Alexander County, Illinois: Appalachian Realigners county. In 2024, voted R+19%. Democratic peak: D+36 in 1996.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+19MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Appalachian RealignersAkashic typology
- Population
- 4,8752024 5-year
- Median household income
- $47,0432024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 63.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 33.1%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 0.7%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+36 in 1996MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+30 in 1904MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Quitman County, GA · similarity 0.97
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Alexander CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Alexander County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
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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 | −10.0% |
| 1896 | −21.3% |
| 1900 | −22.4% |
| 1904 | −29.9% |
| 1908 | −29.7% |
| 1912 | −1.4% |
| 1916 | −15.3% |
| 1920 | −24.8% |
| 1924 | −23.8% |
| 1928 | −22.8% |
| 1932 | +8.8% |
| 1936 | +11.2% |
| 1940 | +2.5% |
| 1944 | −0.3% |
| 1948 | +0.9% |
| 1952 | −9.6% |
| 1956 | −3.0% |
| 1960 | +3.9% |
| 1964 | +24.4% |
| 1968 | +5.6% |
| 1972 | −19.1% |
| 1976 | +15.9% |
| 1980 | +4.8% |
| 1984 | +5.5% |
| 1988 | +15.8% |
| 1992 | +29.0% |
| 1996 | +35.8% |
| 2000 | +19.1% |
| 2004 | +4.8% |
| 2008 | +12.6% |
| 2012 | +13.7% |
| 2016 | −8.3% |
| 2020 | −14.2% |
| 2024 | −19.2% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 904 | 1,341 | 2,271 | ||
| R | 1,114 | 1,486 | 2,621 | ||
| R | 1,262 | 1,496 | 2,820 | ||
| D | 1,965 | 1,487 | 3,501 | ||
| D | 2,189 | 1,692 | 3,937 | ||
| D | 2,016 | 1,831 | 3,873 | ||
| D | 2,357 | 1,588 | 4,022 | ||
| D | 2,753 | 1,212 | 4,304 | ||
| D | 2,566 | 1,301 | 4,362 | ||
| D | 2,693 | 1,954 | 4,663 | ||
| D | 2,872 | 2,574 | 5,467 | ||
| D | 2,925 | 2,650 | 5,678 | ||
| D | 3,246 | 2,349 | 5,658 | ||
| R | 2,482 | 3,669 | 6,209 | ||
| D | 2,929 | 2,540 | 6,934 | ||
| D | 4,763 | 2,895 | 7,658 | ||
| D | 4,477 | 4,143 | 8,638 | ||
| R | 4,167 | 4,425 | 8,613 | ||
| R | 4,305 | 5,219 | 9,553 | ||
| D | 4,641 | 4,561 | 9,298 | ||
| R | 4,767 | 4,792 | 9,637 | ||
| D | 6,591 | 6,260 | 12,988 | ||
| D | 6,972 | 5,553 | 12,653 | ||
| D | 5,653 | 4,729 | 10,533 | ||
| R | 3,558 | 5,666 | 9,252 | ||
| R | 2,639 | 4,465 | 7,685 | ||
| R | 3,167 | 5,287 | 8,539 | ||
| R | 3,940 | 5,395 | 9,498 | ||
| R | 1,936 | 2,003 | 4,793 | ||
| R | 2,027 | 3,790 | 5,936 | ||
| R | 1,686 | 3,203 | 5,075 | ||
| R | 1,760 | 2,790 | 4,592 | ||
| R | 1,813 | 2,802 | 4,643 | ||
| R | 1,674 | 2,053 | 3,807 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
16.8%
Irish
7.0%
English
6.7%
American
4.9%
Scottish
1.2%
French
0.6%
African American
26.5%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
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: 48.0 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
$47,043
Alexander County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Alexander County$47,043
Illinois$83,390
United States$80,734
Alexander County ranks in the bottom 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
19.0%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1826.6%
Working age (18–64)17.3%
Seniors (65+)14.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
99.7%
speak English only
Spanish0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 56.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Alexander County, anchored by Cairo at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, has undergone one of Illinois's most dramatic partisan realignments, moving from reliably Democratic to Republican-leaning as its population fell by nearly half since 2000.
The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin peaked at thirty-six points in 1996 and narrowed across the late twentieth century. The 2016 election carried the county to the Republican party for the first time in many years, by eight points. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved five points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was nineteen points.
The economic context is severe: a median household income of $47,043 — among the lowest at this geographic scale — and a 19% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Quitman County and Bay 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.
Alexander County, Illinois. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/17003/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More appalachian realigners counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Alexander County, Illinois vote in 2024?
In 2024, Alexander County, Illinois voted Republican by 19.2 points (R+19), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 2,271 votes cast, 904 went Democratic and 1,341 went Republican.
What is Alexander County, Illinois's political typology?
Akashic places Alexander County, Illinois in the "Appalachian Realigners" typology — Lower-income counties of Greater Appalachia — a long, deep arc from Democratic to 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 17 times, Republican 17 times, and other 0 times.
When did Alexander County, Illinois last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Alexander County, Illinois voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Alexander County, Illinois?
Alexander County, Illinois has a population of 4,875 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Alexander County, Illinois?
Median household income in Alexander County, Illinois is $47,043 — below the national median of $80,734. The Illinois state median is $83,390.
What is the political history of Alexander County, Illinois?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Alexander County, Illinois from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 17 went Democratic and 17 went Republican. The county's typology — "Appalachian Realigners" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.