Dunn 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 ...

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 so ...

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 45,440. 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 Menomonie. Dunn County comprises the Menomonie Micropolitan Statistical Area and is included in the Eau Claire-Menomonie, WI Combined Statistical Area.

History

Dunn county was founded in 1854 from Chippewa County and organized in 1857. It is named for Charles Dunn, the territory's first chief justice.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.6%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Barron County - north * Chippewa County - east * Eau Claire County - southeast * Pepin County - south * Pierce County - southwest * Polk County - northwest * Saint Croix County - west

Major highways

Railroads

* Canadian National *

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, ...

Buses

* Dunn County Transit

Airports

* Menomonie Municipal Airport (KLUM) serves the county and surrounding communities. * Boyceville Municipal Airport (3T3) enhances county service.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 45,440. 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 18,693 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 90.7%

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 ...

, 3.2% Asian, 0.9%

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 ...

, 0.5% Native American, 1.0% from other races, and 3.8% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 2.3%

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 39,858 people, 14,337 households, and 9,261 families residing in the county. The

was . There were 15,277 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 96.08%

, 0.34%

, 0.27% Native American, 2.13% 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 ...

, 0.37% from other races, and 0.80% from two or more races. 0.84% of the population were

or Latino of any race. 39.3% were of German, 22.6% Norwegian and 5.1% Irish ancestry. 95.7% spoke English, 1.6% Spanish and 1.5% Hmong as their first language. There were 14,337 households, out of which 31.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.10% 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, 6.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.40% were non-families. 24.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.07. In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.30% under the age of 18, 19.80% from 18 to 24, 25.70% from 25 to 44, 19.80% from 45 to 64, and 11.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 101.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.20 males. In 2017, there were 443 births, giving a general fertility rate of 47.7 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the fourth lowest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties.

Communities

City

* Menomonie

Villages

* Boyceville * Colfax * Downing * Elk Mound * Knapp * Ridgeland * Wheeler

Towns

* Colfax * Dunn * Eau Galle * Elk Mound * Grant * Hay River * Lucas * Menomonie *

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

* Otter Creek *

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

* Red Cedar * Rock Creek * Sand Creek * Sheridan * Sherman * Spring Brook * Stanton * Tainter * Tiffany *

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

* Wilson

Census-designated places

* Downsville * Tainter Lake

Unincorporated communities

* Baxter * Caryville * Cedar Falls *

Comfort Comfort is a state of physical or psychological ease, often characterized by the absence of hardship. Individuals experiencing a lack of comfort are typically described as uncomfortable or in discomfort. A degree of psychological comfort can b ...

* Connorsville * Dunnville * Eau Galle * Falls City * Graytown (partial) * Hatchville (partial) * Irvington * Meridean * Norton * Red Cedar * Rock Falls *

Rusk A rusk is a hard, dry Biscuit#Biscuits in British usage, biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk. In the ...

* Sand Creek *

Ghost towns/neighborhoods

* Old Tyrone * Welch Point

Politics

References

External links

Dunn County, Wisconsin website

Dunn County Historical Society

Dunn County map
from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation {{coord, 44.95, -91.90, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-WI_source:UScensus1990 1857 establishments in Wisconsin Populated places established in 1857