Howard County, Maryland: New American county. In 2024, voted D+41%. Democratic peak: D+71 in 1912.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+41MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 336,3282024 5-year
- Median household income
- $149,7632024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 46.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 20.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 8.7%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+71 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+29 in 1956MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Washington County, OR · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Howard CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Howard 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 | +15.0% |
| 1896 | −5.0% |
| 1900 | No data |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | +70.7% |
| 1916 | +17.1% |
| 1920 | −4.2% |
| 1924 | +15.4% |
| 1928 | −3.2% |
| 1932 | +35.4% |
| 1936 | +22.0% |
| 1940 | +12.4% |
| 1944 | −3.1% |
| 1948 | −6.4% |
| 1952 | −19.4% |
| 1956 | −29.0% |
| 1960 | −13.1% |
| 1964 | +9.0% |
| 1968 | −22.7% |
| 1972 | −28.4% |
| 1976 | −1.6% |
| 1980 | −6.9% |
| 1984 | −16.1% |
| 1988 | −12.9% |
| 1992 | +6.2% |
| 1996 | +7.0% |
| 2000 | +7.8% |
| 2004 | +9.4% |
| 2008 | +21.8% |
| 2012 | +22.0% |
| 2016 | +34.7% |
| 2020 | +44.3% |
| 2024 | +41.3% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 124,764 | 49,425 | 182,291 | ||
| D | 129,433 | 48,390 | 183,062 | ||
| D | 102,597 | 47,484 | 158,673 | ||
| D | 91,393 | 57,758 | 153,108 | ||
| D | 87,120 | 55,393 | 145,233 | ||
| D | 72,257 | 59,724 | 133,810 | ||
| D | 58,556 | 49,809 | 112,779 | ||
| D | 47,569 | 40,849 | 95,508 | ||
| D | 44,763 | 38,594 | 99,798 | ||
| R | 34,007 | 44,153 | 78,530 | ||
| R | 25,713 | 35,641 | 61,688 | ||
| R | 20,702 | 24,272 | 51,599 | ||
| R | 20,533 | 21,200 | 41,733 | ||
| R | 10,668 | 19,265 | 30,316 | ||
| R | 5,752 | 9,957 | 18,505 | ||
| D | 8,185 | 6,833 | 15,018 | ||
| R | 5,412 | 7,051 | 12,465 | ||
| R | 3,599 | 6,534 | 10,133 | ||
| R | 3,693 | 5,497 | 9,302 | ||
| R | 2,725 | 3,113 | 6,028 | ||
| R | 3,140 | 3,344 | 6,484 | ||
| D | 3,957 | 3,082 | 7,069 | ||
| D | 4,138 | 2,638 | 6,825 | ||
| D | 4,161 | 1,970 | 6,190 | ||
| R | 3,088 | 3,296 | 6,417 | ||
| D | 2,786 | 1,989 | 5,169 | ||
| R | 2,397 | 2,608 | 5,068 | ||
| D | 1,913 | 1,346 | 3,323 | ||
| D | 3,097 | 1,004 | 2,960 | ||
| — | 3,226 | 1,764 | 57 | ||
| — | 3,783 | 1,258 | 54 | ||
| — | 1,904 | 1,800 | 7 | ||
| R | 1,786 | 1,981 | 3,870 | ||
| D | 1,920 | 1,410 | 3,410 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
11.9%
Irish
10.2%
English
9.4%
Italian
5.3%
Polish
3.2%
American
2.9%
Scottish
1.7%
African American
16.0%
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: 39.8 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
$149,763
Howard County ranks in the top 0.5% of US counties.
Howard County$149,763
Maryland$103,678
United States$80,734
Howard 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
5.2%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 185.5%
Working age (18–64)4.8%
Seniors (65+)8.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
71.7%
speak English only
Asian & Pacific Islander10.9%
Other Indo-European7.8%
Spanish6.2%
Other languages3.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 57.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Howard County's highly educated workforce, anchored by Columbia's planned communities and proximity to the Baltimore-Washington corridor, has produced presidential margins exceeding 40 points for Democrats in recent cycles, among the widest in Maryland.
Howard County has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of seventy-one points in 1912. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved three points toward the Republican candidate — part of the sharpest rightward shift recorded among any group of places in the country.
Its demographics describe the shift: a 47% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $149,763, and a population of 336,328. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Washington County and Santa Barbara 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.
Howard County, Maryland. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/24027/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Howard County, Maryland vote in 2024?
In 2024, Howard County, Maryland voted Democratic by 41.3 points (D+41), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 182,291 votes cast, 124,764 went Democratic and 49,425 went Republican.
What is Howard County, Maryland's political typology?
Akashic places Howard County, Maryland in the "New American" typology — Communities where a large share of households speak a language other than English — multilingual, Democratic-leaning overall, yet the hardest-swinging bloc toward the Republican Party in 2024. 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 17 times, Republican 14 times, and other 0 times.
When did Howard County, Maryland last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Howard County, Maryland voted Republican was 1988.
How many people live in Howard County, Maryland?
Howard County, Maryland has a population of 336,328 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Howard County, Maryland?
Median household income in Howard County, Maryland is $149,763 — above the national median of $80,734. The Maryland state median is $103,678.
What is the political history of Howard County, Maryland?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Howard County, Maryland from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 17 went Democratic and 14 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.