Shelby County, Alabama: Realigning Affluent Suburb county. In 2024, voted R+41%. Republican peak: R+76 in 1964.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+41MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Realigning Affluent SuburbAkashic typology
- Population
- 230,2112024 5-year
- Median household income
- $97,9612024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 75.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 13.5%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 7.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+49 in 1940MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+76 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Rankin County, MS · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Shelby CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Shelby 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 | +31.4% |
| 1880 | +26.7% |
| 1884 | +10.5% |
| 1888 | +22.0% |
| 1892 | +39.6% |
| 1896 | +19.5% |
| 1900 | −28.1% |
| 1904 | +17.5% |
| 1908 | −8.8% |
| 1912 | +36.9% |
| 1916 | −4.2% |
| 1920 | −12.3% |
| 1924 | +3.4% |
| 1928 | −19.6% |
| 1932 | +20.0% |
| 1936 | +24.1% |
| 1940 | +49.4% |
| 1944 | +34.7% |
| 1948 | −32.7% |
| 1952 | +6.8% |
| 1956 | −7.1% |
| 1960 | +1.1% |
| 1964 | −75.7% |
| 1968 | −5.6% |
| 1972 | −65.2% |
| 1976 | −11.1% |
| 1980 | −32.5% |
| 1984 | −56.9% |
| 1988 | −58.0% |
| 1992 | −46.5% |
| 1996 | −50.8% |
| 2000 | −55.5% |
| 2004 | −61.6% |
| 2008 | −53.4% |
| 2012 | −55.5% |
| 2016 | −50.6% |
| 2020 | −40.4% |
| 2024 | −40.6% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 33,087 | 79,666 | 114,698 | ||
| R | 33,268 | 79,700 | 114,950 | ||
| R | 22,977 | 73,020 | 98,962 | ||
| R | 20,051 | 71,436 | 92,507 | ||
| R | 20,625 | 69,060 | 90,643 | ||
| R | 14,850 | 63,435 | 78,906 | ||
| R | 13,183 | 47,651 | 62,128 | ||
| R | 11,280 | 37,090 | 50,773 | ||
| R | 10,317 | 32,736 | 48,165 | ||
| R | 7,138 | 27,052 | 34,314 | ||
| R | 5,884 | 21,858 | 28,068 | ||
| R | 7,396 | 14,957 | 23,267 | ||
| R | 7,197 | 9,035 | 16,629 | ||
| R | 1,859 | 9,390 | 11,558 | ||
| O | 1,105 | 1,706 | 10,770 | ||
| R | 0 | 6,037 | 7,980 | ||
| D | 3,225 | 3,157 | 6,428 | ||
| R | 2,502 | 2,901 | 5,581 | ||
| D | 2,473 | 2,156 | 4,636 | ||
| O | 0 | 921 | 2,820 | ||
| D | 1,955 | 945 | 2,913 | ||
| D | 2,777 | 938 | 3,722 | ||
| D | 2,399 | 1,465 | 3,880 | ||
| D | 2,185 | 1,449 | 3,675 | ||
| R | 1,679 | 2,502 | 4,203 | ||
| D | 1,882 | 1,753 | 3,827 | ||
| R | 2,523 | 3,235 | 5,782 | ||
| R | 1,311 | 1,428 | 2,756 | ||
| O | 1,181 | 201 | 2,657 | ||
| R | 1,011 | 1,231 | 2,492 | ||
| D | 1,106 | 679 | 2,438 | ||
| R | 749 | 1,389 | 2,275 | ||
| D | 1,582 | 1,051 | 2,717 | ||
| D | 1,755 | 307 | 3,656 | ||
| D | 1,626 | 1,037 | 2,681 | ||
| D | 1,389 | 1,123 | 2,536 | ||
| D | 1,455 | 840 | 2,303 | ||
| D | 1,475 | 770 | 2,245 |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
16.9%
Irish
9.6%
American
8.0%
German
7.5%
Italian
3.2%
Scottish
2.8%
French
1.5%
African American
10.8%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
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: 40.3 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
$97,961
Shelby County ranks in the top 5% of US counties.
Shelby County$97,961
Alabama$63,999
United States$80,734
Shelby County ranks in the top 5% 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
7.2%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 188.7%
Working age (18–64)6.4%
Seniors (65+)10.4%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
91.6%
speak English only
Spanish5.5%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.4%
Other Indo-European0.9%
Other languages0.6%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 56.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Shelby County has added residents faster than almost any other Alabama county over the past two decades, drawing white-collar commuters from Birmingham. That suburban growth has yet to dent its deep-red presidential margins, which held above 40 points in 2024.
Once reliably Republican — a margin of seventy-six points in 1964 at its widest — Shelby County has trended Democratic. The 2024 margin was forty-one points.
A median household income of $97,961 — among the higher at this geographic scale — and a population of 230,211 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Rankin County and Clay 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.
Shelby County, Alabama. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/01117/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Shelby County, Alabama vote in 2024?
In 2024, Shelby County, Alabama voted Republican by 40.6 points (R+41), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 114,698 votes cast, 33,087 went Democratic and 79,666 went Republican.
What is Shelby County, Alabama's political typology?
Akashic places Shelby County, Alabama in the "Realigning Affluent Suburb" typology — College-educated, affluent suburbs — the one bloc moving toward the Democratic Party. 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 14 times, Republican 21 times, and other 3 times.
When did Shelby County, Alabama last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Shelby County, Alabama voted Democratic was 1960.
How many people live in Shelby County, Alabama?
Shelby County, Alabama has a population of 230,211 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Shelby County, Alabama?
Median household income in Shelby County, Alabama is $97,961 — above the national median of $80,734. The Alabama state median is $63,999.
What is the political history of Shelby County, Alabama?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Shelby County, Alabama from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 14 went Democratic and 21 went Republican. The county's typology — "Realigning Affluent Suburb" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.