Polk County, Florida: New American county. In 2024, voted R+21%. Democratic peak: D+85 in 1884.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+21MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 790,6942024 5-year
- Median household income
- $65,9782024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 55.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 14.6%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 29.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+85 in 1884MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+57 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Brevard County, FL · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Polk CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Polk 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 | +84.8% |
| 1888 | No data |
| 1892 | +81.9% |
| 1896 | +57.8% |
| 1900 | +68.8% |
| 1904 | +69.7% |
| 1908 | +53.5% |
| 1912 | +66.4% |
| 1916 | +59.0% |
| 1920 | +35.9% |
| 1924 | +29.1% |
| 1928 | −23.3% |
| 1932 | +46.1% |
| 1936 | +43.0% |
| 1940 | +52.1% |
| 1944 | +43.7% |
| 1948 | +19.0% |
| 1952 | −3.3% |
| 1956 | −12.0% |
| 1960 | −14.6% |
| 1964 | −10.0% |
| 1968 | −15.9% |
| 1972 | −57.2% |
| 1976 | +3.3% |
| 1980 | −15.4% |
| 1984 | −40.7% |
| 1988 | −33.5% |
| 1992 | −9.9% |
| 1996 | −0.8% |
| 2000 | −9.0% |
| 2004 | −17.8% |
| 2008 | −6.1% |
| 2012 | −6.8% |
| 2016 | −14.1% |
| 2020 | −14.4% |
| 2024 | −20.7% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 136,848 | 209,030 | 348,883 | ||
| R | 145,049 | 194,586 | 343,256 | ||
| R | 117,433 | 157,430 | 284,314 | ||
| R | 114,622 | 131,577 | 248,683 | ||
| R | 113,865 | 128,878 | 244,833 | ||
| R | 86,009 | 123,559 | 210,830 | ||
| R | 75,207 | 90,310 | 168,629 | ||
| R | 66,747 | 67,962 | 150,173 | ||
| R | 51,450 | 65,963 | 145,900 | ||
| R | 38,249 | 77,104 | 116,040 | ||
| R | 35,516 | 84,246 | 119,784 | ||
| R | 43,327 | 59,651 | 106,315 | ||
| D | 47,286 | 44,238 | 92,706 | ||
| R | 16,419 | 60,748 | 77,460 | ||
| O | 15,898 | 27,839 | 75,277 | ||
| R | 29,355 | 35,906 | 65,261 | ||
| R | 23,546 | 31,618 | 55,164 | ||
| R | 18,626 | 23,682 | 42,308 | ||
| R | 19,556 | 20,874 | 40,430 | ||
| D | 12,034 | 7,692 | 22,892 | ||
| D | 13,152 | 5,150 | 18,302 | ||
| D | 17,690 | 5,564 | 23,254 | ||
| D | 10,441 | 4,164 | 14,605 | ||
| D | 9,463 | 3,490 | 12,953 | ||
| R | 4,576 | 7,460 | 12,386 | ||
| D | 3,070 | 1,530 | 5,296 | ||
| D | 3,918 | 1,782 | 5,949 | ||
| D | 2,574 | 578 | 3,381 | ||
| D | 1,520 | 106 | 2,128 | ||
| D | 1,251 | 290 | 1,797 | ||
| D | 869 | 125 | 1,067 | ||
| D | 983 | 133 | 1,235 | ||
| D | 1,155 | 279 | 1,515 | ||
| D | 869 | 0 | 1,061 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| D | 755 | 62 | 817 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
10.6%
German
8.2%
English
8.0%
Irish
6.8%
Italian
3.7%
Polish
1.5%
French
1.4%
African American
11.7%
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: 39.5 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
$65,978
Polk County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Polk County$65,978
Florida$74,568
United States$80,734
Polk 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
14.5%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1821.3%
Working age (18–64)12.6%
Seniors (65+)12.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
72.2%
speak English only
Spanish23.1%
Other Indo-European3.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.9%
Other languages0.5%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 58.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Polk sits between Tampa and Orlando but votes more like rural Florida, with its mix of agricultural towns, phosphate industry workers, and fast-growing exurban subdivisions producing a 20-point Republican margin in 2024.
Polk County has leaned Republican in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of eighty-five points in 1884. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved six 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 56% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $65,978, and a population of 790,694. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Brevard County and Manatee 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.
Polk County, Florida. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/12105/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Polk County, Florida vote in 2024?
In 2024, Polk County, Florida voted Republican by 20.7 points (R+21), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 348,883 votes cast, 136,848 went Democratic and 209,030 went Republican.
What is Polk County, Florida's political typology?
Akashic places Polk County, Florida 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 16 times, Republican 18 times, and other 1 times.
When did Polk County, Florida last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Polk County, Florida voted Democratic was 1976.
How many people live in Polk County, Florida?
Polk County, Florida has a population of 790,694 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Polk County, Florida?
Median household income in Polk County, Florida is $65,978 — below the national median of $80,734. The Florida state median is $74,568.
What is the political history of Polk County, Florida?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Polk County, Florida from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 16 went Democratic and 18 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.