525 | 24,273 | ||
| D | 12,666 | 10,331 | 23,423 | ||
| D | 10,870 | 10,787 | 22,097 | ||
| R | 4,825 | 14,192 | 19,024 | ||
| R | 6,023 | 8,928 | 16,594 | ||
| R | 7,751 | 8,932 | 16,890 | ||
| D | 5,930 | 3,676 | 9,847 | ||
| D | 4,737 | 1,674 | 9,263 | ||
| D | 5,368 | 4,388 | 10,084 | ||
| R | 4,165 | 4,748 | 9,346 | ||
| D | 5,263 | 4,244 | 9,845 | ||
| D | 5,588 | 4,369 | 10,139 | ||
| D | 4,702 | 3,752 | 9,039 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
25.5%
English
11.7%
Irish
10.0%
American
6.3%
Italian
4.6%
Polish
2.2%
French
2.1%
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: 38.9 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
$73,574
Wooster, OH ranks near the middle of US counties.
Wooster, OH$73,574
Ohio$71,389
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
9.4%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1810.9%
Working age (18–64)8.7%
Seniors (65+)10.8%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
85.9%
speak English only
Other Indo-European11.9%
Spanish1.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.7%
Other languages0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 53.8% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Wooster sits at the center of Wayne County, where a mix of Amish agricultural communities, light manufacturing workers, and a liberal-arts college student population produces one of Ohio's more unpredictable county-level margins.
The Democratic margin in Wooster, OH peaked at thirty-three points in 1912. By 1968 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was thirty-nine points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $73,574 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.
Wooster, OH, Ohio — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/49300/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Wooster, OH, Ohio vote in 2024?
In 2024, Wooster, OH, Ohio voted Republican by 39.3 points (R+39), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 53,150 votes cast, 15,898 went Democratic and 36,764 went Republican.
What is Wooster, OH, Ohio's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Wooster, OH, Ohio 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 25 times, and other 0 times.
When did Wooster, OH, Ohio last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Wooster, OH, Ohio voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Wooster, OH, Ohio?
Wooster, OH, Ohio has a population of 116,588 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Wooster, OH, Ohio?
Median household income in Wooster, OH, Ohio is $73,574 — below the national median of $80,734. The Ohio state median is $71,389.
What is the political history of Wooster, OH, Ohio?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Wooster, OH, Ohio from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 9 went Democratic and 25 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.