Price 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 14,054. 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 Phillips.

History

Price County was created on March 3, 1879, when Wisconsin Governor William E. Smith signed legislation creating the county. The county was later organized in 1882. William T. Price (1824–1886), for whom Price County was named, was President of the

Wisconsin 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 ...

and an early logger in Price County; he later was elected to the U.S. Congress. The county was formed from portions of Chippewa and Lincoln counties. The first white settler in what is now Price County was Major Isaac Stone, who located on the Spirit River in 1860 to engage in lumbering. Price County continues today to be a large producer of raw timber.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.9%) is water. The highest natural point in Wisconsin,

Timms Hill Timms Hill or Timm's Hill is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and is located in north-central Wisconsin in Timms Hill County Park in the Town of Hill in Price County. After being surveyed by Quentin Stevens of Ogema Tele ...

at , is located in Price County.

Adjacent counties

* Ashland - northwest *

Iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

- northeast * Lincoln - southeast * Oneida - east *

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 ...

- west * Sawyer - west * Taylor - south * Vilas - northeast

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 8 * Highway 13 (Wisconsin) * Highway 70 (Wisconsin) * Highway 86 (Wisconsin) * Highway 102 (Wisconsin) * Highway 111 (Wisconsin) * Highway 182 (Wisconsin)

Railroads

* Watco

Buses

* Bay Area Rural Transit

Airports

* KPBH - Price County Airport * KPKF - Park Falls Municipal Airport * 5N2 - Prentice Airport

National protected area

* Chequamegon National Forest (part)

Demographics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 14,054. 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 10,735 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 94.2% White, 0.9% Pacific Islander, 0.6% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.2% Black or African American, 0.5% from other races, and 3.1% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 1.3% Hispanic or Latino of any race.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 15,822 people, 6,564 households, and 4,417 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 9,574 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.22% White, 0.1% Black or African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.15% from other races, and 0.6% from two or more races. 0.73% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 44.4% were of German, 6.5% Norwegian, 5.9% Swedish, 5.4% Polish, 5.2% Irish and 5%

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

ancestry. There were 6,564 households, out of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.5% 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, 6.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.7% were non-families. 28.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.91. In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.8% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99 males. In 2017, there were 127 births, giving a general fertility rate of 71.4 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the 13th highest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties.

Communities

Cities

* Park Falls * Phillips (county seat)

Villages

* Catawba * Kennan * Prentice

Towns

* Catawba * Eisenstein * Elk * Emery * Fifield * Flambeau * Georgetown * Hackett *

Harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

Hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as Mountain, mountains. Hills ...

* Kennan * Knox *

Lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

* Ogema * Prentice * Spirit * Worcester

Census-designated place

* Ogema

Unincorporated communities

* Cranberry Lake * Clifford (partial) * Brantwood *

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

* Fifield * Lugerville * Pennington * Spirit * Worcester

Ghost towns/neighborhoods

* Coolidge *

Kaiser Kaiser ( ; ) is the title historically used by German and Austrian emperors. In German, the title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (). In English, the word ''kaiser'' is mainly applied to the emperors ...

* Kennedy * Knox Mills * Sassen

Politics

Price County was originally a Republican stronghold which became a swing county beginning in the Depression years. Recently, starting in 1988 it saw a Democratic trend through 2012 (with the exception of 2000). Several of these elections were particularly close; in 2004, Democrat

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

won the county by a narrow plurality of 37 votes. While the county swung strongly Democratic in 2008 to support

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 ...

, the best such performance since 1964, in 2012 Obama lost ground and only carried the county by 3 votes. In 2016 the county swung hard to the right in support of

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 ...

, who became the first Republican to carry it by over 60% since

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he was one of the most ...

in 1920. Trump improved his margins in both 2020 and 2024.https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/

References

External links

Price County
* Old plat maps
18731880188819101920ca. 1925

Price County map
at Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Price County Historical Society
{{authority control 1882 establishments in Wisconsin Populated places established in 1882