Karlstad Municipality () is a municipality in Värmland County in west central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Karlstad.

The present municipality was established in 1971 when the former City of Karlstad was amalgamated with a number of surrounding rural municipalities.

Localities Alster Blombacka Karlstad (seat) Killstad Molkom Skattkärr Skåre Slängserud Vallargärdet Väse

Politics Municipalities are responsible for government-mandated duties, and elections for the Municipal council are held every four years, parallel to the general elections.

Until the 2010s inhabitants of Karlstad had a tendency to vote close to the national results at the general elections, making it the generally accepted bellwether town of Sweden. In 2022 this had decisively changed, with the winning right coalition performing seven points better overall than it did in Karlstad, with the bellwether municipalities instead being previous Social Democrats-dominated post-industrial towns in Bergslagen a bit northeast of Karlstad.

Demographics This is a demographic table based on Karlstad Municipality's electoral districts in the 2022 Swedish general election sourced from SVT's election platform, in turn taken from SCB official statistics.

In total there were 95,290 residents, including 74,827 Swedish citizens of voting age. 52.5% voted for the left coalition and 46.4% for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Location % % Alster N 1,977 1,547 47.0 51.9 86 94 6 30,665 53Alster S 1,158 834 50.7 49.0 88 93 7 31,655 53Bellevue-Bergvik 2,342 1,853 50.3 48.8 85 89 11 29,599 55Edsvalla 1,354 976 44.1 54.6 78 84 16 25,037 31Färjestad 2,116 1,749 45.5 53.1 84 87 13 29,113 52Färjestad-Rud 2,051 1,681 55.1 44.1 79 85 15 24,641 52Grava 1,748 1,315 38.6 60.5 85 95 5 29,211 43Gruvlyckan 1,963 1,398 64.8 31.7 65 53 47 18,670 35Haga 1,784 1,617 52.4 46.6 82 90 10 26,230 54Hagalund 2,153 1,608 56.6 42.4 87 81 19 29,528 57Herrhagen 1 1,795 1,537 54.6 44.8 77 84 16 22,821 55Herrhagen 2 1,711 1,512 50.8 48.2 81 87 13 27,741 56Herrhagen 3 1,853 1,539 55.9 42.9 80 88 12 25,714 60Hultsberg 1,986 1,543 53.2 46.4 88 90 10 31,425 63Inre Hamn 1,471 1,278 41.4 58.0 87 85 15 30,618 61Klara 1,698 1,510 46.7 52.7 86 88 12 28,675 63Kronoparken C 1,594 1,082 66.3 32.0 45 39 61 9,136 43Kronoparken S 1,971 1,309 65.4 31.5 58 39 61 15,475 35Kronoparken V 2,249 1,513 56.1 41.9 46 59 41 11,304 50Kronoparken Ö 1,561 1,075 71.3 26.3 56 48 52 16,215 47Kroppkärr 1,808 1,370 55.7 44.0 88 92 8 32,136 65Kvarnberget 1,847 1,525 60.1 38.6 76 81 19 24,867 54Lorensberg 1,643 1,204 59.6 40.1 90 91 9 32,234 63Marieberg-Sommarro 1,954 1,570 56.6 42.8 83 89 11 29,735 68Molkom 1,792 1,374 50.8 47.1 75 87 13 21,616 37Norrstrand C 1,438 1,190 56.0 43.0 77 85 15 23,797 52Norrstrand N 1,613 1,431 50.5 48.5 82 91 9 26,574 59Norrstrand S 1,200 1,096 56.6 42.4 72 86 14 20,968 40Norrstrand-Sjöstad 1,525 1,329 54.0 44.1 80 89 11 24,457 53Nyed 2,018 1,632 43.8 55.5 81 92 8 24,682 35Orrholmen 1,935 1,480 61.9 36.1 71 70 30 21,628 44Romstad-Strand 1,929 1,467 50.2 49.7 85 89 11 31,584 63Rud N 1,939 1,333 60.7 36.5 62 61 39 18,041 31Rud S 1,761 1,372 60.5 37.7 66 67 33 18,476 41Råtorp S 1,518 1,149 48.6 50.7 88 90 10 32,941 68Råtorp-Älvåker 1,741 1,290 51.5 47.9 89 93 7 33,226 64Skattkärr 1,755 1,282 47.2 51.7 84 93 7 28,319 47Skåre 1,261 959 52.9 46.2 85 92 8 27,577 48Soldattorpet 1,883 1,285 55.2 44.2 90 93 7 33,379 70Stockfallet 2,491 1,670 53.3 46.6 89 85 15 32,076 64Stodene 2,122 1,541 54.5 44.7 91 94 6 30,989 62Sundsta 1,450 1,260 43.0 56.1 81 90 10 28,738 59Tingvalla 1,711 1,769 45.6 53.4 77 80 20 24,958 51Tingvallastaden 1,554 1,449 47.1 52.4 78 88 12 27,711 61Torrmestad 1,411 1,188 56.0 43.0 79 87 13 26,485 55Tullholmsviken 1,537 1,370 44.5 54.7 85 84 16 30,656 60Universitetet 1,645 1,280 61.0 37.3 62 69 31 21,645 57Viken 1,593 1,478 55.4 43.5 76 87 13 22,673 52Vålberg 1,932 1,453 47.1 51.8 74 83 17 23,369 26Vålberg-Nor 1,879 1,457 43.5 55.8 70 81 19 22,141 30Våxnäs N 1,990 1,324 61.1 36.4 63 55 45 18,948 33Våxnäs S 1,605 1,216 61.9 37.0 66 58 42 19,214 30Väse 2,006 1,581 46.3 52.7 85 93 7 25,260 37Östra Fågelvik 1,269 977 41.6 57.5 87 94 6 30,396 47Source: SVT

Elections

Riksdag These are the local results of the Riksdag elections since the 1972 municipality reform. The results of the Sweden Democrats were not published by SCB between 1988 and 1998 at a municipal level to the party's small nationwide size at the time. "Votes" denotes valid votes, whereas "Turnout" denotes also blank and invalid votes.

