Owsley County, Kentucky: Evangelical Deep South county. In 2024, voted R+77%. Republican peak: R+79 in 1928.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+77MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Evangelical Deep SouthAkashic typology
- Population
- 3,9712024 5-year
- Median household income
- $22,1882024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 95.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 0.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Republican margin
- R+79 in 1928MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Auglaize County, OH · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Owsley CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Owsley 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 | −47.4% |
| 1896 | −65.7% |
| 1900 | −62.5% |
| 1904 | −65.8% |
| 1908 | −68.9% |
| 1912 | −38.0% |
| 1916 | −70.6% |
| 1920 | −76.0% |
| 1924 | −62.3% |
| 1928 | −79.3% |
| 1932 | −58.4% |
| 1936 | −66.1% |
| 1940 | −63.7% |
| 1944 | −72.3% |
| 1948 | −59.3% |
| 1952 | −64.3% |
| 1956 | −71.7% |
| 1960 | −72.5% |
| 1964 | −34.2% |
| 1968 | −59.4% |
| 1972 | −67.9% |
| 1976 | −54.7% |
| 1980 | −47.9% |
| 1984 | −58.9% |
| 1988 | −57.1% |
| 1992 | −32.4% |
| 1996 | −15.8% |
| 2000 | −61.7% |
| 2004 | −56.4% |
| 2008 | −53.3% |
| 2012 | −63.0% |
| 2016 | −69.2% |
| 2020 | −76.7% |
| 2024 | −77.3% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 203 | 1,625 | 1,839 | ||
| R | 216 | 1,671 | 1,896 | ||
| R | 256 | 1,474 | 1,759 | ||
| R | 283 | 1,279 | 1,580 | ||
| R | 381 | 1,279 | 1,686 | ||
| R | 430 | 1,558 | 1,999 | ||
| R | 339 | 1,466 | 1,826 | ||
| R | 647 | 920 | 1,728 | ||
| R | 678 | 1,437 | 2,342 | ||
| R | 345 | 1,266 | 1,613 | ||
| R | 375 | 1,466 | 1,851 | ||
| R | 437 | 1,250 | 1,699 | ||
| R | 305 | 1,053 | 1,367 | ||
| R | 251 | 1,328 | 1,587 | ||
| R | 303 | 1,417 | 1,877 | ||
| R | 571 | 1,167 | 1,744 | ||
| R | 346 | 2,169 | 2,515 | ||
| R | 331 | 2,013 | 2,347 | ||
| R | 419 | 1,954 | 2,387 | ||
| R | 437 | 1,718 | 2,161 | ||
| R | 325 | 2,033 | 2,361 | ||
| R | 591 | 2,672 | 3,266 | ||
| R | 464 | 2,273 | 2,738 | ||
| R | 520 | 1,985 | 2,510 | ||
| R | 241 | 2,107 | 2,353 | ||
| R | 323 | 1,434 | 1,784 | ||
| R | 257 | 1,914 | 2,180 | ||
| R | 197 | 1,173 | 1,382 | ||
| R | 221 | 711 | 1,290 | ||
| R | 224 | 1,240 | 1,474 | ||
| R | 224 | 1,100 | 1,331 | ||
| R | 255 | 1,115 | 1,376 | ||
| R | 197 | 983 | 1,197 | ||
| R | 229 | 660 | 909 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
36.8%
English
25.1%
Irish
7.1%
German
4.5%
Polish
0.7%
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
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: 47.7 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
$22,188
Owsley County ranks in the bottom 5% of US counties.
Owsley County$22,188
Kentucky$63,726
United States$80,734
Owsley 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
36.1%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1828.0%
Working age (18–64)37.7%
Seniors (65+)43.6%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
99.9%
speak English only
Spanish0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 72.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Owsley County, tucked in the Daniel Boone National Forest highlands, posted an R+77.3 margin in 2024 — among the widest presidential gaps of any county in the country — in a population of under 5,000 that has shed residents for decades.
The Republican margin here reached its widest at seventy-nine points in 1928. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved one point toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was seventy-seven points.
A median household income of $22,188, a 36% 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 Auglaize County and Carroll 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.
Owsley County, Kentucky. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/21189/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Owsley County, Kentucky vote in 2024?
In 2024, Owsley County, Kentucky voted Republican by 77.3 points (R+77), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 1,839 votes cast, 203 went Democratic and 1,625 went Republican.
What is Owsley County, Kentucky's political typology?
Akashic places Owsley 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 0 times, Republican 34 times, and other 0 times.
How many people live in Owsley County, Kentucky?
Owsley County, Kentucky has a population of 3,971 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Owsley County, Kentucky?
Median household income in Owsley County, Kentucky is $22,188 — below the national median of $80,734. The Kentucky state median is $63,726.
What is the political history of Owsley County, Kentucky?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Owsley County, Kentucky from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 0 went Democratic and 34 went Republican. The county's typology — "Evangelical Deep South" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.