La Plata County, Colorado: Realigning Affluent Suburb county. In 2024, voted D+19%. Democratic peak: D+93 in 1896.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+19MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Realigning Affluent SuburbAkashic typology
- Population
- 56,3312024 5-year
- Median household income
- $86,0562024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 81.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.2%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 12.9%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+93 in 1896MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+36 in 1984MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Mono County, CA · similarity 0.96
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of La Plata CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for La Plata 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 | +14.2% |
| 1884 | −6.6% |
| 1888 | −4.5% |
| 1892 | −33.6% |
| 1896 | +93.3% |
| 1900 | +34.1% |
| 1904 | −8.4% |
| 1908 | +16.6% |
| 1912 | +30.4% |
| 1916 | +41.1% |
| 1920 | −7.9% |
| 1924 | +1.1% |
| 1928 | −20.3% |
| 1932 | +18.7% |
| 1936 | +12.3% |
| 1940 | −15.4% |
| 1944 | −19.6% |
| 1948 | −3.7% |
| 1952 | −33.1% |
| 1956 | −33.7% |
| 1960 | −17.8% |
| 1964 | +11.1% |
| 1968 | −23.4% |
| 1972 | −31.3% |
| 1976 | −22.6% |
| 1980 | −34.9% |
| 1984 | −36.2% |
| 1988 | −17.0% |
| 1992 | +2.5% |
| 1996 | −8.9% |
| 2000 | −10.4% |
| 2004 | +6.7% |
| 2008 | +16.3% |
| 2012 | +9.2% |
| 2016 | +9.4% |
| 2020 | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +18.6% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 20,677 | 14,024 | 35,692 | ||
| D | 20,548 | 14,233 | 35,667 | ||
| D | 15,525 | 12,587 | 31,150 | ||
| D | 15,489 | 12,794 | 29,308 | ||
| D | 16,057 | 11,503 | 27,979 | ||
| D | 13,409 | 11,704 | 25,513 | ||
| R | 7,864 | 9,993 | 20,490 | ||
| R | 6,509 | 8,057 | 17,321 | ||
| D | 5,913 | 5,522 | 15,613 | ||
| R | 5,443 | 7,714 | 13,362 | ||
| R | 4,040 | 8,719 | 12,918 | ||
| R | 3,034 | 7,291 | 12,201 | ||
| R | 3,843 | 6,228 | 10,547 | ||
| R | 2,830 | 5,691 | 9,144 | ||
| R | 2,523 | 4,269 | 7,476 | ||
| D | 4,442 | 3,550 | 8,007 | ||
| R | 3,329 | 4,772 | 8,111 | ||
| R | 2,366 | 4,770 | 7,140 | ||
| R | 2,210 | 4,425 | 6,701 | ||
| R | 2,536 | 2,735 | 5,360 | ||
| R | 2,031 | 3,023 | 5,069 | ||
| R | 2,835 | 3,871 | 6,745 | ||
| D | 3,040 | 2,354 | 5,579 | ||
| D | 3,156 | 2,124 | 5,517 | ||
| R | 1,872 | 2,837 | 4,762 | ||
| D | 1,516 | 1,469 | 4,182 | ||
| R | 1,445 | 1,711 | 3,365 | ||
| D | 2,590 | 1,029 | 3,801 | ||
| D | 1,775 | 692 | 3,560 | ||
| D | 2,004 | 1,381 | 3,753 | ||
| R | 1,458 | 1,745 | 3,413 | ||
| D | 1,844 | 900 | 2,769 | ||
| D | 2,729 | 91 | 2,826 | ||
| O | 0 | 545 | 1,623 | ||
| R | 774 | 849 | 1,661 | ||
| R | 629 | 722 | 1,415 | ||
| D | 345 | 259 | 604 | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
19.3%
Irish
15.0%
English
14.8%
Scottish
4.6%
Italian
4.5%
American
3.0%
French
2.5%
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: 43.2 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
$86,056
La Plata County ranks in the top 25% of US counties.
La Plata County$86,056
Colorado$95,470
United States$80,734
La Plata County ranks in the top 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
11.7%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1815.9%
Working age (18–64)11.0%
Seniors (65+)8.4%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
92.5%
speak English only
Spanish4.7%
Other Indo-European1.3%
Other languages1.1%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.5%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 70.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
La Plata County, anchored by Durango and Fort Lewis College, has shifted steadily toward Democratic margins over the past decade, hitting D+18.6 in 2024 despite sitting in a region where surrounding rural counties lean heavily the other way.
Once reliably Republican — a margin of thirty-six points in 1984 at its widest — La Plata County has trended Democratic. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved one point toward the Democratic candidate; the 2024 margin was nineteen points.
A median household income of $86,056 — among the higher at this geographic scale — and a population of 56,331 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Mono County and Teton 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.
La Plata County, Colorado. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/08067/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did La Plata County, Colorado vote in 2024?
In 2024, La Plata County, Colorado voted Democratic by 18.6 points (D+19), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 35,692 votes cast, 20,677 went Democratic and 14,024 went Republican.
What is La Plata County, Colorado's political typology?
Akashic places La Plata County, Colorado in the "Realigning Affluent Suburb" typology — College-educated, affluent suburbs — the one bloc moving toward the Democratic Party. 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 17 times, Republican 19 times, and other 1 times.
When did La Plata County, Colorado last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which La Plata County, Colorado voted Republican was 2000.
How many people live in La Plata County, Colorado?
La Plata County, Colorado has a population of 56,331 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in La Plata County, Colorado?
Median household income in La Plata County, Colorado is $86,056 — above the national median of $80,734. The Colorado state median is $95,470.
What is the political history of La Plata County, Colorado?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in La Plata County, Colorado from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 17 went Democratic and 19 went Republican. The county's typology — "Realigning Affluent Suburb" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.