Polk County, Wisconsin

• White (non-Hispanic) 42,344 93.0%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1,008 2.2%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 105 0.2%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 207 0.5%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 1,548 3.4%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 201 0.4%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 4 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 138 0.3%

• Under 18 9,058 19.9%
• 18–24 2,937 6.4%
• 25–44 9,975 21.9%
• 45–64 13,280 29.2%
• 65 and over 10,305 22.6%

Median household income

$74,144

90% interval $69,041–$79,247

−$3,413 vs WI · 33rd of 72

Below poverty line

9.1%

90% interval 7.6%–10.6%

−1.2 pp vs WI · 51st of 72

Unemployment (12-mo)

4.8%

+1.53 pp vs. state

County GDP

$2.2B

0.48% of state

Avg. annual pay

$50,000

Establishments

1,324

• Education & health services 4,393 28.0%
• Manufacturing 3,525 22.5%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 2,773 17.7%
• Leisure & hospitality 1,549 9.9%
• Professional & business services 953 6.1%
• Construction 660 4.2%
• Public administration 640 4.1%
• Natural resources & mining 326 2.1%
• Financial activities 326 2.1%
• Other services 310 2.0%
• Information 141 0.9%

Home ownership

81.0%

+13.2 pp vs WI · 17th of 72

Median gross rent

$957

−$130 vs WI · 27th of 72

Owner-occupied

15,833

Renter-occupied

3,709

• Concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 68% of the county workforce. Most panelists likely share employer relationships within these sectors, surface those connections early in voir dire before any institutional-defendant or sector-specific framing.

• Moderate wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Financial activities, $73,996/yr) pays 3.7× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $19,991/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 12 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

• Republican 18,296 64.9%
• Democratic 9,567 33.9%
• Other / third-party 349 1.2%

• Spanish 367 0.8%
• German or other West Germanic 227 0.5%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 69 0.2%
• Tagalog 51 0.1%
• Korean 26 0.1%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 20 0.0%
• Vietnamese 9 0.0%

Households

19,542

Family households

12,867

65.8% of households

Married couples w/ children

3,036

23.6% of families

Single-mother families

893

6.9% of families

Veterans

2,842

7.8% of civilians 18+

• Mainline Protestant 8,193 18.2%
• Evangelical Protestant 5,408 12.0%
• Catholic 2,592 5.8%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 520 1.2%

Health insured

93.8%

±0.9 pp

Uninsured

6.2%

±0.9 pp

21st of 72

With a disability

13.4%

±0.8 pp

33rd of 72

Bachelor's or higher

24.3%

±1.3 pp

−9.1 pp vs WI · 39th of 72

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

6.8%

90% interval 6.1%–7.5% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

Polk County Circuit Court (10th Judicial District)

Judges

22 (Circuit Court judges aggregated across all counties in each administrative Judicial District (Wis. Stat. § 753.06); vintage 2026 wicourts.gov. Note: WI's Circuit Court is per-county (72 trial venues); the 9 active numbered Judicial Districts are administrative chief-judge regions, not jurisdictions. Municipal Court judges (limited jurisdiction: city ordinances) are separate and not counted here.)

Court seats

Balsam Lake

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

8

21.92 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

7