Barron County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the U.S. state of

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,711. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Barron. The county was created in 1859 and organized in 1874.

History

The county was created in 1859 as Dallas County (named after Vice President George M. Dallas), with the county seat located at Barron. It was renamed Barron County on March 4, 1869. The county's name honors Wisconsin lawyer and politician Henry D. Barron, who served as circuit judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. Barron County was organized in 1874. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a community of Russian immigrants moved to Barron County.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.0%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Washburn County – north * Sawyer County – northeast * Rusk County – east * Chippewa County – southeast * Dunn County – south * St. Croix County – southwest * Polk County – west * Burnett County – northwest

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 8 * U.S. Highway 53 * U.S. Highway 63 * Highway 25 (Wisconsin) * Highway 48 (Wisconsin)

Railroads

* Wisconsin Northern Railroad * Canadian National

Buses

Airports

* KRPD - Rice Lake Regional Airport serves Barron County. * KUBE - Cumberland Municipal Airport is located three miles south of Cumberland. * Y23 - Chetek Municipal–Southworth Airport also serves the county and surrounding communities. * 9Y7 - Barron Municipal Airport enhances county service.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 46,711. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing 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 geog ...

was . There were 23,779 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 91.1%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.8%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.0% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 1.2% from other races, and 4.2% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 2.7%

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 44,963 people, 17,851 households, and 12,352 families residing in the county. The

was . There were 20,969 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.69%

, 0.14%

, 0.81% Native American, 0.32% Asian, 0.04%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.32% from other races, and 0.69% from two or more races. 0.96% of the population were

or Latino of any race. 34.4% were of German, 21.8% Norwegian and 5.3% Irish ancestry. There were 17,851 households, out of which 31.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.90% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.80% were non-families. 25.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.97. In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.30% under the age of 18, 8.10% from 18 to 24, 26.80% from 25 to 44, 23.40% from 45 to 64, and 16.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 98.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.00 males. In 2017, there were 504 births, giving a general fertility rate of 70.6 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the 15th highest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. Additionally, there were fewer than five reported induced abortions performed on women of Barron County residence in 2017.

Communities

Cities

* Barron (county seat) * Chetek * Cumberland * Rice Lake

Villages

* Almena * Cameron *

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

* Haugen * New Auburn (mostly in Chippewa County) * Prairie Farm * Turtle Lake (partly in Polk County)

Towns

* Almena * Arland * Barron * Bear Lake * Cedar Lake * Chetek * Clinton * Crystal Lake * Cumberland *

* Dovre * Doyle * Lakeland * Maple Grove * Maple Plain * Oak Grove * Prairie Farm * Prairie Lake * Rice Lake * Sioux Creek * Stanfold * Stanley * Sumner * Turtle Lake * Vance Creek

Census-designated place

* Barronett

Unincorporated communities

* Angus * Arland * Brill * Campia * Canton * Comstock * Dobie * Graytown (part) * Hillsdale * Horseman * Lehigh * Mikana * Poskin * Reeve * Sumner * Twin Town * Tuscobia * Wickware

Politics

Barron County has been a longtime swing county, though it tended to more often vote Republican. The last Democrat to win the county was

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

in 2008 and since then it has been consistently Republican.

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's performances in 2020 and subsequently in 2024 were the best by a Republican since the 1952 landslide election.https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/

References

External links

Barron County website
* Old plat maps
188819031914ca. 191819421956196619781986

Barron County map
from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation {{Coord, 45.42, -91.85, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-WI_source:UScensus1990 1874 establishments in Wisconsin Populated places established in 1874