Eau Claire 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 105,710. 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 Eau Claire. The county took its name from the Eau Claire River. Eau Claire County is included in the Eau Claire, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Eau Claire- Menomonie WI Combined Statistical Area.

History

Eau Claire county was originally set off as the Town of Clearwater in Chippewa County in 1855. The name was changed to the Town of Eau Claire on March 31, 1856. The entire town was separated as Eau Claire County by an act of the Wisconsin State Legislature on October 6, 1856.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.1%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Chippewa County – north * Clark County – east * Jackson County – southeast * Trempealeau County – south * Buffalo County – southwest * Pepin County – west * Dunn County – west

Demographics and religion statistics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 105,710. 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 44,966 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 88.2%

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 ...

, 4.2% Asian, 1.2%

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, 0.1%

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 ...

, 1.1% from other races, and 4.7% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 2.9%

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 93,142 people, 35,822 households, and 22,281 families residing in the county. The

was . There were 37,474 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 94.96%

, 0.52%

, 0.54% Native American, 2.52% Asian, 0.03%

, 0.33% from other races, and 1.11% from two or more races. 0.94% of the population were

or Latino of any race. 37.4% were of German, 21.5% Norwegian and 7.0% Irish ancestry. 94.2% spoke English, 1.6% Hmong, 1.6% Spanish and 1.0% German as their first language. There were 35,822 households, out of which 30.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.60% 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, 8.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.80% were non-families. 27.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.02. In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.40% under the age of 18, 17.10% from 18 to 24, 26.70% from 25 to 44, 20.50% from 45 to 64, and 12.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.60 males. In 2017, there were 1,191 births, giving a general fertility rate of 52.8 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the tenth lowest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. Of these, 99 of the births occurred at home, the third highest for Wisconsin counties. In 2010, the largest religious groups by reported number of adherents were Catholic at 16,240 adherents, ELCA Lutheran at 15,067 adherents, Missouri Synod Lutheran at 6,953 adherents, LCMC Lutheran at 3,355 adherents, United Methodist at 2,177 adherents, non-denominational Christian at 1,557 adherents, Lutheran Brethren at 1,391 adherents, United Church of Christ at 1,046 adherents, Assemblies of God at 969 adherents, Amish at 794 adherents, Wisconsin Synod Lutheran at 757 adherents, ELS Lutheran at 708 adherents, and LDS (Mormon) at 703 adherents.

Transportation

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, ...

Buses

* Eau Claire Transit

Airport

Eau Claire county is served by the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport (KEAU).

Government

The legislative body of Eau Claire County is the non-partisan 29-member Eau Claire County Board of Supervisors. Members of the board of supervisors are elected by district and the chairperson and vice-chair positions are elected from within members of the board. The board meets in the Eau Claire County Courthouse in downtown Eau Claire, with its weekly meetings televised on local public television and transcripts published online. Most items are approved on a "consent calendar" without discussion. Public comment is limited to three minutes per individual per item. Eau Claire County is in

Wisconsin State Senate The Wisconsin Senate is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Together with the Wisconsin State Assembly they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin. The powers of the Wisconsin Senate are modeled after those o ...

district 31, represented by Jeff Smith (D). The county is divided into two Wisconsin assembly districts: Assembly district 93 which is represented by Christian Phelps (D), as well as district 91 which is represented by Jodi Emerson (D). At the federal level, the entire county is contained within Wisconsin's third congressional district, which is represented in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

by Derrick Van Orden (R). In presidential elections, due in part to the presence of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire County is solidly Democratic. The last Republican to win the county was

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

in his landslide re-election of 1984, and even then he only won the county by a margin of 2.64 percent, smaller than

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

's margin of 5.12 percent in his landslide

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

re-election.

Recreation

Attractions include the Chippewa Valley Museum in Eau Claire, Dells Mill Museum in Augusta, Dells Mill Water Powered Museum in Augusta, the Paul Bunyan Logging Camp in Eau Claire, and the Sarge Boyd Bandshell in Eau Claire.

Communities

Cities

* Altoona * Augusta * Eau Claire (county seat; partly in Chippewa County)

Villages

* Fairchild * Fall Creek

Towns

* Bridge Creek * Brunswick * Clear Creek *

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

* Fairchild * Lincoln * Ludington * Otter Creek * Pleasant Valley * Seymour * Union * Washington * Wilson

Census-designated places

* Seymour

Unincorporated communities

* Allen * Brackett * Candy Corners * Cleghorn * Foster * Hale Corner * Hay Creek * Ludington * Lufkin * Mount Hope Corners * Rodell * Truax * Union * Wilson

Ghost towns/neighborhoods

* Hadleyville^‡ * Nelsonville^‡ * Oak Grove^‡ * Porter's Mills^‡ * Shawtown^§ ;Footnotes ^‡ Historical community
^§ Now part of the City of Eau Claire

References

External links

* * Old plat maps
1899-19001902191019311945

Eau Claire County map
from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Special Collections and Archives

Chippewa Valley Museum
{{authority control 1856 establishments in Wisconsin Populated places established in 1856 Eau Claire–Chippewa Falls metropolitan area