Essex County, Massachusetts: New American county. In 2024, voted D+20%. Democratic peak: D+49 in 1964.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+20MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 813,0542024 5-year
- Median household income
- $101,8832024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 67.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 4.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 24.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+49 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+49 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Norfolk County, MA · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Essex CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Essex 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 | −13.3% |
| 1896 | −40.8% |
| 1900 | −23.1% |
| 1904 | −31.0% |
| 1908 | −28.6% |
| 1912 | −1.1% |
| 1916 | −4.8% |
| 1920 | −48.8% |
| 1924 | −48.2% |
| 1928 | −6.5% |
| 1932 | −1.8% |
| 1936 | +3.9% |
| 1940 | +4.0% |
| 1944 | +2.7% |
| 1948 | +9.4% |
| 1952 | −11.7% |
| 1956 | −20.4% |
| 1960 | +14.0% |
| 1964 | +48.9% |
| 1968 | +25.6% |
| 1972 | +6.5% |
| 1976 | +13.3% |
| 1980 | −4.7% |
| 1984 | −10.1% |
| 1988 | +1.0% |
| 1992 | +11.9% |
| 1996 | +28.1% |
| 2000 | +22.0% |
| 2004 | +17.7% |
| 2008 | +20.3% |
| 2012 | +16.3% |
| 2016 | +21.9% |
| 2020 | +28.8% |
| 2024 | +20.2% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 236,624 | 155,336 | 401,851 | ||
| D | 267,198 | 144,837 | 424,599 | ||
| D | 222,310 | 136,316 | 392,789 | ||
| D | 210,302 | 150,480 | 366,357 | ||
| D | 208,976 | 137,129 | 353,462 | ||
| D | 194,068 | 135,114 | 333,233 | ||
| D | 178,400 | 110,010 | 310,333 | ||
| D | 171,021 | 89,120 | 291,442 | ||
| D | 140,593 | 102,212 | 322,328 | ||
| D | 151,816 | 148,614 | 305,500 | ||
| R | 132,353 | 162,152 | 295,656 | ||
| R | 116,173 | 130,252 | 297,533 | ||
| D | 165,710 | 125,538 | 301,444 | ||
| D | 157,324 | 138,040 | 297,084 | ||
| D | 171,901 | 99,721 | 281,685 | ||
| D | 210,135 | 71,653 | 282,945 | ||
| D | 167,875 | 126,599 | 295,081 | ||
| R | 109,671 | 166,115 | 276,453 | ||
| R | 123,334 | 156,030 | 280,409 | ||
| D | 132,016 | 108,894 | 246,371 | ||
| D | 118,228 | 111,958 | 230,756 | ||
| D | 125,998 | 116,134 | 243,735 | ||
| D | 106,078 | 97,310 | 222,999 | ||
| R | 91,787 | 95,277 | 193,018 | ||
| R | 89,508 | 102,008 | 192,810 | ||
| R | 25,635 | 92,918 | 139,550 | ||
| R | 30,560 | 95,057 | 132,264 | ||
| R | 32,498 | 35,909 | 71,095 | ||
| O | 20,691 | 21,441 | 66,639 | ||
| R | 18,801 | 36,351 | 61,373 | ||
| R | 18,562 | 36,980 | 59,392 | ||
| R | 19,781 | 32,924 | 56,947 | ||
| R | 15,025 | 37,041 | 53,964 | ||
| R | 21,975 | 29,088 | 53,383 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
Irish
18.7%
Italian
13.6%
English
9.6%
French
4.7%
German
4.4%
Polish
3.1%
American
2.7%
African American
3.2%
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: 41.2 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
$101,883
Essex County ranks in the top 5% of US counties.
Essex County$101,883
Massachusetts$103,960
United States$80,734
Essex County ranks in the top 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
9.4%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1811.9%
Working age (18–64)8.2%
Seniors (65+)13.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
71.3%
speak English only
Spanish19.1%
Other Indo-European6.2%
Asian & Pacific Islander2.1%
Other languages1.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 50.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Essex County stretches from the immigrant-heavy cities of Lawrence and Lynn to affluent coastal towns like Gloucester and Newburyport, producing a durable D+20 presidential margin driven more by urban concentration than suburban uniformity.
Essex County has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of forty-nine points in 1964. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved nine 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 68% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $101,883, and a population of 813,054. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Norfolk County and Middlesex 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.
Essex County, Massachusetts. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/25009/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in Massachusetts
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Frequently asked questions
How did Essex County, Massachusetts vote in 2024?
In 2024, Essex County, Massachusetts voted Democratic by 20.2 points (D+20), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 401,851 votes cast, 236,624 went Democratic and 155,336 went Republican.
What is Essex County, Massachusetts's political typology?
Akashic places Essex County, Massachusetts 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 19 times, Republican 14 times, and other 1 times.
When did Essex County, Massachusetts last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Essex County, Massachusetts voted Republican was 1984.
How many people live in Essex County, Massachusetts?
Essex County, Massachusetts has a population of 813,054 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Essex County, Massachusetts?
Median household income in Essex County, Massachusetts is $101,883 — above the national median of $80,734. The Massachusetts state median is $103,960.
What is the political history of Essex County, Massachusetts?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Essex County, Massachusetts from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 19 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.