Pickens County, Alabama: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted R+23%. Democratic peak: D+97 in 1888.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+23MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 18,7212024 5-year
- Median household income
- $46,2742024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 55.9%2024 5-year
- Black
- 40.9%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+97 in 1888MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+82 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Brooks County, GA · similarity 0.98
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Pickens CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Pickens County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
—
Margin—
Turnout—
Harris +50Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1876–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
| Year | Margin (D minus R) |
|---|---|
| 1876 | +95.6% |
| 1880 | +75.9% |
| 1884 | +93.9% |
| 1888 | +97.4% |
| 1892 | +60.8% |
| 1896 | +79.8% |
| 1900 | +52.7% |
| 1904 | +71.7% |
| 1908 | +78.1% |
| 1912 | +85.6% |
| 1916 | +67.7% |
| 1920 | +67.9% |
| 1924 | +76.4% |
| 1928 | +23.7% |
| 1932 | +79.6% |
| 1936 | +87.6% |
| 1940 | +84.5% |
| 1944 | +74.9% |
| 1948 | −6.0% |
| 1952 | +25.1% |
| 1956 | +23.6% |
| 1960 | +17.7% |
| 1964 | −82.1% |
| 1968 | +17.6% |
| 1972 | −35.4% |
| 1976 | +11.9% |
| 1980 | +11.3% |
| 1984 | −13.2% |
| 1988 | −10.7% |
| 1992 | +1.8% |
| 1996 | +9.0% |
| 2000 | −1.9% |
| 2004 | −13.7% |
| 2008 | −8.3% |
| 2012 | −7.0% |
| 2016 | −15.7% |
| 2020 | −16.3% |
| 2024 | −23.3% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 3,388 | 5,465 | 8,912 | ||
| R | 4,022 | 5,594 | 9,668 | ||
| R | 3,972 | 5,456 | 9,477 | ||
| R | 4,455 | 5,124 | 9,611 | ||
| R | 4,594 | 5,434 | 10,067 | ||
| R | 3,915 | 5,170 | 9,132 | ||
| R | 4,143 | 4,306 | 8,540 | ||
| D | 4,018 | 3,322 | 7,773 | ||
| D | 3,783 | 3,634 | 8,142 | ||
| R | 3,107 | 3,851 | 6,982 | ||
| R | 3,586 | 4,685 | 8,296 | ||
| D | 4,504 | 3,582 | 8,182 | ||
| D | 3,776 | 2,969 | 6,786 | ||
| R | 1,933 | 4,071 | 6,046 | ||
| O | 1,434 | 321 | 6,328 | ||
| R | 0 | 3,416 | 4,162 | ||
| D | 1,836 | 1,277 | 3,156 | ||
| D | 1,660 | 993 | 2,824 | ||
| D | 1,519 | 905 | 2,442 | ||
| O | 0 | 91 | 1,524 | ||
| D | 1,482 | 209 | 1,699 | ||
| D | 1,714 | 140 | 1,863 | ||
| D | 1,665 | 107 | 1,779 | ||
| D | 1,479 | 128 | 1,698 | ||
| D | 1,028 | 634 | 1,662 | ||
| D | 1,045 | 132 | 1,195 | ||
| D | 1,419 | 263 | 1,702 | ||
| D | 1,179 | 218 | 1,419 | ||
| D | 815 | 22 | 926 | ||
| D | 816 | 69 | 956 | ||
| D | 866 | 105 | 1,062 | ||
| D | 797 | 203 | 1,127 | ||
| D | 2,210 | 211 | 2,504 | ||
| D | 1,919 | 83 | 3,018 | ||
| D | 1,326 | 17 | 1,344 | ||
| D | 1,085 | 31 | 1,123 | ||
| D | 1,562 | 214 | 1,776 | ||
| D | 2,158 | 48 | 2,206 |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
14.7%
English
6.6%
Irish
6.3%
German
2.9%
Scottish
0.9%
French
0.6%
African American
32.7%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
2024 ACS
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 42.2 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
85+
75–84
65–74
55–64
45–54
35–44
25–34
18–24
5–17
<5
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Median household income
Inflation-adjusted dollars
$46,274
Pickens County ranks in the bottom 10% of US counties.
Pickens County$46,274
Alabama$63,999
United States$80,734
Pickens County ranks in the bottom 10% of US counties by median household income.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
20.0%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1827.9%
Working age (18–64)18.0%
Seniors (65+)17.4%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.5%
speak English only
Spanish3.0%
Other languages0.4%
Other Indo-European0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 30.3% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Pickens sits on Alabama's Black Belt fringe, where a majority-Black population and declining rural economy have produced shifting but persistently lopsided presidential results — the 2024 margin of R+23.3 continues a decade-long trend away from its historic Democratic lean.
The Democratic margin here reached ninety-seven points in 1888. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved seven points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was twenty-three points. The recent movement, modest against a deep Democratic baseline, mirrors a broader rightward drift across the Black Belt.
The economic context is part of the story: a median household income of $46,274 and a 20% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Brooks County and Coosa County.
Most similar counties
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.
Pickens County, Alabama. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/01107/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Pickens County, Alabama vote in 2024?
In 2024, Pickens County, Alabama voted Republican by 23.3 points (R+23), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 8,912 votes cast, 3,388 went Democratic and 5,465 went Republican.
What is Pickens County, Alabama's political typology?
Akashic places Pickens County, Alabama in the "Black Belt" typology — Black-majority counties of the rural South — long the most Democratic ground in the region, now trending Republican at the margins. The typology is a data-driven cluster built from vote share, vote swing, race and ethnicity, income, language spoken at home, religion, and ancestry. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the county has voted Democratic 25 times, Republican 11 times, and other 2 times.
When did Pickens County, Alabama last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Pickens County, Alabama voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Pickens County, Alabama?
Pickens County, Alabama has a population of 18,721 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Pickens County, Alabama?
Median household income in Pickens County, Alabama is $46,274 — below the national median of $80,734. The Alabama state median is $63,999.
What is the political history of Pickens County, Alabama?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Pickens County, Alabama from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 25 went Democratic and 11 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.