Douglas County, Kansas: Realigning Affluent Suburb county. In 2024, voted D+38%. Republican peak: R+58 in 1928.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+38MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Realigning Affluent SuburbAkashic typology
- Population
- 120,3022024 5-year
- Median household income
- $69,7462024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 78.1%2024 5-year
- Black
- 4.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 7.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+39 in 2020MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+58 in 1928MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Summit County, CO · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Douglas CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Douglas 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 | −40.0% |
| 1896 | −16.2% |
| 1900 | −19.0% |
| 1904 | −53.7% |
| 1908 | −23.5% |
| 1912 | +14.5% |
| 1916 | −12.4% |
| 1920 | −47.6% |
| 1924 | −57.3% |
| 1928 | −58.4% |
| 1932 | −20.1% |
| 1936 | −25.1% |
| 1940 | −41.6% |
| 1944 | −35.6% |
| 1948 | −31.2% |
| 1952 | −49.1% |
| 1956 | −43.9% |
| 1960 | −33.1% |
| 1964 | +9.2% |
| 1968 | −18.4% |
| 1972 | −13.3% |
| 1976 | −8.5% |
| 1980 | −16.5% |
| 1984 | −18.9% |
| 1988 | −1.2% |
| 1992 | +15.4% |
| 1996 | +5.3% |
| 2000 | +3.0% |
| 2004 | +16.1% |
| 2008 | +30.8% |
| 2012 | +24.5% |
| 2016 | +32.3% |
| 2020 | +39.5% |
| 2024 | +37.6% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 39,582 | 17,523 | 58,707 | ||
| D | 40,785 | 17,286 | 59,495 | ||
| D | 31,195 | 14,688 | 51,031 | ||
| D | 29,267 | 17,401 | 48,464 | ||
| D | 34,398 | 17,929 | 53,398 | ||
| D | 28,634 | 20,544 | 50,111 | ||
| D | 18,249 | 17,062 | 39,838 | ||
| D | 18,116 | 16,116 | 37,800 | ||
| D | 19,439 | 12,949 | 42,265 | ||
| R | 15,752 | 16,149 | 32,361 | ||
| R | 12,880 | 18,975 | 32,233 | ||
| R | 9,360 | 14,106 | 28,784 | ||
| R | 11,922 | 14,277 | 27,842 | ||
| R | 11,646 | 15,316 | 27,527 | ||
| R | 6,936 | 10,533 | 19,583 | ||
| D | 9,416 | 7,825 | 17,353 | ||
| R | 5,690 | 11,337 | 17,065 | ||
| R | 4,283 | 11,029 | 15,351 | ||
| R | 3,765 | 11,095 | 14,924 | ||
| R | 4,778 | 9,287 | 14,454 | ||
| R | 3,886 | 8,224 | 12,189 | ||
| R | 3,727 | 9,146 | 13,014 | ||
| R | 4,961 | 8,324 | 13,381 | ||
| R | 4,833 | 7,346 | 12,521 | ||
| R | 2,297 | 8,887 | 11,292 | ||
| R | 1,922 | 8,052 | 10,700 | ||
| R | 2,197 | 6,266 | 8,557 | ||
| R | 3,834 | 4,975 | 9,235 | ||
| O | 1,888 | 1,133 | 5,203 | ||
| R | 2,010 | 3,279 | 5,408 | ||
| R | 989 | 3,574 | 4,812 | ||
| R | 2,333 | 3,453 | 5,897 | ||
| R | 2,573 | 3,582 | 6,240 | ||
| O | 0 | 2,174 | 5,434 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
28.2%
English
15.3%
Irish
14.3%
American
3.6%
Italian
3.1%
Scottish
3.0%
French
2.6%
African American
3.5%
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: 31.6 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
$69,746
Douglas County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Douglas County$69,746
Kansas$74,275
United States$80,734
Douglas 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
14.7%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 188.4%
Working age (18–64)17.0%
Seniors (65+)4.4%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
91.2%
speak English only
Asian & Pacific Islander3.0%
Spanish2.8%
Other Indo-European1.8%
Other languages1.1%
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.
Douglas County's lopsided margins trace directly to Lawrence, a college town anchored by the University of Kansas. That campus concentration makes it a consistent outlier in an otherwise reliably Republican state.
Once reliably Republican — a margin of fifty-eight points in 1928 at its widest — Douglas County has trended Democratic. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved two points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was thirty-eight points.
A median household income of $69,746 — among the higher at this geographic scale — and a population of 120,302 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Summit County and Hood River 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.
Douglas County, Kansas. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/20045/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More realigning affluent suburb counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Douglas County, Kansas vote in 2024?
In 2024, Douglas County, Kansas voted Democratic by 37.6 points (D+38), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 58,707 votes cast, 39,582 went Democratic and 17,523 went Republican.
What is Douglas County, Kansas's political typology?
Akashic places Douglas County, Kansas 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 10 times, Republican 22 times, and other 2 times.
When did Douglas County, Kansas last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Douglas County, Kansas voted Republican was 1988.
How many people live in Douglas County, Kansas?
Douglas County, Kansas has a population of 120,302 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Douglas County, Kansas?
Median household income in Douglas County, Kansas is $69,746 — below the national median of $80,734. The Kansas state median is $74,275.
What is the political history of Douglas County, Kansas?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Douglas County, Kansas from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 10 went Democratic and 22 went Republican. The county's typology — "Realigning Affluent Suburb" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.