Aitkin County, Minnesota
Aitkin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 16,202. Its county seat is Aitkin. Part of the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation is in the county. The county was created in 1857 and organized in 1871.

History
Aitkin County was established in 1857 as Aiken County. The current spelling was adopted in 1872. It was named for William Alexander Aitken, a fur trader for the American Fur Company, under John Jacob Astor. Formed from Ramsey and Pine counties, Aiken County originally consisted of the 17 townships closest to Mille Lacs Lake. It acquired outlands of Ramsey, Itasca and Pine Counties to its north and east. It was organized in 1871, taking up lands from Cass and Itasca Counties and losing a point in the southwestern corner to Crow Wing County to form its current boundaries.

Geography
The Mississippi River flows southward through the west central part of the county. The county terrain consists of wooded rolling hills, dotted with lakes and ponds. The terrain slopes to the south; its highest point is Quadna Mountain, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-southeast of Hill City, Minnesota, at 1,591' (485m) ASL. Otherwise the highest terrain is near its NW corner, at 1,388' (423m) ASL. The county has a total area of , of which  is land and  (8.7%) is water.

Major highways

  U.S. Highway 2
  U.S. Highway 169
  Minnesota State Highway 18
  Minnesota State Highway 27
  Minnesota State Highway 47
  Minnesota State Highway 65
  Minnesota State Highway 200
  Minnesota State Highway 210
 List of County Roads

Adjacent counties

 Itasca County - north
 Saint Louis County - northeast
 Carlton County - east
 Pine County - southeast
 Kanabec County - south
 Mille Lacs County - southwest
 Crow Wing County - west
 Cass County - northwest

Protected areas

 Grayling State Wildlife Management Area
 Hill River State Forest
 Kimberly State Wildlife Management Area
 McGregor Marsh Scientific and Natural Area
 Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge
 Ripple River State Wildlife Management Area
 Salo Marsh State Wildlife Management Area
 Savanna Portage State Park
 Snake River County Park
 Solana State Forest

Politics
Aitkin County voters selected the Democratic Party candidate in 71% of national elections since 1960.

{| align="center" border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="float:right; margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
|+ Presidential elections results
|- bgcolor=lightgrey
! Year
! Republican
! Democratic
! Third parties
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |2016
|  style="text-align:center;" |59.8% 5,516
|  style="text-align:center;" |34.0% 3,134
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|6.3% 581
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |2012
|  style="text-align:center;" |49.6% 4,533
|  style="text-align:center;" |48.3% 4,412
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|2.2% 197
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |2008
|  style="text-align:center;" |48.8% 4,589
|  style="text-align:center;" |48.8% 4,595
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|2.4% 226
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |2004
|  style="text-align:center;" |50.4% 4,768
|  style="text-align:center;" |48.0% 4,539
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|1.5% 145
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |2000
|  style="text-align:center;" |45.5% 3,755
|  style="text-align:center;" |46.4% 3,830
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|8.2% 675
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1996
|  style="text-align:center;" |31.4% 2,327
|  style="text-align:center;" |51.5% 3,810
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|17.1% 1,267
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1992
|  style="text-align:center;" |28.5% 2,151
|  style="text-align:center;" |45.0% 3,400
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|26.6% 2,008
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1988
|  style="text-align:center;" |43.4% 3,011
|  style="text-align:center;" |55.7% 3,863
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|1.0% 68
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1984
|  style="text-align:center;" |46.1% 3,422
|  style="text-align:center;" |53.2% 3,943
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|0.7% 51
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1980
|  style="text-align:center;" |44.3% 3,396
|  style="text-align:center;" |47.9% 3,677
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|7.8% 597
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1976
|  style="text-align:center;" |35.6% 2,476
|  style="text-align:center;" |62.0% 4,308
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|2.4% 165
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1972
|  style="text-align:center;" |53.7% 3,241
|  style="text-align:center;" |44.6% 2,687
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|1.7% 104
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1968
|  style="text-align:center;" |39.8% 2,254
|  style="text-align:center;" |54.7% 3,094
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|5.5% 309
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1964
|  style="text-align:center;" |34.0% 2,000
|  style="text-align:center;" |65.8% 3,874
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|0.3% 16
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1960
|  style="text-align:center;" |50.7% 3,097
|  style="text-align:center;" |48.8% 2,980
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|0.6% 36
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1956
|  style="text-align:center;" |50.2% 2,762
|  style="text-align:center;" |49.7% 2,733
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|0.2% 9
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1952
|  style="text-align:center;" |55.9% 3,384
|  style="text-align:center;" |42.6% 2,577
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|1.5% 89
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1948
|  style="text-align:center;" |41.1% 2,466
|  style="text-align:center;" |54.6% 3,277
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|4.4% 264
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1944
|  style="text-align:center;" |49.4% 2,720
|  style="text-align:center;" |49.8% 2,743
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|0.8% 46
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1940
|  style="text-align:center;" |50.1% 3,744
|  style="text-align:center;" |48.3% 3,610
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|1.6% 116
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1936
|  style="text-align:center;" |37.3% 2,466
|  style="text-align:center;" |57.6% 3,806
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|5.1% 339
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1932
|  style="text-align:center;" |40.8% 2,341
|  style="text-align:center;" |51.3% 2,945
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|8.0% 457
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1928
|  style="text-align:center;" |70.1% 3,951
|  style="text-align:center;" |25.3% 1,428
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|4.6% 257
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1924
|  style="text-align:center;" |53.7% 2,720
|  style="text-align:center;" |4.2% 212
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|42.1% 2,136
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1920
|  style="text-align:center;" |70.2% 2,933
|  style="text-align:center;" |14.7% 613
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|15.2% 635
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1916
|  style="text-align:center;" |46.2% 1,122
|  style="text-align:center;" |36.1% 877
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|17.6% 428
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1912|  style="text-align:center;" |17.4% 362
|  style="text-align:center;" |19.8% 413
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|62.8% 1,308
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1908|  style="text-align:center;" |67.0% 1,205
|  style="text-align:center;" |21.6% 389
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|11.4% 204
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1904|  style="text-align:center;" |81.0% 1,327
|  style="text-align:center;" |11.7% 191
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|7.4% 121
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1900|  style="text-align:center;" |77.3% 988
|  style="text-align:center;" |20.5% 262
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|2.2% 28
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1896|  style="text-align:center;" |69.5% 855
|  style="text-align:center;" |27.9% 344
|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|2.6% 32
|-
|  style="text-align:center;" |1892|  style="text-align:center;" |62.6%' 445|  style="text-align:center;" |30.5% 217|  style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|6.9% 49|}

