Sioux County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,872. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

is Orange City. Its largest city is Sioux Center.

History

Sioux County was formed on January 15, 1851. It has been self-governed since January 20, 1860. It was named after the Sioux tribe. The first county seat was Calliope in 1860, then a small village with 15 inhabitants, and now part of

Hawarden Hawarden (; cy, Penarlâg) is a village, community and electoral ward in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home to Hawarden Castle. In the 2011 census the ward of the same name had ...

. The first courthouse was built here in 1860 and served as such until 1872. A larger immigration wave began in 1869, primarily of Dutch. In 1872, Orange City was declared the seat. In June 1902, the construction began on a new Sioux County courthouse designed by W.W. Beach. Of red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, it was completed in 1904, and still serves as the courthouse. From 1976 until 1982 the building was completely restored, and in 1977, it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.09%) is water. Western Sioux County drains to the south west to the Rock River or the

Big Sioux River The Big Sioux River is a tributary of the Missouri River in eastern South Dakota and northwestern Iowa in the United States. It flows generally southwardly for ,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataTh ...

. Eastern Sioux County drains to the south east to the Floyd River.

Major highways

U.S. Highway 18 * US 75

U.S. Highway 75 U.S. Route 75 is a major north–south U.S. Highway that extends in the central United States. The highway's northern terminus is in Noyes, Minnesota, at the Canadian border, where it once continued as Manitoba Highway 75 on the other sid ...

Iowa Highway 10 Iowa Highway 10 (Iowa 10) is a state highway (Iowa), state highway that runs across the state of Iowa. It begins where South Dakota Highway 46 crosses the Big Sioux River into Iowa north of Hawarden, Iowa, Hawarden. It ends east of Havelock, Iow ...

Iowa Highway 12 Iowa Highway 12 (Iowa 12) is a state highway that runs from north to south in northwestern Iowa. The highway begins in eastern Sioux City at U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) and US 75. For the first of the route, Iowa 12 is an u ...

Iowa Highway 60 Iowa Highway 60 (Iowa 60) is a north–south state highway in northwest Iowa. The highway runs at a southwest-to-northeast angle. The southern end of Iowa Highway 60 is near Le Mars at a freeway interchange with U.S. Highway 75 and U.S. H ...

Adjacent counties

* Lyon County (north) * O'Brien County (east) * Plymouth County (south) *

Union County, South Dakota Union County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 16,811, making it the 13th most populous county in South Dakota. Its county seat has been Elk Point since April ...

(southwest) *

Lincoln County, South Dakota Lincoln County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 65,161, making it the third-most populated county in the state. Its county seat is Canton. The county was named for Abraham Li ...

(northwest)

Demographics

2020 census

The 2020 census recorded a population of 35,872 in the county, with a population density of . 93.74% of the population reported being of one race. There were 13,000 housing units, of which 12,202 were occupied.

2010 census

The 2010 census recorded a population of 33,704 in the county, with a population density of . There were 12,279 housing units, of which 11,584 were occupied.

2000 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2000, there were 31,589 people, 10,693 households, and 8,062 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was 41 people per square mile (16/km²). There were 11,260 housing units at an average density of 15 per square mile (6/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 97.33%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 0.20%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.13% Native American, 0.59% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 1.20% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 0.53% from two or more races. 2.56% of the population were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race. There were 10,693 households, out of which 36.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.40% were married couples living together, 4.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.60% were non-families. 22.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.19. In the county, the population was spread out, with 27.10% under the age of 18, 15.20% from 18 to 24, 23.50% from 25 to 44, 19.10% from 45 to 64, and 15.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 96.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.50 males. The median income for a household in the county was $40,536, and the median income for a family was $45,846. Males had a median income of $31,548 versus $19,963 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $16,532. About 4.60% of families and 6.40% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 7.90% of those under age 18 and 6.80% of those age 65 or over. At one time divorce was relatively uncommon. In 1980, 52 married people in the county existed per divorced person; this rate did not exist in the total United States since the 1930s. , this changed to 14 married persons per divorced person.

Religion

, 80% of the county residents belong to major denominational churches, compared to 36% of the total U.S. population.

Education

Sioux County is the home to two four-year liberal arts colleges; Northwestern College in Orange City and

Dordt University Dordt University is a private evangelical Christian university in Sioux Center, Iowa. It was founded in 1955 and is affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church in North America. The university name is a reference to the Synod of Dordt (Dordr ...

in Sioux Center. Both of these schools have enrollments over 1,000. Northwest Iowa Community College is also in Sioux County, though it is most often associated with the community of Sheldon in O'Brien County.

Politics

Sioux County is overwhelmingly Republican in Presidential elections. The only Democratic presidential nominee to ever carry Sioux County since the Civil War has been

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

, who did so in 1932 and 1936; however,

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

won the county as a Progressive in 1912 and

George B. McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. A graduate of West Point, McCl ...

carried the county in the wartime 1864 election. The Democrats have only garnered 40 percent of the county's vote once since Roosevelt. Further underlining the county's heavy Republican bent, in 1964 it was one of only seven counties in the state to support Barry Goldwater, who easily carried the county with almost 66 percent of the vote–a near-reversal of Lyndon Johnson's statewide margin. In addition, in 2008, when

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

carried Iowa by 9.5 points, Sioux County was his weakest of all 99 counties in the state, with John McCain winning the county by 62 points. By 2020, the county at 66.5 point margin was Joe Biden's second-weakest county in Iowa, being overtaken by almost as equally Republican neighboring Lyon County at 67.5 points. In 1992, Sioux County was one of only two counties in the nation, along with

Jackson County, Kentucky Jackson County is located in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2021 census estimation, the population was 12,984. Its county seat is McKee. The county was formed in 1858 from land given by Madison, Estill, Owsley, Clay, Laurel, and Rockc ...

