Consolidated Statements of Operations - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
Income Statement [Abstract]
Revenues	$ 2,512,084	$ 2,606,485	$ 2,301,260
Cost of sales	(1,557,118)	(1,690,196)	(1,529,417)
Gross profit	954,966	916,289	771,843
Selling, general and administrative expenses	(492,702)	(448,636)	(378,027)
Research and development expenses	(116,427)	(104,350)	(90,227)
Amortization of intangibles	(40,375)	(37,860)	(30,630)
Asset impairments	0	0	(9,283)
Gain on sale of assets	12,056	37,891	0
Operating income	317,518	363,334	263,676
Interest expense, net	(33,625)	(43,554)	(62,693)
Loss on debt extinguishment	0	(6,392)	(5,715)
Non-operating pension benefit	1,863	4,005	4,476
Gain on sale of note receivable	0	0	27,036
Income from continuing operations before taxes	285,756	317,393	226,780
Income tax expense	(43,200)	(49,645)	(27,939)
Income from continuing operations	242,556	267,748	198,841
Loss from discontinued operations, net of tax	0	(3,685)	(136,384)
Gain (loss) from disposal of discontinued operations, net of tax	0	(9,241)	1,860
Net income	242,556	254,822	64,317
Less: Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interest	(203)	159	392
Net income attributable to Belden common stockholders	$ 242,759	$ 254,663	$ 63,925
Weighted average number of common shares and equivalents:
Basic (in shares)	42,237	43,845	44,802
Diluted (in shares)	42,859	44,537	45,361
Basic income (loss) per share attributable to Belden common stockholders:
Continuing operations (in dollars per share)	$ 5.75	$ 6.10	$ 4.43
Discontinued operations (in dollars per share)	0	(0.08)	(3.04)
Disposal of discontinued operations (in dollars per share)	0	(0.21)	0.04
Net income (in dollars per share)	5.75	5.81	1.43
Diluted income (loss) per share attributable to Belden common stockholders:
Continuing operation (in dollars per share)	5.66	6.01	4.37
Discontinued operations (in dollars per share)	0	(0.08)	(3.04)
Disposal of discontinued operations (in dollars per share)	0	(0.21)	0.04
Net income (in dollars per share)	$ 5.66	$ 5.72	$ 1.41