Columbia County, Arkansas: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted R+37%. Democratic peak: D+93 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+37MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 22,3492024 5-year
- Median household income
- $55,3342024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 60.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 34.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+93 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+45 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Union County, AR · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Columbia CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Columbia 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 | No data |
| 1880 | No data |
| 1884 | No data |
| 1888 | No data |
| 1892 | +48.0% |
| 1896 | +59.9% |
| 1900 | +40.4% |
| 1904 | +43.9% |
| 1908 | +32.4% |
| 1912 | +46.1% |
| 1916 | +48.4% |
| 1920 | +40.8% |
| 1924 | +57.5% |
| 1928 | +47.9% |
| 1932 | +92.8% |
| 1936 | +93.3% |
| 1940 | +87.6% |
| 1944 | +68.9% |
| 1948 | +52.7% |
| 1952 | +26.9% |
| 1956 | +9.3% |
| 1960 | +1.0% |
| 1964 | −7.0% |
| 1968 | +6.9% |
| 1972 | −45.0% |
| 1976 | +4.7% |
| 1980 | −8.2% |
| 1984 | −27.7% |
| 1988 | −21.5% |
| 1992 | +10.6% |
| 1996 | +15.1% |
| 2000 | −10.9% |
| 2004 | −16.4% |
| 2008 | −24.1% |
| 2012 | −23.6% |
| 2016 | −26.6% |
| 2020 | −31.2% |
| 2024 | −36.5% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 2,466 | 5,367 | 7,940 | ||
| R | 2,814 | 5,500 | 8,616 | ||
| R | 3,140 | 5,456 | 8,713 | ||
| R | 3,557 | 5,790 | 9,455 | ||
| R | 3,554 | 5,861 | 9,558 | ||
| R | 4,108 | 5,729 | 9,909 | ||
| R | 4,003 | 5,018 | 9,307 | ||
| D | 4,730 | 3,376 | 8,982 | ||
| D | 4,747 | 3,702 | 9,819 | ||
| R | 3,706 | 5,810 | 9,802 | ||
| R | 3,680 | 6,526 | 10,285 | ||
| R | 4,445 | 5,259 | 9,967 | ||
| D | 4,708 | 4,287 | 9,001 | ||
| R | 2,193 | 5,801 | 8,023 | ||
| O | 2,487 | 1,916 | 8,246 | ||
| R | 3,485 | 4,009 | 7,533 | ||
| D | 2,427 | 2,372 | 5,605 | ||
| D | 2,845 | 2,342 | 5,394 | ||
| D | 3,359 | 1,931 | 5,299 | ||
| D | 1,788 | 217 | 2,981 | ||
| D | 2,145 | 394 | 2,543 | ||
| D | 2,270 | 149 | 2,422 | ||
| D | 1,847 | 64 | 1,911 | ||
| D | 2,420 | 85 | 2,515 | ||
| D | 1,752 | 617 | 2,370 | ||
| D | 1,382 | 350 | 1,795 | ||
| D | 2,052 | 857 | 2,926 | ||
| D | 2,074 | 721 | 2,795 | ||
| D | 1,101 | 340 | 1,650 | ||
| D | 1,613 | 817 | 2,460 | ||
| D | 1,445 | 554 | 2,030 | ||
| D | 1,440 | 606 | 2,062 | ||
| D | 2,159 | 537 | 2,707 | ||
| D | 1,714 | 475 | 2,583 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
10.6%
English
8.3%
Irish
6.0%
German
5.2%
Scottish
1.6%
French
1.1%
Italian
1.0%
African American
27.5%
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: 34.2 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
$55,334
Columbia County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Columbia County$55,334
Arkansas$60,773
United States$80,734
Columbia County ranks in the bottom 25% 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
21.1%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1835.3%
Working age (18–64)17.0%
Seniors (65+)16.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.6%
speak English only
Spanish2.2%
Other Indo-European0.5%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.4%
Other languages0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 17.2% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Columbia County has trended decisively Republican in recent cycles, posting a 36-point margin in 2024, reflecting broader rural realignment across southern Arkansas's historically Democratic lowland communities.
The Democratic margin here reached ninety-three points in 1936. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved five points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was thirty-seven 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 $55,334 and a 21% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Union County and Webster Parish.
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.
Columbia County, Arkansas. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/05027/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More black belt counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Columbia County, Arkansas vote in 2024?
In 2024, Columbia County, Arkansas voted Republican by 36.5 points (R+37), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 7,940 votes cast, 2,466 went Democratic and 5,367 went Republican.
What is Columbia County, Arkansas's political typology?
Akashic places Columbia County, Arkansas 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 21 times, Republican 12 times, and other 1 times.
When did Columbia County, Arkansas last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Columbia County, Arkansas voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Columbia County, Arkansas?
Columbia County, Arkansas has a population of 22,349 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Columbia County, Arkansas?
Median household income in Columbia County, Arkansas is $55,334 — below the national median of $80,734. The Arkansas state median is $60,773.
What is the political history of Columbia County, Arkansas?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Columbia County, Arkansas from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 21 went Democratic and 12 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.