Benton County, Mississippi: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted R+31%. Democratic peak: D+99 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+31MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 7,5892024 5-year
- Median household income
- $46,0162024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 60.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 34.5%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.4%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+99 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+60 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Mississippi County, AR · similarity 0.97
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Benton CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Benton 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 | +66.6% |
| 1896 | +69.5% |
| 1900 | +80.7% |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | +87.1% |
| 1916 | +89.9% |
| 1920 | +52.5% |
| 1924 | +87.4% |
| 1928 | +88.8% |
| 1932 | +97.9% |
| 1936 | +98.8% |
| 1940 | +95.0% |
| 1944 | +90.6% |
| 1948 | +13.2% |
| 1952 | +63.4% |
| 1956 | +71.8% |
| 1960 | +36.0% |
| 1964 | −59.7% |
| 1968 | +25.0% |
| 1972 | −35.0% |
| 1976 | +49.4% |
| 1980 | +24.5% |
| 1984 | −0.6% |
| 1988 | +4.6% |
| 1992 | +29.1% |
| 1996 | +30.0% |
| 2000 | +9.3% |
| 2004 | +6.5% |
| 2008 | −2.2% |
| 2012 | +0.2% |
| 2016 | −13.2% |
| 2020 | −20.8% |
| 2024 | −31.3% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 1,318 | 2,535 | 3,884 | ||
| R | 1,679 | 2,570 | 4,289 | ||
| R | 1,719 | 2,251 | 4,022 | ||
| D | 2,051 | 2,041 | 4,116 | ||
| R | 2,227 | 2,329 | 4,638 | ||
| D | 2,245 | 1,969 | 4,247 | ||
| D | 1,886 | 1,561 | 3,481 | ||
| D | 1,944 | 993 | 3,166 | ||
| D | 2,402 | 1,253 | 3,955 | ||
| D | 1,718 | 1,565 | 3,309 | ||
| R | 1,715 | 1,737 | 3,466 | ||
| D | 2,094 | 1,254 | 3,427 | ||
| D | 2,375 | 790 | 3,209 | ||
| R | 701 | 1,483 | 2,235 | ||
| O | 850 | 185 | 2,665 | ||
| R | 236 | 934 | 1,170 | ||
| D | 568 | 175 | 1,091 | ||
| D | 786 | 108 | 944 | ||
| D | 963 | 216 | 1,179 | ||
| O | 118 | 11 | 810 | ||
| D | 852 | 42 | 894 | ||
| D | 935 | 24 | 959 | ||
| D | 1,717 | 10 | 1,727 | ||
| D | 814 | 8 | 823 | ||
| D | 793 | 47 | 840 | ||
| D | 541 | 35 | 579 | ||
| D | 405 | 124 | 535 | ||
| D | 718 | 38 | 756 | ||
| D | 489 | 18 | 541 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| D | 621 | 64 | 690 | ||
| D | 636 | 113 | 753 | ||
| D | 423 | 62 | 542 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
16.6%
American
7.5%
Irish
6.4%
German
4.7%
Scottish
1.8%
Italian
0.6%
African American
27.6%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
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: 44.5 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
$46,016
Benton County ranks in the bottom 10% of US counties.
Benton County$46,016
Mississippi$56,447
United States$80,734
Benton County ranks in the bottom 10% 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
21.5%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1839.8%
Working age (18–64)16.6%
Seniors (65+)17.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
94.1%
speak English only
Other languages3.5%
Spanish2.1%
Other Indo-European0.2%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 25.6% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Benton County sits in Mississippi's northeast corner with a population just over 8,000, and its presidential margins have shifted steadily rightward over the past two decades, reaching R+31.4 in 2024.
The Democratic margin here reached ninety-nine points in 1936. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved eleven points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was thirty-one points. The recent movement, modest against a deep Democratic baseline, mirrors a broader rightward drift across the Black Belt.
The economic context is part of the story: a median household income of $46,016 and a 22% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Mississippi County and St. Landry Parish.
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.
Benton County, Mississippi. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/28009/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in Mississippi
More black belt counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Benton County, Mississippi vote in 2024?
In 2024, Benton County, Mississippi voted Republican by 31.3 points (R+31), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 3,884 votes cast, 1,318 went Democratic and 2,535 went Republican.
What is Benton County, Mississippi's political typology?
Akashic places Benton County, Mississippi in the "Black Belt" typology — Black-majority counties of the rural South — long the most Democratic ground in the region, now trending Republican at the margins. 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 23 times, Republican 7 times, and other 2 times.
When did Benton County, Mississippi last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Benton County, Mississippi voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Benton County, Mississippi?
Benton County, Mississippi has a population of 7,589 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Benton County, Mississippi?
Median household income in Benton County, Mississippi is $46,016 — below the national median of $80,734. The Mississippi state median is $56,447.
What is the political history of Benton County, Mississippi?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Benton County, Mississippi from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 23 went Democratic and 7 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.