Chippewa 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 ...

. It is named for the historic Chippewa people, also known as the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

, who long controlled this territory. As of the 2020 census, the population was 66,297. 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 Chippewa Falls. The county was founded in 1845 from Crawford County, then in the Wisconsin Territory, and organized in 1853. Chippewa County is included in the Eau Claire, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Eau Claire- Menomonie, WI Combined Statistical Area.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.2%) is water. Parts of northern Chippewa county are covered with choppy hills dimpled by kettle lakes and bogs—the

terminal moraine A terminal moraine, also called an end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front e ...

left by the last glacier. The Ice Age Trail threads through some of this country, providing public foot-access to these unusual landforms.

Adjacent counties

* Rusk County – north * Taylor County – east * Clark County – southeast * Eau Claire County – south * Dunn County – west * Barron County – northwest

Major highways

Railroads

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

* Wisconsin Northern Railroad * Canadian National

Buses

* Eau Claire Transit

Airports

* KEAU - Chippewa Valley Regional Airport * 4WI9 - Cornell Municipal Airport

Demographics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 66,297. 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 28,688 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 91.8%

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 ...

, 1.6%

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 ...

, 1.5% Asian, 0.5% Native American, 0.6% from other races, and 4.0% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 1.9%

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 55,195 people, 21,356 households, and 15,013 families residing in the county. The

was . There were 22,821 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.85%

, 0.16%

, 0.32% Native American, 0.89% Asian, 0.01%

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 ...

, 0.17% from other races, and 0.60% from two or more races. 0.52% of the population were

or Latino of any race. 44.1% were of German, 15.8% Norwegian and 5.8% Irish ancestry. There were 21,356 households, out of which 33.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.30% 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, 8.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.70% were non-families. 24.70% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.03. In the county, the population was spread out, with 26.50% under the age of 18, 7.70% from 18 to 24, 28.20% from 25 to 44, 23.10% from 45 to 64, and 14.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.00 males. In 2017, there were 624 births, giving a general fertility rate of 59.7 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the 26th lowest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. Additionally, there were fewer than five reported induced abortions performed on women of Chippewa County residence in 2017.

Economy

Small intermodal terminal in Chippewa Falls on the Canadian National line

The largest employers in Chippewa County are:

Library

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Special Collections and Archives, located on the fifth floor of McIntyre Library, houses an extensive collection of public records, books and collections relating to Chippewa County. In addition to vital records (birth and marriage) dating to 1907, there are also naturalization records, census records, and civil and circuit court records. These resources are very popular with local genealogists. Within the local history collection, there are books about immigration to the region, logging, church and cemetery records, reminiscences by local residents, and a number of histories and biographies compiled by local historians. Special Collections and Archives also houses numerous archives files which relate to Chippewa County. There are many collections which pertain to logging, the railway industry and agriculture. The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Special Collections and Archives also includes information for Buffalo, Clark, Eau Claire, Rusk and Taylor counties.

Communities

Cities

* Bloomer * Chippewa Falls (county seat) * Cornell * Eau Claire (mostly in Eau Claire County) * Stanley (partly in Clark County)

Villages

* Boyd * Cadott * Lake Hallie * New Auburn (partly in Barron County)

Towns

* Anson *

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

* Auburn * Birch Creek * Bloomer *

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

* Colburn * Cooks Valley * Delmar * Eagle Point * Edson * Estella * Goetz * Hallie *

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

* Lafayette * Lake Holcombe *

Ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

* Sampson * Sigel * Tilden * Wheaton * Woodmohr

Census-designated places

* Holcombe * Jim Falls * Lake Wissota

Other unincorporated communities

* Albertville * Anson * Arnold * Bateman * Brownville * Cobban * Colburn *

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

* Drywood * Eagle Point * Eagleton * Edson *

* Huron * Maple Hill * Old Albertville * Pine Grove *

* Tilden

Politics

At the presidential level, Chippewa County leans Republican; however,

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 ...

won the county in 2008. In 2024,

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 ...

received 60.8 percent of the vote, the best result for a Republican in the county since

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

in 1952.

References

External links

Chippewa County government website
* Old plat maps
187318801888190219131920

Chippewa County map
from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Chippewa County Historical Society

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Special Collections and Archives
{{authority control 1845 establishments in Wisconsin Territory Populated places established in 1845 Eau Claire–Chippewa Falls metropolitan area