Polk County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the U.S. state of

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,977. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

is Balsam Lake. The county was created in 1853.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the county has an area of , of which is land and (4.4%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Burnett County - north * Barron County - east * Dunn County - southeast * St. Croix County - south * Washington County, Minnesota - southwest * Chisago County, Minnesota - west

Major highways

Railroads

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN ...

Minnesota Transportation Museum The Minnesota Transportation Museum (MTM, reporting mark MNTX) is a transportation museum in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. MTM operates several heritage transportation sites in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin. The museum is actively involv ...

Buses

* List of intercity bus stops in Wisconsin

Airports

* Amery Municipal Airport (KAHH) serves the county and surrounding communities. *

L.O. Simenstad Municipal Airport L.O. Simenstad Municipal Airport is a village owned public use airport located southeast of the central business district of Osceola, a village in Polk County, Wisconsin, United States. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FA ...

(KOEO).

National protected area

* Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway (part)

Demographics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 44,977. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was . There were 24,129 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 93.5%

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

, 0.9% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.4%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.8% from other races, and 3.9% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 2.1%

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race.

2000 census

As of the 2000 census, there were 41,319 people, 16,254 households, and 11,329 families residing in the county. The

was 45 people per square mile (17/km²). There were 21,129 housing units at an average density of 23 per square mile (9/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 97.64%

, 0.15%

, 1.06% Native American, 0.26% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 0.20% from other races, and 0.67% from two or more races. 0.80% of the population were

or Latino of any race. 31.4% were of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, 18.6% Norwegian, 11.3% Swedish, 5.5% Irish and 5.3%

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

ancestry. There were 16,254 households, out of which 32.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.20% were

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

living together, 7.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.30% were non-families. 25.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.01. In the county, the population was spread out, with 26.20% under the age of 18, 6.70% from 18 to 24, 27.70% from 25 to 44, 24.30% from 45 to 64, and 15.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 99.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.50 males. In 2017, there were 400 births, giving a general fertility rate of 56.0 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the 14th lowest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties.

Education

Communities

Polk County Wisconsin Sign US8 entering Wisconsin

Cities

* Amery * St. Croix Falls

Villages

* Balsam Lake (county seat) *

Centuria ''Centuria'' (, plural ''centuriae'') is a Latin term (from the stem ''centum'' meaning one hundred) denoting military units originally consisting of 100 men. The size of the century changed over time, and from the first century BC through most ...

* Clayton * Clear Lake * Dresser * Frederic *

Luck Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to rand ...

* Milltown *

Osceola Osceola (1804 – January 30, 1838, Asi-yahola in Muscogee language, Creek), named Billy Powell at birth in Alabama, became an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfather was a S ...

* Turtle Lake (mostly in Barron County)

Towns

* Alden * Apple River * Balsam Lake *

Beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

* Black Brook * Bone Lake * Clam Falls * Clayton * Clear Lake * Eureka * Farmington * Garfield * Georgetown * Johnstown * Laketown * Lincoln * Lorain *

* McKinley * Milltown *

* St. Croix Falls * Sterling *

West Sweden West Sweden ( sv, Västsverige) is a National Area ( sv, Riksområde) of Sweden. The National Areas are a part of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) of Sweden. Geography It is located in the south-west of the country, ...

Census-designated place

* Lewis

Unincorporated communities

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geogra ...

* Bunyan * Clam Falls * Cushing * Deronda * East Farmington * Eureka Center * Fox Creek * Horse Creek * Indian Creek * Joel * Lamar * Little Falls * Lykens * McKinley * Nye * Pole Cat Crossing (partial) * Range *

Richardson Richardson may refer to: People * Richardson (surname), an English and Scottish surname * Richardson Gang, a London crime gang in the 1960s * Richardson Dilworth, Mayor of Philadelphia (1956-1962) Places Australia * Richardson, Australian Capi ...

* Sand Lake *

Ubet Ubet may refer to: * Ubet, Montana, a ghost town, United States * Ubet, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community, United States * Ubet (company), an Australian sports betting agency. {{disambig, geo ...

* Wanderoos * West Denmark *

Wolf Creek Wolf Creek may refer to: Bodies of water Missouri * Wolf Creek (Beaver Creek tributary) * Wolf Creek (Cane Creek tributary) * Wolf Creek (Cave Creek tributary) * Wolf Creek (Elkhorn Creek tributary) * Wolf Creek (South Grand River tributary) * ...

Notable residents

* Arnold Franz Brasz (1888–1966), a prominent painter, sculptor, and printmaker was born in Polk County on July 19, 1888 * George A. Nelson (1873–1962), the 1936

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...

nominee for vice president of the United States, was born in rural Polk County and was a dairy farmer there.

Politics

References

External links

Polk County website

Polk County map
from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Polk County Economic Development Corporation

Polk County Tourism
{{authority control 1853 establishments in Wisconsin Populated places established in 1853