Pope County, Illinois: Farm Belt county. In 2024, voted R+60%. Republican peak: R+61 in 2016.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+60MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Farm BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 3,7392024 5-year
- Median household income
- $60,0502024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 88.9%2024 5-year
- Black
- 4.8%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.0%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+5 in 1992MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+61 in 2016MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Crawford County, MO · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Pope CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Pope 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 | No data |
| 1888 | No data |
| 1892 | −29.2% |
| 1896 | −26.4% |
| 1900 | −33.0% |
| 1904 | −42.0% |
| 1908 | −38.0% |
| 1912 | −18.1% |
| 1916 | −42.4% |
| 1920 | −56.0% |
| 1924 | −36.4% |
| 1928 | −49.0% |
| 1932 | −8.4% |
| 1936 | −23.3% |
| 1940 | −31.9% |
| 1944 | −47.2% |
| 1948 | −31.5% |
| 1952 | −35.2% |
| 1956 | −33.3% |
| 1960 | −26.9% |
| 1964 | −8.7% |
| 1968 | −25.4% |
| 1972 | −30.1% |
| 1976 | −5.1% |
| 1980 | −25.3% |
| 1984 | −24.3% |
| 1988 | −9.3% |
| 1992 | +4.6% |
| 1996 | +3.2% |
| 2000 | −18.0% |
| 2004 | −23.9% |
| 2008 | −22.3% |
| 2012 | −38.8% |
| 2016 | −60.8% |
| 2020 | −59.2% |
| 2024 | −60.1% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 416 | 1,698 | 2,133 | ||
| R | 433 | 1,722 | 2,176 | ||
| R | 375 | 1,678 | 2,142 | ||
| R | 650 | 1,512 | 2,222 | ||
| R | 845 | 1,343 | 2,231 | ||
| R | 918 | 1,500 | 2,436 | ||
| R | 927 | 1,346 | 2,330 | ||
| D | 915 | 850 | 2,054 | ||
| D | 1,063 | 951 | 2,411 | ||
| R | 996 | 1,202 | 2,208 | ||
| R | 940 | 1,545 | 2,492 | ||
| R | 880 | 1,501 | 2,455 | ||
| R | 1,070 | 1,187 | 2,275 | ||
| R | 773 | 1,440 | 2,218 | ||
| R | 732 | 1,307 | 2,268 | ||
| R | 1,117 | 1,329 | 2,446 | ||
| R | 971 | 1,689 | 2,665 | ||
| R | 922 | 1,842 | 2,765 | ||
| R | 933 | 1,947 | 2,883 | ||
| R | 916 | 1,764 | 2,696 | ||
| R | 813 | 2,305 | 3,158 | ||
| R | 1,499 | 2,914 | 4,430 | ||
| R | 1,728 | 2,787 | 4,548 | ||
| R | 1,697 | 2,011 | 3,732 | ||
| R | 679 | 2,004 | 2,706 | ||
| R | 978 | 2,161 | 3,249 | ||
| R | 687 | 2,486 | 3,211 | ||
| R | 1,158 | 2,924 | 4,164 | ||
| R | 664 | 1,099 | 2,399 | ||
| R | 748 | 1,706 | 2,518 | ||
| R | 676 | 1,744 | 2,543 | ||
| R | 908 | 1,817 | 2,752 | ||
| R | 1,074 | 1,852 | 2,942 | ||
| R | 816 | 1,629 | 2,785 | ||
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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
14.7%
English
11.9%
American
9.0%
Italian
2.1%
French
1.9%
Polish
1.2%
African American
3.8%
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: 53.9 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
$60,050
Pope County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Pope County$60,050
Illinois$83,390
United States$80,734
Pope 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
13.3%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1825.1%
Working age (18–64)10.6%
Seniors (65+)17.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.0%
speak English only
Spanish2.6%
Other Indo-European0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 65.6% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Tucked into the Shawnee Hills along the Ohio River, Pope County's roughly 4,400 residents have delivered Republican presidential margins exceeding 60 points, making it an extreme outlier in a state that trends reliably Democratic statewide.
The Republican margin here reached sixty-one points in 2016. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved one point toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was sixty points.
A population of 3,739, a 89% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $60,050 describe an agricultural county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Crawford County and Monroe 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.
Pope County, Illinois. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/17151/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More farm belt counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Pope County, Illinois vote in 2024?
In 2024, Pope County, Illinois voted Republican by 60.1 points (R+60), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 2,133 votes cast, 416 went Democratic and 1,698 went Republican.
What is Pope County, Illinois's political typology?
Akashic places Pope County, Illinois in the "Farm Belt" typology — Rural Plains and Midwest farm counties — Republican, with modest recent movement. 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 2 times, Republican 32 times, and other 0 times.
When did Pope County, Illinois last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Pope County, Illinois voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Pope County, Illinois?
Pope County, Illinois has a population of 3,739 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Pope County, Illinois?
Median household income in Pope County, Illinois is $60,050 — below the national median of $80,734. The Illinois state median is $83,390.
What is the political history of Pope County, Illinois?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Pope County, Illinois from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 2 went Democratic and 32 went Republican. The county's typology — "Farm Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.