[7] As of the 2010 United States census, there were 14,081 people, 5,676 households, and 3,798 families living in the county.

[14] In terms of ancestry, 35.7% were German, 15.5% were Irish, 13.6% were American, and 10.4% were English.

In 1912, the GOP was mortally divided and Progressive Theodore Roosevelt carried the county over the more conservative official nominee William Howard Taft; in 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt in the first of his four campaigns became and has remained the only Democrat to carry Ford County.

Due to its second place showing over the then-dormant Democratic Party in that election, the Libertarians received the minority party's seat on the Board of Review and one of the five seats on the Sheriff's Merit Commission.

[17] This status was lost by 2002 after the Libertarian Party failed to field any candidates in the 2002 general election.

[18] President Gerald Ford visited Ford County on October 24, 1974, to mark the retirement of Congressman Leslie C. Arends of Melvin who served in Congress for 40 years, including over 30 years as Republican Minority Whip.