Year Turnout Votes V S MP C L KD M SD ND 1973 92.0 47,969 4.2 45.0 0.0 24.3 10.1 0.8 15.0 0.0 0.0 1976 92.6 50,261 3.8 41.8 0.0 22.6 12.1 0.5 18.8 0.0 0.0 1979 91.6 51,435 4.8 43.5 0.0 16.1 10.0 0.6 24.2 0.0 0.0 1982 92.2 52,341 5.0 46.4 1.8 13.2 5.7 1.0 26.9 0.0 0.0 1985 90.5 52,538 4.8 45.2 1.9 9.2 14.6 0.0 24.3 0.0 0.0 1988 85.8 50,120 5.2 44.4 5.2 10.4 12.6 1.8 20.1 0.0 0.0 1991 87.5 51,742 4.2 37.5 3.3 7.2 9.5 7.0 23.7 0.0 7.0 1994 88.0 52,738 6.4 44.4 4.9 6.3 8.3 3.8 24.3 0.0 1.1 1998 82.8 50,206 12.7 36.4 4.9 4.1 4.7 12.0 23.2 0.0 0.0 2002 82.0 51,272 7.9 39.9 4.8 5.7 14.2 8.6 15.2 1.4 0.0 2006 83.6 53,554 6.0 36.8 5.5 7.5 7.7 6.5 25.2 2.3 0.0 2010 86.1 57,709 5.5 32.9 8.0 5.5 7.5 5.3 29.9 4.2 0.0 2014 87.7 61,111 5.5 34.7 7.8 5.7 5.3 4.5 23.3 9.6 0.0 2018 89.0 63,334 7.9 31.7 4.8 8.5 5.7 6.4 19.5 14.1 0.0

Blocs

This lists the relative strength of the socialist and centre-right blocs since 1973, but parties not elected to the Riksdag are inserted as "other", including the Sweden Democrats results from 1988 to 2006, but also the Christian Democrats pre-1991 and the Greens in 1982, 1985 and 1991. The sources are identical to the table above. The coalition or government mandate marked in bold formed the government after the election. New Democracy got elected in 1991 but are still listed as "other" due to the short lifespan of the party. "Elected" is the total number of percentage points from the municipality that went to parties who were elected to the Riksdag.

Year Turnout Votes Left Right SD Other Elected 1973 92.0 47,969 49.2 49.4 0.0 1.4 98.6 1976 92.6 50,261 45.6 53.5 0.0 0.9 99.1 1979 91.6 51,435 48.3 50.3 0.0 1.4 98.6 1982 92.2 52,341 51.4 45.8 0.0 2.8 97.2 1985 90.5 52,538 50.0 48.1 0.0 1.9 98.1 1988 85.8 50,120 54.8 43.1 0.0 2.1 97.9 1991 87.5 51,742 41.7 47.4 0.0 11.9 96.1 1994 88.0 52,738 55.7 42.7 0.0 1.6 98.4 1998 82.8 50,206 54.0 44.0 0.0 2.0 98.0 2002 82.0 51,272 52.6 43.7 0.0 3.7 96.3 2006 83.6 53,554 48.3 46.9 0.0 4.8 95.2 2010 86.1 57,709 46.4 48.2 4.2 1.2 98.8 2014 87.7 61,111 48.0 38.8 9.6 3.6 96.4 2018 89.0 63,334 44.5 40.1 14.1 1.5 98.5

Notable natives Bengt Alsterlind, TV host ("Hajk") Zarah Leander, singer Sven-Erik Magnusson, singer/dance band artist (Sven-Ingvars) Christer Sjögren, rock/dansband singer (Vikingarna) Ulf Sterner, ice hockey player (first Swede to play in the National Hockey League) Fabian Zetterlund, ice hockey forward for the San Jose Sharks Elgen Helge, local hero (Most handsome moose around)

Sites of interest

Alsters herrgård, the manor house where Gustaf Fröding was born Karlstad Church, built in 1730 An indoor ice rink and event arena, Löfbergs Arena, expanded in 2002 to host the Ice Hockey World Championships* Sweden's only indoor speed skating arena, Tingvalla isstadion. It is constructed in a world unique way. While normally it consists of a bandy field and two ice hockey rinks, on occasion the boards are dismantled in order to make room for the speed skating oval. Botanical gardens The masonic lodge where the negotiations for the dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway were held in 1905 A runestone Vr 2, one of four known in Värmland A history museum A nature museum

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities The municipality is twinned with:

Blönduós, Iceland Gaziantep, Turkey Horsens, Denmark Jõgeva, Estonia

Moss, Norway Nokia, Finland

See also Da Buzz Swedish Rescue Services Agency Swedish Rally Klarälven Karlstad Hundred Färjestads BK

References

External links

Karlstad Municipality – Official site Karlstad University

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