† Citizen voting-age population estimated for prior cycles; 2004 predates the ACS and is extrapolated. Source: ACS 5-year, table B05003.
——
D+60R+60
5 counties by 2024 margin · County returns · MIT Election Lab
People and households
Who lives here
Exact values for this place, its state, and the United States.
Race · ethnicity · ancestry
Communities and origins
GroupPaducah, KY-ILUnited States
English18.7%9.5%
German11.6%12.5%
American10.7%5.3%
Irish8.7%9.4%
Scottish1.8%1.3%
Italian1.5%4.8%
French1.5%1.6%
Scotch-Irish1.1%—
African American†6.4%9.9%
African0.8%0.5%
Ethiopian0.3%—
Mexican1.6%11.3%
Puerto Rican0.4%1.8%
Hispanic or Latino counts residents of any race; the race groups count only their non-Hispanic residents, so the groups are mutually exclusive and sum to 100%. Expand a row to see ancestries reported within that group.
Age and life stage
Measure
Paducah, KY-IL
United States
Median age
43.2
39.1
Age 18–24
7.2%
9.2%
Age 65 and older
20.9%
17.2%
Household economy
Measure
Paducah, KY-IL
United States
Median household income
$64,050
$84,427
Poverty rate
15.7%
12.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher (25+)
24.7%
35.6%
Languages at home
Measure
Paducah, KY-IL
United States
Speaks a non-English language at home
2.8%
22.3%
Spanish
1.4%
13.6%
Religious landscape
Measure
Paducah, KY-IL
United States
Catholic
4.3%
18.6%
Evangelical Protestant
59.5%
16.5%
Unclaimed / not counted
24.8%
51.5%
Mainline Protestant
7.1%
5.2%
American Community Survey 2024 5-year (CVAP, income, age, poverty, education, language, race, ancestry) · presidential returns from MIT Election Lab through 2024 · 2020 U.S. Religion Census (ASARB) — congregational adherents; unclaimed is the residual not counted by congregations.
Paducah, KY-IL
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1892–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
Presidential margin over time
Year
Margin (D minus R)
1892
+12.2%
1896
+16.0%
1900
+13.5%
1904
+9.2%
1908
+14.1%
1912
+22.4%
1916
+8.1%
1920
+13.8%
1924
+12.7%
1928
−5.1%
1932
+43.9%
1936
+38.7%
1940
+34.3%
1944
+29.8%
1948
+41.3%
1952
+24.7%
1956
+25.0%
1960
+8.3%
1964
+47.6%
1968
+11.1%
1972
−21.4%
1976
+35.0%
1980
+10.0%
1984
−1.3%
1988
+2.4%
1992
+13.4%
1996
+13.2%
2000
−10.0%
2004
−21.6%
2008
−25.7%
2012
−34.1%
2016
−43.8%
2020
−40.6%
2024
−43.7%
DemocraticRepublican
34 presidential elections
Third column names the leading third-party or independent finisher. Source · MIT Election Lab · ICPSR · VEST (precinct-level 2024). Swing · margin change from the prior cycle. vs U.S. · margin relative to the national result that year.
Year
Won
Democratic
Republican
Other
Margin
Swing
vs U.S.
Total
R
27.6%Harris13,865
71.2%Trump35,822
1.2%
R+43.7
R+3.1
R+42.2
50,293
R
29.0%Biden15,147
69.6%Trump36,342
1.4%
R+40.6
D+3.2
R+45.0
52,234
R
26.0%Clinton12,827
69.8%Trump34,445
4.2%
R+43.8
R+9.7
R+45.9
49,351
R
32.1%Obama15,439
66.2%Romney31,828
1.7%
R+34.1
R+8.4
R+37.9
48,071
R
36.4%Obama17,906
62.1%McCain30,540
1.6%
R+25.7
R+4.1
R+32.9
49,210
R
38.9%Kerry19,034
60.5%Bush29,594
0.7%
R+21.6
R+11.6
R+19.1
48,949
R
44.0%Gore19,375
54.0%Bush23,768
2.0%
R+10.0
R+23.2
R+10.5
44,026
D
51.5%Clinton21,349
38.2%Dole15,866
10.3%
D+13.2
R+0.2
D+4.7
41,482
D
50.6%Clinton22,725
37.2%Bush16,702
12.3%
D+13.4
D+11.0
D+7.8
44,946
D
50.8%Dukakis21,077
48.3%Bush20,065
0.9%
D+2.4
D+3.7
D+10.2
41,508
R
48.9%Mondale21,015
50.2%Reagan21,567
1.0%
R+1.3
R+11.3
D+16.9
42,998
D
53.8%Carter22,598
43.8%Reagan18,400
2.3%
D+10.0
R+25.0
D+19.7
41,976
D
66.1%Carter25,898
31.1%Ford12,185
2.8%
D+35.0
D+56.4
D+32.9
39,188
R
37.9%McGovern12,746
59.3%Nixon19,957
2.8%
R+21.4
R+32.6
D+1.7
33,656
D
42.3%Humphrey15,723
31.2%Nixon11,587
26.5%
D+11.1
R+36.5
D+11.8
37,179
D
73.6%Johnson26,153
26.0%Goldwater9,243
0.4%
D+47.6
D+39.3
D+25.0
35,523
D
54.2%Kennedy21,217
45.8%Nixon17,948
