Franklin County, Illinois: Appalachian Realigners county. In 2024, voted R+51%. Republican peak: R+51 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+51MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Appalachian RealignersAkashic typology
- Population
- 37,3232024 5-year
- Median household income
- $56,7402024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 94.7%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.0%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+34 in 1992MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+51 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Lawrence County, PA · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Franklin CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Franklin 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 | +4.1% |
| 1896 | +4.5% |
| 1900 | +2.5% |
| 1904 | −6.6% |
| 1908 | −2.6% |
| 1912 | +5.8% |
| 1916 | +0.4% |
| 1920 | −18.2% |
| 1924 | −5.8% |
| 1928 | +6.8% |
| 1932 | +30.9% |
| 1936 | +17.1% |
| 1940 | +9.0% |
| 1944 | +1.2% |
| 1948 | +10.9% |
| 1952 | +1.1% |
| 1956 | −2.0% |
| 1960 | −2.1% |
| 1964 | +28.1% |
| 1968 | +5.0% |
| 1972 | −8.4% |
| 1976 | +26.6% |
| 1980 | −1.5% |
| 1984 | +5.0% |
| 1988 | +17.8% |
| 1992 | +33.7% |
| 1996 | +25.7% |
| 2000 | +8.9% |
| 2004 | −8.1% |
| 2008 | −2.8% |
| 2012 | −16.8% |
| 2016 | −44.8% |
| 2020 | −47.5% |
| 2024 | −50.5% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 4,257 | 13,200 | 17,692 | ||
| R | 4,760 | 13,622 | 18,669 | ||
| R | 4,727 | 13,116 | 18,711 | ||
| R | 7,254 | 10,267 | 17,914 | ||
| R | 8,880 | 9,404 | 18,641 | ||
| R | 8,816 | 10,388 | 19,352 | ||
| D | 10,201 | 8,490 | 19,212 | ||
| D | 9,814 | 5,354 | 17,358 | ||
| D | 12,744 | 5,504 | 21,481 | ||
| D | 11,023 | 7,677 | 18,783 | ||
| D | 10,667 | 9,656 | 20,377 | ||
| R | 9,425 | 9,731 | 19,856 | ||
| D | 12,818 | 7,420 | 20,324 | ||
| R | 8,545 | 10,121 | 18,729 | ||
| D | 10,095 | 9,036 | 21,074 | ||
| D | 13,581 | 7,620 | 21,201 | ||
| R | 11,368 | 11,861 | 23,266 | ||
| R | 11,308 | 11,761 | 23,069 | ||
| D | 11,981 | 11,723 | 23,766 | ||
| D | 11,750 | 9,407 | 21,444 | ||
| D | 11,663 | 11,377 | 23,213 | ||
| D | 15,523 | 12,936 | 28,660 | ||
| D | 15,254 | 10,708 | 26,625 | ||
| D | 14,754 | 7,560 | 23,290 | ||
| D | 11,369 | 9,900 | 21,622 | ||
| R | 5,791 | 6,779 | 17,121 | ||
| R | 4,894 | 7,608 | 14,886 | ||
| D | 6,419 | 6,371 | 13,608 | ||
| D | 2,435 | 2,098 | 5,809 | ||
| R | 2,401 | 2,539 | 5,233 | ||
| R | 1,801 | 2,077 | 4,151 | ||
| D | 2,226 | 2,117 | 4,411 | ||
| D | 2,233 | 2,038 | 4,297 | ||
| D | 1,782 | 1,631 | 3,686 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
15.8%
German
14.4%
Irish
11.8%
American
8.2%
Italian
5.2%
Polish
2.6%
Scottish
2.1%
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: 43.4 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
$56,740
Franklin County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Franklin County$56,740
Illinois$83,390
United States$80,734
Franklin 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
17.5%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1823.8%
Working age (18–64)16.1%
Seniors (65+)12.7%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.3%
speak English only
Spanish1.2%
Other Indo-European1.0%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.3%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 52.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Franklin County, anchored by the former coal-mining hub of Benton, has shifted sharply toward Republican presidential candidates over the past two decades as the regional economy moved away from extraction industries, producing some of the state's widest partisan gaps.
The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin peaked at thirty-four points in 1992 and narrowed across the late twentieth century. The 2004 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 three points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was fifty-one points.
The economic context is severe: a median household income of $56,740 — among the lowest at this geographic scale — and a 18% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Lawrence County and Muhlenberg 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.
Franklin County, Illinois. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/17055/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Franklin County, Illinois vote in 2024?
In 2024, Franklin County, Illinois voted Republican by 50.5 points (R+51), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 17,692 votes cast, 4,257 went Democratic and 13,200 went Republican.
What is Franklin County, Illinois's political typology?
Akashic places Franklin 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 20 times, Republican 14 times, and other 0 times.
When did Franklin County, Illinois last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Franklin County, Illinois voted Democratic was 2000.
How many people live in Franklin County, Illinois?
Franklin County, Illinois has a population of 37,323 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Franklin County, Illinois?
Median household income in Franklin County, Illinois is $56,740 — below the national median of $80,734. The Illinois state median is $83,390.
What is the political history of Franklin County, Illinois?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Franklin County, Illinois from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 20 went Democratic and 14 went Republican. The county's typology — "Appalachian Realigners" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.