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Aitkin have ranged from a low of  in January to a high of  in July, although a record low of  was recorded in January 1972 and a record high of  was recorded in August 1976. Although these records are the official records, temperatures above  has been detected numerous times throughout Aitkin County and surrounding areas. Average monthly precipitation ranged from  in February to  in June.

Demographics

2010 census
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 16,202 people, 7,542 households, and 4,458 families in the county. The population density was 8.89/sqmi (3.50/km²). There were 16,626 housing units at an average density of 9.13/sqmi (3.52/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 95.63% or 15,494 people White, 0.35% or 57 people Black or African American, 2.4% or 390 people Native American, 0.17% or 27 people Asian, 0.025% or 4 people Pacific Islander, 0.13% or 21 people from other races, and 1.29% or 209 people from two or more races. Of the population with two or more races, 0.9% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 29.5% were of German, 14.3% Norwegian, 13.0% Swedish, 6.2% Irish, 5.3% United States or American and 5.2% Finnish ancestry.

There were 6,644 households out of which 22.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.50% were married couples living together, 6.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.90% were non-families. 28.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.76.

The county population contained 20.90% under the age of 18, 5.50% from 18 to 24, 21.60% from 25 to 44, 29.10% from 45 to 64, and 23.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females there were 101.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $44,139, and the median income for a family was $58,290. Males had a median income of $51,604 versus $30,633 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,848. About 5.20% of families and 7.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.50% of those under age 18 and 11.00% of those age 65 or over.

Communities
Cities

 Aitkin
 Hill City
 McGrath
 McGregor
 Palisade
 Tamarack

Townships

Aitkin Township
Ball Bluff Township
Balsam Township
Beaver Township
Clark Township
Cornish Township
Farm Island Township
Fleming Township
Glen Township
Haugen Township
Hazelton Township
Hill Lake Township
Idun Township
Jevne Township
Kimberly Township
Lakeside Township
Lee Township
Libby Township
Logan Township
Macville Township
Malmo Township
McGregor Township
Millward Township
Morrison Township
Nordland Township
Pliny Township
Rice River Township
Salo Township
Seavey Township
Shamrock Township
Spalding Township
Spencer Township
Turner Township
Verdon Township
Wagner Township
Waukenabo Township
Wealthwood Township
White Pine Township
Williams Township
Workman Township

Unorganized territories

 Davidson
 Jewett
 Northeast Aitkin
 Northwest Aitkin

Unincorporated communities

Arthyde
Ball Bluff
Bennettville
Cutler
Dads Corner
East Lake (Minisinaakwaang)
Giese
Glen
Glory
Hassman
Haypoint
Jacobson
Kimberly
Lawler
Libby
Malmo
Minnewawa
Nichols
Rabey
Red Top
Ronald
Rossburg
Sandy Lake (Gaa-mitaawangaagamaag'')
Sheshebee
Shovel Lake
Swatara
Thor
Waukenabo
Wealthwood