Charles County, Maryland: Realigning Affluent Suburb county. In 2024, voted D+41%. Democratic peak: D+49 in 1912.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+41MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Realigning Affluent SuburbAkashic typology
- Population
- 170,5272024 5-year
- Median household income
- $122,8162024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 33.4%2024 5-year
- Black
- 49.3%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 7.9%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+49 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+36 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Montgomery County, AL · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Charles CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Charles 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 | −9.5% |
| 1896 | −21.1% |
| 1900 | No data |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | +49.1% |
| 1916 | −0.4% |
| 1920 | −22.1% |
| 1924 | −18.5% |
| 1928 | −15.1% |
| 1932 | +14.2% |
| 1936 | −0.5% |
| 1940 | −0.4% |
| 1944 | −19.0% |
| 1948 | −17.9% |
| 1952 | −12.9% |
| 1956 | −12.8% |
| 1960 | +9.2% |
| 1964 | +30.9% |
| 1968 | −3.3% |
| 1972 | −36.0% |
| 1976 | +10.0% |
| 1980 | −13.3% |
| 1984 | −22.2% |
| 1988 | −27.5% |
| 1992 | −7.3% |
| 1996 | −4.3% |
| 2000 | +0.2% |
| 2004 | +1.6% |
| 2008 | +25.5% |
| 2012 | +31.4% |
| 2016 | +30.6% |
| 2020 | +40.9% |
| 2024 | +40.5% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 63,454 | 26,145 | 92,097 | ||
| D | 62,171 | 25,579 | 89,498 | ||
| D | 49,341 | 25,614 | 77,420 | ||
| D | 48,774 | 25,178 | 75,222 | ||
| D | 43,635 | 25,732 | 70,126 | ||
| D | 29,354 | 28,442 | 58,241 | ||
| D | 21,873 | 21,768 | 44,592 | ||
| R | 15,890 | 17,432 | 35,823 | ||
| R | 14,498 | 17,293 | 38,454 | ||
| R | 11,823 | 20,828 | 32,764 | ||
| R | 10,264 | 16,132 | 26,460 | ||
| R | 8,887 | 11,807 | 22,020 | ||
| D | 9,525 | 7,792 | 17,317 | ||
| R | 4,502 | 9,665 | 14,353 | ||
| R | 4,247 | 4,645 | 12,065 | ||
| D | 6,546 | 3,455 | 10,001 | ||
| D | 5,482 | 4,560 | 10,042 | ||
| R | 3,931 | 5,088 | 9,019 | ||
| R | 3,338 | 4,334 | 7,721 | ||
| R | 1,878 | 2,703 | 4,621 | ||
| R | 1,875 | 2,755 | 4,630 | ||
| R | 2,692 | 2,716 | 5,464 | ||
| R | 2,597 | 2,623 | 5,284 | ||
| D | 2,473 | 1,851 | 4,371 | ||
| R | 1,860 | 2,522 | 4,391 | ||
| R | 1,491 | 2,215 | 3,914 | ||
| R | 1,642 | 2,585 | 4,270 | ||
| R | 1,363 | 1,374 | 2,859 | ||
| D | 2,871 | 1,573 | 2,646 | ||
| — | 2,870 | 1,167 | 61 | ||
| — | 3,662 | 1,659 | 31 | ||
| — | 1,368 | 2,268 | 7 | ||
| R | 1,372 | 2,117 | 3,529 | ||
| R | 1,051 | 1,279 | 2,391 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
8.0%
German
6.6%
Irish
6.3%
American
3.7%
Italian
2.4%
Polish
0.9%
French
0.9%
African American
39.4%
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: 38.9 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
$122,816
Charles County ranks in the top 0.5% of US counties.
Charles County$122,816
Maryland$103,678
United States$80,734
Charles County ranks in the top 0.5% 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
6.9%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 186.4%
Working age (18–64)6.7%
Seniors (65+)11.8%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
89.8%
speak English only
Spanish4.6%
Other Indo-European2.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander2.0%
Other languages1.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 60.3% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Charles County's transformation from a conservative rural county to one of Maryland's most Democratic—driven by suburban growth and a majority-Black population now exceeding 45%—makes it one of the clearest examples of exurban demographic realignment on the East Coast.
Once reliably Republican — a margin of thirty-six points in 1972 at its widest — Charles County has trended Democratic. The 2024 margin was forty-one points.
A median household income of $122,816 — among the higher at this geographic scale — and a population of 170,527 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Montgomery County and Mecklenburg 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.
Charles County, Maryland. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/24017/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in Maryland
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Frequently asked questions
How did Charles County, Maryland vote in 2024?
In 2024, Charles County, Maryland voted Democratic by 40.5 points (D+41), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 92,097 votes cast, 63,454 went Democratic and 26,145 went Republican.
What is Charles County, Maryland's political typology?
Akashic places Charles County, Maryland 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 12 times, Republican 19 times, and other 0 times.
When did Charles County, Maryland last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Charles County, Maryland voted Republican was 1996.
How many people live in Charles County, Maryland?
Charles County, Maryland has a population of 170,527 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Charles County, Maryland?
Median household income in Charles County, Maryland is $122,816 — above the national median of $80,734. The Maryland state median is $103,678.
What is the political history of Charles County, Maryland?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Charles County, Maryland from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 12 went Democratic and 19 went Republican. The county's typology — "Realigning Affluent Suburb" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.