Sierra County, California: Sunbelt Conservative county. In 2024, voted R+24%. Democratic peak: D+54 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+24MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Sunbelt ConservativeAkashic typology
- Population
- 2,7462024 5-year
- Median household income
- $63,3552024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 86.4%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.3%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 11.0%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+54 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+50 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Plumas County, CA · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Sierra CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Sierra 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 | −28.6% |
| 1880 | −27.9% |
| 1884 | −31.2% |
| 1888 | −18.6% |
| 1892 | −18.8% |
| 1896 | −14.4% |
| 1900 | −23.1% |
| 1904 | −34.1% |
| 1908 | −17.5% |
| 1912 | +44.5% |
| 1916 | +23.0% |
| 1920 | −49.6% |
| 1924 | −28.6% |
| 1928 | −4.2% |
| 1932 | +43.9% |
| 1936 | +53.9% |
| 1940 | +34.6% |
| 1944 | +19.7% |
| 1948 | +9.1% |
| 1952 | −6.7% |
| 1956 | −1.4% |
| 1960 | +5.8% |
| 1964 | +33.4% |
| 1968 | +0.9% |
| 1972 | +2.2% |
| 1976 | +10.2% |
| 1980 | −11.9% |
| 1984 | −15.7% |
| 1988 | −4.1% |
| 1992 | −2.0% |
| 1996 | −17.8% |
| 2000 | −34.2% |
| 2004 | −31.0% |
| 2008 | −20.8% |
| 2012 | −22.4% |
| 2016 | −24.1% |
| 2020 | −21.2% |
| 2024 | −24.2% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 641 | 1,066 | 1,755 | ||
| R | 730 | 1,142 | 1,947 | ||
| R | 601 | 1,048 | 1,858 | ||
| R | 653 | 1,056 | 1,799 | ||
| R | 743 | 1,158 | 1,991 | ||
| R | 646 | 1,249 | 1,948 | ||
| R | 540 | 1,172 | 1,847 | ||
| R | 573 | 877 | 1,707 | ||
| R | 653 | 691 | 1,875 | ||
| R | 791 | 860 | 1,696 | ||
| R | 781 | 1,078 | 1,896 | ||
| R | 651 | 855 | 1,718 | ||
| D | 841 | 680 | 1,576 | ||
| D | 658 | 629 | 1,324 | ||
| D | 559 | 548 | 1,193 | ||
| D | 828 | 413 | 1,241 | ||
| D | 647 | 576 | 1,231 | ||
| R | 620 | 638 | 1,262 | ||
| R | 632 | 723 | 1,363 | ||
| D | 660 | 546 | 1,258 | ||
| D | 662 | 443 | 1,110 | ||
| D | 1,057 | 511 | 1,578 | ||
| D | 1,152 | 340 | 1,507 | ||
| D | 796 | 292 | 1,147 | ||
| R | 420 | 457 | 887 | ||
| O | 73 | 276 | 709 | ||
| R | 158 | 506 | 701 | ||
| D | 594 | 360 | 1,018 | ||
| O | 515 | 0 | 1,158 | ||
| R | 410 | 600 | 1,083 | ||
| R | 376 | 791 | 1,216 | ||
| R | 436 | 702 | 1,151 | ||
| R | 527 | 707 | 1,249 | ||
| R | 529 | 787 | 1,370 | ||
| R | 689 | 1,004 | 1,695 | ||
| R | 554 | 1,064 | 1,634 | ||
| R | 559 | 997 | 1,568 | ||
| R | 509 | 917 | 1,426 |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
13.0%
Irish
12.0%
English
9.9%
American
4.5%
Italian
2.9%
Scottish
2.3%
French
1.6%
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
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: 54.7 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
$63,355
Sierra County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Sierra County$63,355
California$99,122
United States$80,734
Sierra 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
4.4%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 180.0%
Working age (18–64)1.5%
Seniors (65+)21.6%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
90.3%
speak English only
Spanish9.7%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 80.8% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Sierra County's roughly 3,500 residents — many tied to ranching, timber, and recreation in the northern Sierra Nevada — have backed Republican presidential candidates by double-digit margins for decades, making it a consistent outlier within a heavily Democratic state.
The Republican margin here reached fifty points in 1920. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved three points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was twenty-four points.
A median household income of $63,355, a 86% non-Hispanic-white share, and a population of 2,746 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Plumas County and Wallowa 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.
Sierra County, California. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/06091/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in California
More sunbelt conservative counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Sierra County, California vote in 2024?
In 2024, Sierra County, California voted Republican by 24.2 points (R+24), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 1,755 votes cast, 641 went Democratic and 1,066 went Republican.
What is Sierra County, California's political typology?
Akashic places Sierra County, California in the "Sunbelt Conservative" typology — Affluent, predominantly white Sunbelt counties — reliably Republican. 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 11 times, Republican 25 times, and other 2 times.
When did Sierra County, California last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Sierra County, California voted Democratic was 1976.
How many people live in Sierra County, California?
Sierra County, California has a population of 2,746 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Sierra County, California?
Median household income in Sierra County, California is $63,355 — below the national median of $80,734. The California state median is $99,122.
What is the political history of Sierra County, California?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Sierra County, California from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 11 went Democratic and 25 went Republican. The county's typology — "Sunbelt Conservative" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.