, to give George H. W. Bush over seventy percent of its vote. In the six elections since then, the Republican candidates has never received less than 75 percent of the county's vote. It is located in what was, until 2013,

Iowa's 5th congressional district Iowa's 5th congressional district is an obsolete congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa. It was last represented by Republican Steve King in 2013, who continued to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives after the district's obsole ...

which had a

Cook Partisan Voting Index The Cook Partisan Voting Index, abbreviated Cook PVI, CPVI, or PVI, is a measurement of how strongly a United States congressional district or U.S. state leans toward the Democratic or Republican Party, compared to the nation as a whole, based ...

of R+9 and was represented by Republican Steve King. King won the seat in Iowa's new 4th congressional district in the 2012 election with 53% of the district's vote, with 83% of Sioux County votes going for King.

Communities

Cities

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

* Boyden * Chatsworth * Granville *

* Hospers * Hull *

Ireton Ireton may refer to: Places * Ireton, Alberta, a locality in Leduc County *Ireton, England, a hamlet near Idridgehay in Derbyshire *Ireton, Iowa *Ireton, Nova Scotia *Kirk Ireton, an English village Other uses

* Ireton (surname) * Ireton F ...

* Matlock *

Maurice Maurice may refer to: People * Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr * Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and ...

* Orange City * Rock Valley * Sheldon * Sioux Center

Townships

* Buncombe * Capel *

Center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

East Orange East Orange is a city in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was the state's 20th most-populous municipality in 2010, after having been the state's 14th most-po ...

* Floyd *

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his hum ...

Grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom * Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama * Grant, Inyo County, ...

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

* Logan * Lynn * Nassau *

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

Rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

* Settlers * Sheridan * Sherman * Sioux *

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Welcome A welcome is a kind of greeting designed to introduce a person to a new place or situation, and to make them feel at ease. The term can similarly be used to describe the feeling of being accepted on the part of the new person. In some context ...

West Branch West Branch may refer to: Communities * West Branch, Iowa, city in Cedar and Johnson counties * West Branch, Michigan, city in Ogemaw County * West Branch, New Brunswick, in the Local Service District of Weldford Parish * West Branch River John, i ...

Population ranking

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2020 census of Sioux County. † ''county seat''

Notable people

* Vern Den Herder, member of the undefeated

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

NFL team of 1972 *

Hope Emerson Hope Emerson (October 29, 1897 – April 24, 1960;) was an American actress, vaudevillian, nightclub performer, and strongwoman. An imposing person physically, she weighed between and stood tall in her prime. Early life Emerson was born in ...

, American actress * Michael Franken, retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral, won Iowa's 2022 U.S Senate Democratic Primary * Stanley L. Greigg, member of the U.S. House of Representatives * Brian Hansen, former NFL punter *

Charles B. Hoeven Charles Bernard Hoeven (March 30, 1895 – November 9, 1980) was an American politician. Elected to represent districts in northern Iowa for eleven terms, from the Seventy-eighth to Eighty-eighth Congresses, in all he held elective office f ...

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Millie Jeffrey Mildred McWilliams "Millie" Jeffrey (December 29, 1910 – March 24, 2004) was an American political and social activist during the labor reforms, women's rights, and civil rights movement. Biography Mildred Jeffrey's mother, Bertha McWilli ...

, pioneer for workers', civil and women's rights * James Kennedy, American historian * Stephen Mitchell *

Nancy Metcalf Nancy Jean Metcalf (née Meendering; born November 12, 1978) is an American indoor volleyball player. She represented her native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, where she finished in fifth place with the USA National Te ...

, professional volleyball player * Albert Meyer * Dennis A. Muilenburg, Former Boeing President & CEO *

Dennis Marion Schnurr Dennis Marion Schnurr (born June 21, 1948) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has served as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in Ohio since 2009. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Duluth in Minnesota fro ...

, Archbishop of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati The Archdiocese of Cincinnati ( la, Archidiœcesis Cincinnatensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese that covers the southwest region of the U.S. state of Ohio, including the greater Cincinnati and Dayton metropolitan ...

Robert H. Schuller Robert Harold Schuller (September 16, 1926 – April 2, 2015) was an American Christianity, Christian televangelist, pastor, motivational speaker, and author. In his five decades of television, Schuller was principally known for the weekly ...

, American televangelist, pastor, and author * Ruth Suckow, American author * Melvin D. Synhorst, former

Iowa Secretary of State The Secretary of State of Iowa is the commissioner of elections of the U.S. state of Iowa. A constitutional officer, the officeholder is elected every four years. The Office of the Secretary of State is divided into four divisions: Elections and ...

* Delwin Vriend, LGBT rights icon * Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler, American mathematician * Adam Gregg, Current Iowa Lieutenant Governor

References

External links

Sioux County government website
{{authority control Iowa placenames of Native American origin Dutch-American culture in Iowa 1851 establishments in Iowa Populated places established in 1851