Sawyer County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2010 census, the population was 16,557. Its county seat is Hayward.
History
The county is named for Philetus Sawyer, a New England man who represented Wisconsin in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate in the 19th century. Logging began in the late 1850s. Loggers came from Cortland County, New York, Carroll County, New Hampshire, Orange County, Vermont and Down East Maine in what is now Washington County, Maine and Hancock County, Maine. These were "Yankee" migrants, that is to say they were descended from the English Puritans who had settled New England during the 1600s. They were mostly members of the Congregational Church. Sawyer County was created in 1883 and organized in 1885. In the 1890s immigrants came from a variety of countries such as Germany, Norway, Poland, Ireland and Sweden.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (6.9%) is water. It is the fifth-largest county in Wisconsin by land area.
Major highways
20px U.S. Highway 63
20px Highway 27 (Wisconsin)
20px Highway 40 (Wisconsin)
20px Highway 48 (Wisconsin)
20px Highway 70 (Wisconsin)
20px Highway 77 (Wisconsin)
Sawyer County Highway B is the busiest rural roadway on average in all of Sawyer County with a high count of 5900 vehicles daily, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's average daily traffic maps for 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20100602030241/http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/counts/docs/sawyer/sawyer2008.pdf
Airport
Sawyer County Airport (KHYR) serves the county and surrounding communities.
Adjacent counties
Bayfield County - north
Ashland County - northeast
Price County - east
Rusk County - south
Barron County - southwest
Washburn County - west
Douglas County - northwest
National protected areas
Chequamegon National Forest (part)
Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway (part)
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 16,196 people, 6,640 households, and 4,581 families residing in the county. The population density was 13 people per square mile (5/km2). There were 13,722 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile (4/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 81.72% White, 0.31% Black or African American, 16.07% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.35% from other races, and 1.23% from two or more races. 0.90% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 29.6% were of German, 7.8% Irish, 6.7% Norwegian, 5.9% Polish, 5.2% Swedish and 5.2% English ancestry. 95.4% spoke English, 2.0% Ojibwa and 1.1% Spanish as their first language.
There were 6,640 households, out of which 27.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.20% were married couples living together, 10.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.00% were non-families. 26.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.86.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.10% under the age of 18, 6.00% from 18 to 24, 24.60% from 25 to 44, 27.40% from 45 to 64, and 17.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 101.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.00 males.
In 2017, there were 167 births, giving a general fertility rate of 74.5 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the 8th highest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. Additionally, there were fewer than five reported induced abortions performed on women of Sawyer County residence in 2017.
Communities
Cities
Hayward (county seat)
Villages
Couderay
Exeland
Radisson
Winter
Towns
Bass Lake
Couderay
Draper
Edgewater
Hayward
Hunter
Lenroot
Meadowbrook
Meteor
Ojibwa
Radisson
Round Lake
Sand Lake
Spider Lake
Weirgor
Winter
Census-designated places
Chief Lake
Little Round Lake
New Post
Reserve
Stone Lake (partial)
Unincorporated communities
Draper
Edgewater
Hauer
Hay Stack Corner
Lemington
Loretta
Meteor
Northwoods Beach
Ojibwa
Oxbo
Phipps
Seeley
Weirgor
Wooddale
Yarnell
Politics
Sawyer County is a bellwether county in presidential elections, having voted for the overall national winner in every election from 1964. This streak was broken in 2020 when the county backed Donald Trump, who lost to Joe Biden. This is similar to numerous other bellwether counties [https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/where-did-all-the-bellwether-counties-go/]. This is because of the greater geographic polarization in American politics, with fewer and fewer counties swinging between parties but instead consistently voting for one party according to demographics.
