Knott County, Kentucky: Appalachian Realigners county. In 2024, voted R+59%. Democratic peak: D+81 in 1964.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+59MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Appalachian RealignersAkashic typology
- Population
- 13,8302024 5-year
- Median household income
- $41,7612024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 96.9%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.2%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 0.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+81 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+59 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Floyd County, KY · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Knott CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Knott 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 | +41.1% |
| 1896 | +32.4% |
| 1900 | +40.5% |
| 1904 | +38.3% |
| 1908 | +31.3% |
| 1912 | +44.6% |
| 1916 | +43.5% |
| 1920 | +48.0% |
| 1924 | +43.8% |
| 1928 | +47.5% |
| 1932 | +71.2% |
| 1936 | +60.3% |
| 1940 | +70.8% |
| 1944 | +65.6% |
| 1948 | +72.1% |
| 1952 | +59.4% |
| 1956 | +39.8% |
| 1960 | +47.4% |
| 1964 | +81.4% |
| 1968 | +46.0% |
| 1972 | +30.2% |
| 1976 | +65.8% |
| 1980 | +53.8% |
| 1984 | +44.2% |
| 1988 | +50.4% |
| 1992 | +58.1% |
| 1996 | +55.1% |
| 2000 | +35.9% |
| 2004 | +27.5% |
| 2008 | −7.9% |
| 2012 | −47.6% |
| 2016 | −54.0% |
| 2020 | −53.9% |
| 2024 | −59.0% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 1,181 | 4,732 | 6,015 | ||
| R | 1,412 | 4,780 | 6,252 | ||
| R | 1,245 | 4,357 | 5,763 | ||
| R | 1,420 | 4,130 | 5,693 | ||
| R | 2,612 | 3,070 | 5,820 | ||
| D | 4,685 | 2,648 | 7,394 | ||
| D | 4,349 | 2,029 | 6,458 | ||
| D | 4,842 | 1,201 | 6,607 | ||
| D | 5,500 | 1,243 | 7,328 | ||
| D | 5,185 | 1,691 | 6,926 | ||
| D | 4,487 | 1,728 | 6,248 | ||
| D | 5,405 | 1,602 | 7,065 | ||
| D | 4,762 | 962 | 5,779 | ||
| D | 2,774 | 1,479 | 4,287 | ||
| D | 3,335 | 1,098 | 4,867 | ||
| D | 4,739 | 482 | 5,230 | ||
| D | 3,957 | 1,412 | 5,369 | ||
| D | 3,987 | 1,715 | 5,712 | ||
| D | 4,437 | 1,124 | 5,582 | ||
| D | 4,660 | 754 | 5,414 | ||
| D | 3,867 | 803 | 4,670 | ||
| D | 4,434 | 759 | 5,193 | ||
| D | 3,488 | 865 | 4,353 | ||
| D | 4,443 | 747 | 5,190 | ||
| D | 2,822 | 1,004 | 3,826 | ||
| D | 2,286 | 886 | 3,193 | ||
| D | 2,295 | 802 | 3,108 | ||
| D | 1,454 | 571 | 2,029 | ||
| D | 1,114 | 387 | 1,630 | ||
| D | 1,110 | 576 | 1,704 | ||
| D | 1,092 | 483 | 1,589 | ||
| D | 1,015 | 429 | 1,447 | ||
| D | 795 | 404 | 1,206 | ||
| D | 566 | 236 | 803 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
Irish
13.4%
American
10.6%
English
9.6%
German
3.9%
Scottish
0.8%
Italian
0.6%
African American
1.0%
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: 44.6 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
$41,761
Knott County ranks in the bottom 10% of US counties.
Knott County$41,761
Kentucky$63,726
United States$80,734
Knott County ranks in the bottom 10% 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
23.3%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1831.0%
Working age (18–64)22.0%
Seniors (65+)14.6%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
98.9%
speak English only
Spanish0.7%
Other Indo-European0.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.1%
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 73.6% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Knott County, nestled in the eastern Kentucky coalfields, recorded an R+59.1 margin in 2024 — a dramatic shift from a county that voted reliably Democratic through most of the 20th century as union households gave way to a declining mining economy.
The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin peaked at eighty-one points in 1964 and narrowed across the late twentieth century. The 2008 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 fifty-nine points.
The economic context is severe: a median household income of $41,761 — among the lowest at this geographic scale — and a 23% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Floyd County and McDowell 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.
Knott County, Kentucky. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/21119/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Knott County, Kentucky vote in 2024?
In 2024, Knott County, Kentucky voted Republican by 59.0 points (R+59), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 6,015 votes cast, 1,181 went Democratic and 4,732 went Republican.
What is Knott County, Kentucky's political typology?
Akashic places Knott County, Kentucky 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 29 times, Republican 5 times, and other 0 times.
When did Knott County, Kentucky last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Knott County, Kentucky voted Democratic was 2004.
How many people live in Knott County, Kentucky?
Knott County, Kentucky has a population of 13,830 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Knott County, Kentucky?
Median household income in Knott County, Kentucky is $41,761 — below the national median of $80,734. The Kentucky state median is $63,726.
What is the political history of Knott County, Kentucky?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Knott County, Kentucky from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 29 went Democratic and 5 went Republican. The county's typology — "Appalachian Realigners" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.