Imperial County, California: New American county. In 2024, voted R+1%. Democratic peak: D+42 in 2016.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+1MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 180,2022024 5-year
- Median household income
- $57,6812024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 19.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 2.2%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 86.0%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+42 in 2016MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+39 in 1924MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Miami-Dade County, FL · similarity 0.94
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Imperial CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Imperial 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 | No data |
| 1896 | No data |
| 1900 | No data |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | −12.3% |
| 1912 | +38.5% |
| 1916 | +8.7% |
| 1920 | −36.8% |
| 1924 | −39.2% |
| 1928 | −36.6% |
| 1932 | +38.3% |
| 1936 | +22.4% |
| 1940 | +5.9% |
| 1944 | −8.0% |
| 1948 | −7.8% |
| 1952 | −24.4% |
| 1956 | −12.4% |
| 1960 | −7.5% |
| 1964 | +3.8% |
| 1968 | −16.3% |
| 1972 | −27.1% |
| 1976 | −1.8% |
| 1980 | −19.0% |
| 1984 | −25.1% |
| 1988 | −11.3% |
| 1992 | +5.3% |
| 1996 | +18.5% |
| 2000 | +10.2% |
| 2004 | +6.1% |
| 2008 | +26.2% |
| 2012 | +32.0% |
| 2016 | +41.5% |
| 2020 | +24.4% |
| 2024 | −0.9% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 26,083 | 26,546 | 54,025 | ||
| D | 34,678 | 20,847 | 56,743 | ||
| D | 32,667 | 12,704 | 48,091 | ||
| D | 25,136 | 12,777 | 38,565 | ||
| D | 24,162 | 14,008 | 38,820 | ||
| D | 17,964 | 15,890 | 34,274 | ||
| D | 15,489 | 12,524 | 28,937 | ||
| D | 14,591 | 9,705 | 26,400 | ||
| D | 11,109 | 9,759 | 25,318 | ||
| R | 10,243 | 12,889 | 23,365 | ||
| R | 8,237 | 13,829 | 22,301 | ||
| R | 7,961 | 12,068 | 21,579 | ||
| R | 10,244 | 10,618 | 21,262 | ||
| R | 7,982 | 14,178 | 22,849 | ||
| R | 7,481 | 10,818 | 20,446 | ||
| D | 11,143 | 10,330 | 21,492 | ||
| R | 9,119 | 10,606 | 19,806 | ||
| R | 8,197 | 10,526 | 18,781 | ||
| R | 6,333 | 10,462 | 16,903 | ||
| R | 5,301 | 6,217 | 11,810 | ||
| R | 5,085 | 5,979 | 11,112 | ||
| D | 7,728 | 6,854 | 14,712 | ||
| D | 7,560 | 4,771 | 12,444 | ||
| D | 8,772 | 3,783 | 13,039 | ||
| R | 2,486 | 5,417 | 8,012 | ||
| R | 759 | 3,455 | 6,872 | ||
| R | 2,022 | 4,699 | 7,284 | ||
| D | 3,273 | 2,694 | 6,659 | ||
| O | 1,295 | 0 | 3,367 | ||
| R | 675 | 909 | 1,908 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
2.1%
German
1.7%
Irish
1.7%
American
1.5%
Italian
0.7%
African American
1.8%
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: 33.2 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
$57,681
Imperial County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Imperial County$57,681
California$99,122
United States$80,734
Imperial County ranks near the middle 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
19.5%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1824.6%
Working age (18–64)17.2%
Seniors (65+)19.7%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
24.7%
speak English only
Spanish74.0%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.8%
Other Indo-European0.2%
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 13.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Imperial County sits along the U.S.-Mexico border with a majority-Latino electorate and an economy anchored by agriculture, yet its presidential margin has narrowed dramatically over the past decade, landing at R+0.9 in 2024.
Imperial County has leaned Republican in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of forty-two points in 2016. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved twenty-five points toward the Republican candidate — part of the sharpest rightward shift recorded among any group of places in the country.
Its demographics describe the shift: a 20% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $57,681, and a population of 180,202. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Miami-Dade County and Passaic 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.
Imperial County, California. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/06025/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in California
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Frequently asked questions
How did Imperial County, California vote in 2024?
In 2024, Imperial County, California voted Republican by 0.9 points (R+1), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 54,025 votes cast, 26,083 went Democratic and 26,546 went Republican.
What is Imperial County, California's political typology?
Akashic places Imperial County, California in the "New American" typology — Communities where a large share of households speak a language other than English — multilingual, Democratic-leaning overall, yet the hardest-swinging bloc toward the Republican Party in 2024. 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 13 times, Republican 16 times, and other 1 times.
When did Imperial County, California last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Imperial County, California voted Democratic was 2020.
How many people live in Imperial County, California?
Imperial County, California has a population of 180,202 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Imperial County, California?
Median household income in Imperial County, California is $57,681 — below the national median of $80,734. The California state median is $99,122.
What is the political history of Imperial County, California?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Imperial County, California from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 13 went Democratic and 16 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.