Riley County, Kansas: Realigning Affluent Suburb county. In 2024, voted D+2%. Republican peak: R+61 in 1952.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+2MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Realigning Affluent SuburbAkashic typology
- Population
- 71,9462024 5-year
- Median household income
- $61,0982024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 76.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 6.6%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 10.0%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+20 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+61 in 1952MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Williamson County, TX · similarity 0.96
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Riley CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Riley 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 | −46.8% |
| 1896 | −13.2% |
| 1900 | −24.5% |
| 1904 | −57.8% |
| 1908 | −26.8% |
| 1912 | +19.5% |
| 1916 | −10.8% |
| 1920 | −49.3% |
| 1924 | −48.9% |
| 1928 | −56.7% |
| 1932 | −12.7% |
| 1936 | −19.2% |
| 1940 | −38.1% |
| 1944 | −41.7% |
| 1948 | −38.1% |
| 1952 | −61.0% |
| 1956 | −54.0% |
| 1960 | −44.3% |
| 1964 | −6.6% |
| 1968 | −30.3% |
| 1972 | −34.4% |
| 1976 | −18.0% |
| 1980 | −21.9% |
| 1984 | −30.5% |
| 1988 | −13.1% |
| 1992 | −2.1% |
| 1996 | −22.3% |
| 2000 | −24.6% |
| 2004 | −22.8% |
| 2008 | −7.0% |
| 2012 | −12.0% |
| 2016 | −3.5% |
| 2020 | +4.6% |
| 2024 | +1.8% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 12,063 | 11,630 | 24,513 | ||
| D | 12,765 | 11,610 | 25,171 | ||
| R | 9,341 | 10,107 | 21,974 | ||
| R | 8,977 | 11,507 | 21,101 | ||
| R | 10,495 | 12,111 | 22,997 | ||
| R | 7,908 | 12,672 | 20,911 | ||
| R | 6,188 | 10,672 | 18,253 | ||
| R | 6,746 | 11,113 | 19,607 | ||
| R | 7,933 | 8,394 | 21,797 | ||
| R | 7,283 | 9,507 | 17,007 | ||
| R | 5,975 | 11,308 | 17,458 | ||
| R | 5,224 | 8,904 | 16,818 | ||
| R | 6,540 | 9,518 | 16,568 | ||
| R | 5,333 | 11,120 | 16,809 | ||
| R | 4,258 | 8,296 | 13,345 | ||
| R | 5,597 | 6,396 | 12,137 | ||
| R | 3,482 | 9,068 | 12,600 | ||
| R | 2,784 | 9,385 | 12,213 | ||
| R | 2,352 | 9,799 | 12,201 | ||
| R | 4,052 | 9,227 | 13,567 | ||
| R | 2,659 | 6,511 | 9,244 | ||
| R | 3,293 | 7,420 | 10,818 | ||
| R | 4,104 | 6,077 | 10,280 | ||
| R | 4,101 | 5,337 | 9,765 | ||
| R | 1,791 | 6,592 | 8,461 | ||
| R | 1,646 | 5,455 | 7,790 | ||
| R | 1,610 | 4,875 | 6,626 | ||
| R | 2,637 | 3,320 | 6,343 | ||
| O | 1,170 | 425 | 3,815 | ||
| R | 1,289 | 2,276 | 3,688 | ||
| R | 523 | 2,251 | 2,991 | ||
| R | 1,279 | 2,119 | 3,435 | ||
| R | 1,443 | 1,890 | 3,383 | ||
| O | 0 | 1,427 | 3,046 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
26.6%
Irish
10.7%
English
10.4%
American
9.9%
Scottish
2.7%
Italian
2.5%
French
2.0%
African American
5.3%
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: 25.5 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
$61,098
Riley County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Riley County$61,098
Kansas$74,275
United States$80,734
Riley 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
19.9%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1814.0%
Working age (18–64)21.9%
Seniors (65+)7.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
91.3%
speak English only
Spanish4.2%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.9%
Other Indo-European1.5%
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 61.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Home to Kansas State University, Riley County's electorate skews younger and more educated than surrounding Flint Hills counties, contributing to a rare leftward tilt in an otherwise deeply Republican stretch of the Great Plains.
Once reliably Republican — a margin of sixty-one points in 1952 at its widest — Riley County has trended Democratic. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved three points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was two points.
A median household income of $61,098 — among the higher at this geographic scale — and a population of 71,946 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Williamson County and Anchorage Municipality.
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.
Riley County, Kansas. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/20161/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More realigning affluent suburb counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Riley County, Kansas vote in 2024?
In 2024, Riley County, Kansas voted Democratic by 1.8 points (D+2), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 24,513 votes cast, 12,063 went Democratic and 11,630 went Republican.
What is Riley County, Kansas's political typology?
Akashic places Riley 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 2 times, Republican 30 times, and other 2 times.
When did Riley County, Kansas last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Riley County, Kansas voted Republican was 2016.
How many people live in Riley County, Kansas?
Riley County, Kansas has a population of 71,946 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Riley County, Kansas?
Median household income in Riley County, Kansas is $61,098 — below the national median of $80,734. The Kansas state median is $74,275.
What is the political history of Riley County, Kansas?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Riley County, Kansas from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 2 went Democratic and 30 went Republican. The county's typology — "Realigning Affluent Suburb" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.