Letcher County, Kentucky
Precinct data
Results by precinct
30 precincts · 8,431 votes
Precinct boundaries and identifiers are cycle-specific. This table does not join rows across years without a validated crosswalk.
| Precinct -B101B101 | 91 | 550 | 10 | 651 | 14.0% | 84.5% | R+70.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Precinct -C103C103 | 89 | 405 | 1 | 495 | 18.0% | 81.8% | R+63.8 |
| Precinct -B102B102 | 47 | 418 | 5 | 470 | 10.0% | 88.9% | R+78.9 |
| Precinct -A103A103 | 76 | 353 | 7 | 436 | 17.4% | 81.0% | R+63.5 |
| Precinct -E103E103 | 78 | 317 | 5 | 400 | 19.5% | 79.3% | R+59.8 |
| Precinct -D102D102 | 110 | 266 | 8 | 384 | 28.6% | 69.3% | R+40.6 |
| Precinct -A102A102 | 101 | 269 | 6 | 376 | 26.9% | 71.5% | R+44.7 |
| Precinct -C107C107 | 65 | 292 | 8 | 365 | 17.8% | 80.0% | R+62.2 |
| Precinct -B103B103 | 45 | 299 | 9 | 353 | 12.7% | 84.7% | R+72.0 |
| Precinct -D107D107 | 70 | 280 | 1 | 351 | 19.9% | 79.8% | R+59.8 |
| Precinct -C101C101 | 56 | 274 | 3 | 333 | 16.8% | 82.3% | R+65.5 |
| Precinct -A106A106 | 44 | 270 | 4 | 318 | 13.8% | 84.9% | R+71.1 |
| Precinct -A101A101 | 72 | 237 | 5 | 314 | 22.9% | 75.5% | R+52.5 |
| Precinct -E105E105 | 59 | 244 | 7 | 310 | 19.0% | 78.7% | R+59.7 |
| Precinct -E101E101 | 70 | 198 | 4 | 272 | 25.7% | 72.8% | R+47.1 |
| Precinct -D105D105 | 20 | 237 | 5 | 262 | 7.6% | 90.5% | R+82.8 |
| Precinct -C105C105 | 39 | 217 | 3 | 259 | 15.1% | 83.8% | R+68.7 |
| Precinct -D104D104 | 36 | 214 | 4 | 254 | 14.2% | 84.3% | R+70.1 |
| Precinct -A108A108 | 23 | 218 | 7 | 248 | 9.3% | 87.9% | R+78.6 |
| Precinct -D106D106 | 38 | 176 | 4 | 218 | 17.4% | 80.7% | R+63.3 |
| Precinct -D103D103 | 37 | 165 | 3 | 205 | 18.0% | 80.5% | R+62.4 |
| Precinct -E107E107 | 25 | 178 | 1 | 204 | 12.3% | 87.3% | R+75.0 |
| Precinct -C106C106 | 16 | 173 | 3 | 192 | 8.3% | 90.1% | R+81.8 |
| Precinct -B104B104 | 27 | 111 | 5 | 143 | 18.9% | 77.6% | R+58.7 |
| Precinct -E104E104 | 27 | 109 | 2 | 138 | 19.6% | 79.0% | R+59.4 |
| Precinct -E102E102 | 36 | 97 | 2 | 135 | 26.7% | 71.9% | R+45.2 |
| Precinct -A104A104 | 23 | 98 | 1 | 122 | 18.9% | 80.3% | R+61.5 |
| Precinct -E106E106 | 27 | 82 | 3 | 112 | 24.1% | 73.2% | R+49.1 |
| Precinct -A105A105 | 7 | 92 | 0 | 99 | 7.1% | 92.9% | R+85.9 |
| Precinct -C102C102 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 12 | 25.0% | 75.0% | R+50.0 |
Presidential margin, 1892–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
| Year | Margin (D minus R) |
|---|---|
| 1892 | −30.3% |
| 1896 | −34.8% |
| 1900 | −35.8% |
| 1904 | −40.6% |
| 1908 | −41.4% |
| 1912 | −18.6% |
| 1916 | −32.7% |
| 1920 | −37.4% |
| 1924 | −21.8% |
| 1928 | −21.3% |
| 1932 | +4.6% |
| 1936 | +23.4% |
| 1940 | +16.0% |
| 1944 | +6.3% |
| 1948 | +14.2% |
| 1952 | +4.2% |
| 1956 | −16.2% |
| 1960 | −1.7% |
| 1964 | +34.6% |
| 1968 | +3.3% |
| 1972 | −18.1% |
| 1976 | +18.9% |
| 1980 | +10.9% |
| 1984 | +7.2% |
| 1988 | +13.1% |
| 1992 | +27.8% |
| 1996 | +26.8% |
| 2000 | +6.7% |
| 2004 | −6.7% |
| 2008 | −33.3% |
| 2012 | −58.3% |
| 2016 | −63.0% |
| 2020 | −59.4% |
| 2024 | −63.9% |
U.S. Senate
| Year | Won | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | R | 32.4%1,854 | 67.6%3,873 | 5,727 |
| 2020 | R | 24.7%2,245 | 71.0%6,441 | 9,077 |
Registered voters
By party of registration, over time
Letcher County, KY registers Democratic but votes Republican — a 79-point gap between how voters register and how they vote, the signature of ancestral registration that trails realignment.
15,321 registered voters · 2024
Who moves in and out
Net migration over time, and who arrivals are — where they came from and what those places vote
−114 net domestic migration · 2025
Net −3,121 over 2011–2025 · gain loss
Arrivals reported $35,970 in average income, against $54,829 for residents who stayed — 34% lower. (IRS SOI, 2022–23)
The places arrivals came from lean R+62.3 on average — 1.6 points more Democratic-leaning than Letcher County, KY itself (R+63.9).
Where arrivals came from lean of each source
- Pike County, KY25R+65.4
- Knott County, KY24R+59.2
Where departures went households, 2022–23
- Pike County, KY39
- Knott County, KY24
Migration is one input to a place’s political change, not its cause — a shift can also come from residents changing their minds, generational turnover, or turnout. These figures describe the places people moved between; they do not measure how any mover voted.
| Year | Net domestic migration |
|---|---|
| 2011 | −152 |
| 2012 | −354 |
| 2013 | −423 |
| 2014 | −162 |
| 2015 | −290 |
| 2016 | −239 |
| 2017 | −356 |
| 2018 | −397 |
| 2019 | −185 |
| 2021 | −37 |
| 2022 | −152 |
| 2023 | −162 |
| 2024 | −98 |
| 2025 | −114 |
Letcher County, anchored by the old coal town of Whitesburg, has shifted from reliably Democratic to among the most heavily Republican counties in Kentucky, tracking a regional realignment driven by cultural and economic change in the coalfields.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 34.6 points in 1964 and a Republican high of 63.9 points in 2024. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved 4.5 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 63.9 points.
A population of 20,808, a 97% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $41,793 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Perry County and Harlan County.
The counties whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Browse places by community — income, education, race & ethnicity, language — all community cuts →
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 →
Letcher County, Kentucky. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/21133/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.