Jefferson County, Arkansas: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted D+20%. Democratic peak: D+88 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+20MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 64,8022024 5-year
- Median household income
- $51,0962024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 37.1%2024 5-year
- Black
- 56.5%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.7%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+88 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+24 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Taliaferro County, GA · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Jefferson CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Jefferson 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 | +22.3% |
| 1896 | +21.9% |
| 1900 | −4.0% |
| 1904 | +6.7% |
| 1908 | +6.4% |
| 1912 | +34.4% |
| 1916 | +40.4% |
| 1920 | +42.9% |
| 1924 | +39.2% |
| 1928 | +17.6% |
| 1932 | +84.9% |
| 1936 | +87.5% |
| 1940 | +73.2% |
| 1944 | +44.3% |
| 1948 | +47.6% |
| 1952 | +16.7% |
| 1956 | +5.4% |
| 1960 | +23.6% |
| 1964 | +12.6% |
| 1968 | +17.7% |
| 1972 | −24.0% |
| 1976 | +44.7% |
| 1980 | +21.9% |
| 1984 | +10.8% |
| 1988 | +13.9% |
| 1992 | +45.1% |
| 1996 | +48.3% |
| 2000 | +32.9% |
| 2004 | +31.0% |
| 2008 | +26.3% |
| 2012 | +29.0% |
| 2016 | +25.8% |
| 2020 | +21.7% |
| 2024 | +20.1% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 12,802 | 8,468 | 21,608 | ||
| D | 14,981 | 9,521 | 25,158 | ||
| D | 15,772 | 9,250 | 25,318 | ||
| D | 17,470 | 9,520 | 27,383 | ||
| D | 18,465 | 10,655 | 29,689 | ||
| D | 19,675 | 10,218 | 30,493 | ||
| D | 17,716 | 8,765 | 27,201 | ||
| D | 19,701 | 6,330 | 27,677 | ||
| D | 21,819 | 7,525 | 31,692 | ||
| D | 16,664 | 12,520 | 29,752 | ||
| D | 18,082 | 14,514 | 32,909 | ||
| D | 17,292 | 10,697 | 30,046 | ||
| D | 21,001 | 8,034 | 29,035 | ||
| R | 10,346 | 16,888 | 27,260 | ||
| O | 9,125 | 4,860 | 24,038 | ||
| D | 12,872 | 9,968 | 22,969 | ||
| D | 8,442 | 4,839 | 15,235 | ||
| D | 6,426 | 5,743 | 12,558 | ||
| D | 8,300 | 5,925 | 14,252 | ||
| D | 5,086 | 1,176 | 8,214 | ||
| D | 4,095 | 1,578 | 5,676 | ||
| D | 3,829 | 587 | 4,429 | ||
| D | 3,414 | 224 | 3,645 | ||
| D | 5,248 | 419 | 5,690 | ||
| D | 2,611 | 1,830 | 4,450 | ||
| D | 1,950 | 707 | 3,172 | ||
| D | 2,670 | 1,048 | 3,783 | ||
| D | 2,173 | 923 | 3,096 | ||
| D | 1,659 | 579 | 3,137 | ||
| D | 1,585 | 1,386 | 3,125 | ||
| D | 1,520 | 1,324 | 2,943 | ||
| R | 1,363 | 1,477 | 2,844 | ||
| D | 1,653 | 1,050 | 2,750 | ||
| D | 1,784 | 1,092 | 3,100 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
8.0%
Irish
4.1%
American
4.0%
German
3.5%
Scottish
0.9%
Italian
0.5%
African American
45.2%
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: 39.7 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
$51,096
Jefferson County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Jefferson County$51,096
Arkansas$60,773
United States$80,734
Jefferson 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
18.6%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1823.8%
Working age (18–64)17.4%
Seniors (65+)13.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.9%
speak English only
Spanish1.9%
Other Indo-European0.7%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.3%
Other languages0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 30.6% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Jefferson County's electorate is majority African American, producing consistent double-digit Democratic margins in a state that otherwise trends heavily Republican. Pine Bluff, the county seat, is one of Arkansas's largest cities and drives turnout patterns across the region.
The Democratic margin here reached eighty-eight points in 1936. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved two points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was twenty 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 $51,096 and a 19% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Taliaferro County and Phillips 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.
Jefferson County, Arkansas. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/05069/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More black belt counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Jefferson County, Arkansas vote in 2024?
In 2024, Jefferson County, Arkansas voted Democratic by 20.1 points (D+20), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 21,608 votes cast, 12,802 went Democratic and 8,468 went Republican.
What is Jefferson County, Arkansas's political typology?
Akashic places Jefferson 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 31 times, Republican 2 times, and other 1 times.
When did Jefferson County, Arkansas last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Jefferson County, Arkansas voted Republican was 1972.
How many people live in Jefferson County, Arkansas?
Jefferson County, Arkansas has a population of 64,802 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Jefferson County, Arkansas?
Median household income in Jefferson County, Arkansas is $51,096 — below the national median of $80,734. The Arkansas state median is $60,773.
What is the political history of Jefferson County, Arkansas?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Jefferson County, Arkansas from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 31 went Democratic and 2 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.