0.0%
D+8.3
R+16.6
D+8.2
39,171
D
62.3%Stevenson23,408
37.4%Eisenhower14,034
0.3%
D+25.0
D+0.2
D+40.4
37,545
D
62.3%Stevenson21,344
37.6%Eisenhower12,872
0.1%
D+24.7
R+16.6
D+35.5
34,253
D
69.8%Truman19,248
28.5%Dewey7,856
1.7%
D+41.3
D+11.5
D+36.8
27,584
D
64.6%Roosevelt19,192
34.8%Dewey10,348
0.6%
D+29.8
R+4.5
D+22.3
29,719
D
67.0%Roosevelt21,966
32.7%Willkie10,718
0.4%
D+34.3
R+4.5
D+24.3
32,804
D
69.0%Roosevelt21,166
30.3%Landon9,286
0.7%
D+38.7
R+5.1
D+14.5
30,663
D
71.4%Roosevelt20,839
27.5%Hoover8,035
1.0%
D+43.9
D+49.0
D+26.1
29,173
R
47.3%Smith12,883
52.4%Hoover14,267
0.3%
R+5.1
R+17.8
D+12.4
27,227
D
52.9%Davis14,094
40.2%Coolidge10,707
7.0%
D+12.7
R+1.1
D+37.9
26,657
D
55.9%Cox17,792
42.1%Harding13,401
2.0%
D+13.8
D+5.7
D+40.0
31,815
D
52.5%Wilson10,747
44.4%Hughes9,093
3.0%
D+8.1
R+14.3
D+4.9
20,462
D
50.5%Wilson7,671
28.1%Taft4,267
21.3%
D+22.4
D+8.3
D+2.9
15,176
D
55.4%Bryan9,704
41.3%Taft7,235
3.3%
D+14.1
D+4.9
D+23.7
17,513
D
52.6%Parker7,706
43.3%Roosevelt6,353
4.1%
D+9.2
R+4.3
D+28.9
14,661
D
55.9%Bryan8,795
42.4%McKinley6,672
1.7%
D+13.5
R+2.5
D+21.0
15,739
D
56.9%Bryan8,464
41.0%McKinley6,087
2.1%
D+16.0
D+3.8
D+22.1
14,864
D
49.1%Cleveland5,183
36.9%Harrison3,897
13.9%
D+12.2
—
D+10.5
10,547
voter registration
Registered voters
By party of registration, over time
Registered voters
† Some years predate full county coverage; a flagged year sums only the counties reporting it.
Voter registration in Paducah, KY-IL
Year
Total registered
2016 (partial)
15,275
2018 (partial)
11,107
2020 (partial)
11,485
2022 (partial)
11,444
2024
88,971
domestic migration
Who moves in and out
Net domestic migration over time
+35 net domestic migration · 2025
20112025
Net −574 over 2011–2025 · gain loss
Domestic migration in Paducah, KY-IL in Paducah, KY-IL: net domestic migration by year
Year
Net domestic migration
2011
+259
2012
−385
2013
−511
2014
−83
2015
−513
2016
−16
2017
+66
2018
−275
2019
−80
2021
+49
2022
+305
2023
+343
2024
+232
2025
+35
Paducah's metro straddles the Kentucky-Illinois border where the Ohio and Tennessee rivers meet, giving it an unusual cross-state economic identity; McCracken County, its Kentucky core, has shifted toward double-digit Republican margins in presidential races over the past two decades.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 47.6 points in 1964 and a Republican high of 43.8 points in 2016. Between 2020 and 2024 the metro moved 3.1 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 43.7 points.
A population of 102,748, a 84% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $64,050 describe the metro. The metro's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Gadsden, AL and Forest City, NC.
Akashic
Political twins — metros
The metros whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky. Akashic. https://akashic.app/cbsa/37140/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
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In 2024, Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky voted Republican by 43.7 points (R+43.7), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 50,293 votes cast, 13,865 went Democratic and 35,822 went Republican.
When did Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky?
Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky has a population of 102,748 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky?
Median household income in Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky is $64,050 — below the national median of $80,734. The Kentucky state median is $83,390.
What is the political history of Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky?
Akashic tracks 34 presidential elections in Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky from 1892 to 2024. Of those, 24 went Democratic and 10 went Republican.
