Ft. Wayne, Indiana: Populist market. In 2024, voted R+32%. Republican peak: R+35 in 1956.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+32MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 753,1592024 5-year
- Median household income
- $70,3382024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 81.4%2024 5-year
- Black
- 5.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 7.0%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+22 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+35 in 1956MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Ft. Wayne, INOne 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 | 108,873 | 213,463 | 328,790 | ||
| R | 112,681 | 215,251 | 335,172 | ||
| R | 88,777 | 193,312 | 300,405 | ||
| R | 106,398 | 181,968 | 294,547 | ||
| R | 131,369 | 168,367 | 303,367 | ||
| R | 89,314 | 183,722 | 274,938 | ||
| R | 85,694 | 156,583 | 247,599 | ||
| R | 87,812 | 127,256 | 240,915 | ||
| R | 81,577 | 120,173 | 262,261 | ||
| R | 80,257 | 162,910 | 244,816 | ||
| R | 78,642 | 164,214 | 244,863 | ||
| R | 83,072 | 145,505 | 251,270 | ||
| R | 99,957 | 144,041 | 247,602 | ||
| R | 79,464 | 161,830 | 242,956 | ||
| R | 87,075 | 130,123 | 237,628 | ||
| D | 123,999 | 106,625 | 231,790 | ||
| R | 89,821 | 144,444 | 235,194 | ||
| R | 68,331 | 143,016 | 212,299 | ||
| R | 72,119 | 136,542 | 211,726 | ||
| R | 82,009 | 101,440 | 186,168 | ||
| R | 76,984 | 113,225 | 192,255 | ||
| R | 85,831 | 113,798 | 200,807 | ||
| D | 105,658 | 80,793 | 191,137 | ||
| D | 107,208 | 78,587 | 188,804 | ||
| R | 69,783 | 99,577 | 170,336 | ||
| R | 60,403 | 83,142 | 154,280 | ||
| R | 60,343 | 89,860 | 157,386 | ||
| R | 41,788 | 41,970 | 90,454 | ||
| D | 37,365 | 18,877 | 82,406 | ||
| D | 46,521 | 43,061 | 93,892 | ||
| R | 38,706 | 47,244 | 91,121 | ||
| D | 45,009 | 43,208 | 90,467 | ||
| D | 45,855 | 43,144 | 90,213 | ||
| D | 39,677 | 33,539 | 78,972 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
26.6%
English
10.9%
Irish
9.2%
American
6.3%
French
2.2%
Polish
1.8%
Italian
1.7%
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: 38.0 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
$70,338
Ft. Wayne ranks near the middle of US counties.
Ft. Wayne$70,338
Indiana$71,389
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
11.2%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1815.1%
Working age (18–64)10.0%
Seniors (65+)9.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
90.7%
speak English only
Spanish4.1%
Other Indo-European2.7%
Asian & Pacific Islander2.1%
Other languages0.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 51.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Fort Wayne's media market covers a swath of rural and mid-size industrial communities in northeast Indiana, where Republican margins tend to run deep but turnout variation in Allen County can shift the region's aggregate numbers.
The Democratic margin in Ft. Wayne peaked at twenty-two points in 1912. By 1968 the market had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was thirty-two points, the most Republican-leaning result in the market's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $70,338 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.
Ft. Wayne, Indiana — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/dma/509/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Ft. Wayne, Indiana vote in 2024?
In 2024, Ft. Wayne, Indiana voted Republican by 31.8 points (R+32), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 328,790 votes cast, 108,873 went Democratic and 213,463 went Republican.
What is Ft. Wayne, Indiana's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Ft. Wayne, Indiana as a "Populist" market based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the market has voted Democratic 8 times, Republican 26 times, and other 0 times.
When did Ft. Wayne, Indiana last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Ft. Wayne, Indiana voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Ft. Wayne, Indiana?
Ft. Wayne, Indiana has a population of 753,159 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Ft. Wayne, Indiana?
Median household income in Ft. Wayne, Indiana is $70,338 — below the national median of $80,734. The Indiana state median is $71,389.
What is the political history of Ft. Wayne, Indiana?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Ft. Wayne, Indiana from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 8 went Democratic and 26 went Republican. The market's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.