Costilla County, Colorado: New American county. In 2024, voted D+15%. Republican peak: R+63 in 1892.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+15MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 3,6072024 5-year
- Median household income
- $36,8612024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 44.2%2024 5-year
- Black
- 2.5%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 54.7%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+62 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+63 in 1892MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Charles City County, VA · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Costilla CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Costilla 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 | +6.3% |
| 1884 | −1.4% |
| 1888 | −13.8% |
| 1892 | −63.4% |
| 1896 | +47.3% |
| 1900 | −31.9% |
| 1904 | −28.4% |
| 1908 | −30.2% |
| 1912 | −25.9% |
| 1916 | +26.9% |
| 1920 | −1.8% |
| 1924 | −5.8% |
| 1928 | +23.5% |
| 1932 | +34.7% |
| 1936 | +23.5% |
| 1940 | +20.3% |
| 1944 | +25.6% |
| 1948 | +25.4% |
| 1952 | +12.2% |
| 1956 | +13.2% |
| 1960 | +35.7% |
| 1964 | +62.0% |
| 1968 | +30.8% |
| 1972 | +9.9% |
| 1976 | +44.1% |
| 1980 | +34.6% |
| 1984 | +23.1% |
| 1988 | +42.1% |
| 1992 | +46.4% |
| 1996 | +50.9% |
| 2000 | +33.4% |
| 2004 | +34.3% |
| 2008 | +48.9% |
| 2012 | +48.7% |
| 2016 | +29.1% |
| 2020 | +27.2% |
| 2024 | +14.7% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 1,155 | 850 | 2,080 | ||
| D | 1,311 | 741 | 2,094 | ||
| D | 1,125 | 588 | 1,848 | ||
| D | 1,340 | 446 | 1,837 | ||
| D | 1,245 | 415 | 1,697 | ||
| D | 1,170 | 566 | 1,760 | ||
| D | 1,054 | 504 | 1,648 | ||
| D | 1,168 | 333 | 1,641 | ||
| D | 1,180 | 366 | 1,753 | ||
| D | 1,120 | 454 | 1,581 | ||
| D | 997 | 621 | 1,631 | ||
| D | 1,036 | 489 | 1,583 | ||
| D | 1,033 | 392 | 1,454 | ||
| D | 744 | 602 | 1,428 | ||
| D | 933 | 477 | 1,482 | ||
| D | 1,284 | 299 | 1,589 | ||
| D | 1,351 | 637 | 2,001 | ||
| D | 1,256 | 958 | 2,254 | ||
| D | 1,369 | 1,070 | 2,447 | ||
| D | 1,563 | 921 | 2,532 | ||
| D | 1,515 | 896 | 2,416 | ||
| D | 1,698 | 1,121 | 2,845 | ||
| D | 1,518 | 930 | 2,504 | ||
| D | 1,475 | 707 | 2,215 | ||
| D | 1,070 | 657 | 1,760 | ||
| R | 665 | 755 | 1,561 | ||
| R | 750 | 778 | 1,571 | ||
| D | 1,028 | 579 | 1,671 | ||
| R | 567 | 1,072 | 1,947 | ||
| R | 559 | 1,051 | 1,627 | ||
| R | 506 | 917 | 1,445 | ||
| R | 453 | 884 | 1,351 | ||
| D | 1,052 | 374 | 1,434 | ||
| R | 0 | 526 | 829 | ||
| R | 383 | 507 | 898 | ||
| R | 484 | 498 | 982 | ||
| D | 379 | 334 | 713 | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
9.9%
Irish
6.3%
English
6.2%
American
2.9%
French
2.4%
Polish
1.9%
Scottish
1.3%
African American
2.0%
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: 50.5 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
$36,861
Costilla County ranks in the bottom 5% of US counties.
Costilla County$36,861
Colorado$95,470
United States$80,734
Costilla County ranks in the bottom 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
21.0%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1818.5%
Working age (18–64)22.9%
Seniors (65+)13.2%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
70.8%
speak English only
Spanish27.8%
Other Indo-European0.7%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.6%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 63.8% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Despite sparse population and an agricultural economy centered on the upper Rio Grande, Costilla County has returned double-digit Democratic margins in recent cycles, driven largely by a majority-Hispanic electorate with deep multigenerational roots in the region.
Costilla County has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of sixty-two points in 1964. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved thirteen 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 44% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $36,861, and a population of 3,607. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Charles City County and Rio Arriba 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.
Costilla County, Colorado. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/08023/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Costilla County, Colorado vote in 2024?
In 2024, Costilla County, Colorado voted Democratic by 14.7 points (D+15), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 2,080 votes cast, 1,155 went Democratic and 850 went Republican.
What is Costilla County, Colorado's political typology?
Akashic places Costilla County, Colorado 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 28 times, Republican 9 times, and other 0 times.
When did Costilla County, Colorado last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Costilla County, Colorado voted Republican was 1924.
How many people live in Costilla County, Colorado?
Costilla County, Colorado has a population of 3,607 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Costilla County, Colorado?
Median household income in Costilla County, Colorado is $36,861 — below the national median of $80,734. The Colorado state median is $95,470.
What is the political history of Costilla County, Colorado?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Costilla County, Colorado from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 28 went Democratic and 9 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.