Knox County, Kentucky: Evangelical Deep South county. In 2024, voted R+71%. Republican peak: R+71 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+71MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Evangelical Deep SouthAkashic typology
- Population
- 29,8652024 5-year
- Median household income
- $32,5272024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 95.7%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 1.3%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+7 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+71 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Hawkins County, TN · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Knox CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Knox 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 | −30.7% |
| 1896 | −45.1% |
| 1900 | −45.3% |
| 1904 | −51.1% |
| 1908 | −50.8% |
| 1912 | −14.1% |
| 1916 | −47.4% |
| 1920 | −54.2% |
| 1924 | −39.9% |
| 1928 | −59.6% |
| 1932 | −14.3% |
| 1936 | −18.0% |
| 1940 | −20.2% |
| 1944 | −36.9% |
| 1948 | −20.0% |
| 1952 | −32.8% |
| 1956 | −42.8% |
| 1960 | −32.6% |
| 1964 | +7.3% |
| 1968 | −28.2% |
| 1972 | −46.7% |
| 1976 | −14.9% |
| 1980 | −21.6% |
| 1984 | −32.2% |
| 1988 | −25.2% |
| 1992 | −12.5% |
| 1996 | −8.4% |
| 2000 | −23.9% |
| 2004 | −35.6% |
| 2008 | −44.6% |
| 2012 | −53.9% |
| 2016 | −67.6% |
| 2020 | −67.0% |
| 2024 | −71.0% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 1,821 | 11,178 | 13,179 | ||
| R | 2,114 | 11,012 | 13,273 | ||
| R | 1,761 | 9,885 | 12,012 | ||
| R | 2,484 | 8,467 | 11,100 | ||
| R | 3,074 | 8,150 | 11,389 | ||
| R | 3,822 | 8,108 | 12,028 | ||
| R | 3,690 | 6,058 | 9,910 | ||
| R | 3,736 | 4,502 | 9,095 | ||
| R | 3,787 | 5,011 | 9,825 | ||
| R | 2,919 | 4,903 | 7,882 | ||
| R | 2,932 | 5,730 | 8,699 | ||
| R | 3,543 | 5,539 | 9,240 | ||
| R | 3,642 | 4,931 | 8,661 | ||
| R | 1,805 | 5,017 | 6,879 | ||
| R | 2,244 | 4,388 | 7,595 | ||
| D | 4,150 | 3,583 | 7,770 | ||
| R | 2,956 | 5,814 | 8,770 | ||
| R | 2,539 | 6,341 | 8,882 | ||
| R | 2,766 | 5,470 | 8,253 | ||
| R | 2,814 | 4,241 | 7,123 | ||
| R | 2,385 | 5,178 | 7,570 | ||
| R | 3,319 | 5,003 | 8,330 | ||
| R | 3,419 | 4,921 | 8,345 | ||
| R | 3,375 | 4,513 | 7,938 | ||
| R | 1,497 | 5,928 | 7,432 | ||
| R | 1,537 | 3,767 | 5,594 | ||
| R | 1,534 | 5,228 | 6,818 | ||
| R | 1,126 | 3,192 | 4,362 | ||
| R | 888 | 1,391 | 3,565 | ||
| R | 867 | 2,788 | 3,780 | ||
| R | 711 | 2,240 | 2,995 | ||
| R | 976 | 2,606 | 3,595 | ||
| R | 833 | 2,237 | 3,110 | ||
| R | 668 | 1,305 | 2,078 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
12.5%
American
10.0%
Irish
9.5%
German
4.7%
Scottish
1.2%
Italian
1.0%
French
0.5%
African American
0.8%
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: 39.7 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
$32,527
Knox County ranks in the bottom 5% of US counties.
Knox County$32,527
Kentucky$63,726
United States$80,734
Knox County ranks in the bottom 5% 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
36.9%
Nearly half of children live in poverty.
Children under 1846.6%
Working age (18–64)35.4%
Seniors (65+)17.8%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
98.8%
speak English only
Spanish0.6%
Other Indo-European0.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 38.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Nestled in the Cumberland Mountains along the Tennessee border, Knox County recorded an R+71.1 margin in 2024, placing it among the most one-sided presidential results in the state and reflecting the deep partisan realignment of rural Appalachian Kentucky.
The Republican margin here reached its widest at seventy-one points in 2024. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved four points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was seventy-one points.
A median household income of $32,527, a 37% poverty rate, and a 96% non-Hispanic-white share describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Hawkins County and Grainger 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.
Knox County, Kentucky. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/21121/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More evangelical deep south counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Knox County, Kentucky vote in 2024?
In 2024, Knox County, Kentucky voted Republican by 71.0 points (R+71), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 13,179 votes cast, 1,821 went Democratic and 11,178 went Republican.
What is Knox County, Kentucky's political typology?
Akashic places Knox County, Kentucky in the "Evangelical Deep South" typology — Deeply Republican, heavily Baptist counties of the Deep South. 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 1 times, Republican 33 times, and other 0 times.
When did Knox County, Kentucky last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Knox County, Kentucky voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Knox County, Kentucky?
Knox County, Kentucky has a population of 29,865 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Knox County, Kentucky?
Median household income in Knox County, Kentucky is $32,527 — below the national median of $80,734. The Kentucky state median is $63,726.
What is the political history of Knox County, Kentucky?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Knox County, Kentucky from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 1 went Democratic and 33 went Republican. The county's typology — "Evangelical Deep South" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.