Clay County, Mississippi: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted D+10%. Democratic peak: D+95 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+10MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 18,3832024 5-year
- Median household income
- $43,1252024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 36.9%2024 5-year
- Black
- 60.2%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 0.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+95 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+85 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Jefferson Davis County, MS · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Clay CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Clay 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 | +83.5% |
| 1896 | +88.8% |
| 1900 | +92.7% |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | +92.9% |
| 1916 | +93.6% |
| 1920 | +88.0% |
| 1924 | +86.5% |
| 1928 | +83.8% |
| 1932 | +95.0% |
| 1936 | +95.1% |
| 1940 | +84.5% |
| 1944 | +82.8% |
| 1948 | +2.2% |
| 1952 | +6.6% |
| 1956 | +36.3% |
| 1960 | +7.4% |
| 1964 | −85.3% |
| 1968 | +18.4% |
| 1972 | −46.4% |
| 1976 | +7.3% |
| 1980 | +10.5% |
| 1984 | −0.8% |
| 1988 | +2.7% |
| 1992 | +15.5% |
| 1996 | +17.4% |
| 2000 | +11.6% |
| 2004 | +4.5% |
| 2008 | +18.9% |
| 2012 | +21.9% |
| 2016 | +15.7% |
| 2020 | +16.3% |
| 2024 | +10.4% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 4,960 | 4,017 | 9,057 | ||
| D | 5,844 | 4,181 | 10,189 | ||
| D | 5,722 | 4,150 | 10,003 | ||
| D | 6,712 | 4,291 | 11,072 | ||
| D | 6,558 | 4,466 | 11,092 | ||
| D | 4,753 | 4,342 | 9,141 | ||
| D | 4,515 | 3,570 | 8,165 | ||
| D | 4,267 | 2,948 | 7,564 | ||
| D | 4,620 | 3,297 | 8,563 | ||
| D | 3,849 | 3,645 | 7,553 | ||
| R | 4,046 | 4,112 | 8,187 | ||
| D | 4,275 | 3,439 | 7,964 | ||
| D | 3,514 | 3,017 | 6,837 | ||
| R | 1,410 | 4,035 | 5,652 | ||
| O | 1,510 | 494 | 5,509 | ||
| R | 226 | 2,848 | 3,074 | ||
| O | 626 | 451 | 2,372 | ||
| D | 1,225 | 410 | 2,247 | ||
| D | 1,230 | 1,077 | 2,307 | ||
| O | 59 | 22 | 1,686 | ||
| D | 1,158 | 109 | 1,267 | ||
| D | 1,232 | 103 | 1,336 | ||
| D | 1,271 | 32 | 1,303 | ||
| D | 1,371 | 34 | 1,407 | ||
| D | 1,456 | 128 | 1,584 | ||
| D | 1,136 | 82 | 1,218 | ||
| D | 771 | 48 | 822 | ||
| D | 832 | 27 | 860 | ||
| D | 628 | 4 | 672 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| D | 668 | 16 | 703 | ||
| D | 676 | 34 | 723 | ||
| D | 523 | 6 | 619 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
9.6%
American
6.4%
Irish
3.9%
German
2.0%
French
1.4%
Italian
0.9%
Scottish
0.8%
African American
48.2%
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: 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
$43,125
Clay County ranks in the bottom 10% of US counties.
Clay County$43,125
Mississippi$56,447
United States$80,734
Clay 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
20.9%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1832.4%
Working age (18–64)18.2%
Seniors (65+)10.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
99.5%
speak English only
Spanish0.3%
Other languages0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 11.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Clay County's D+10.4 margin in 2024 stands out in a state where most rural counties have shifted sharply Republican, driven by a majority-Black population concentrated around the county seat of West Point.
The Democratic margin here reached ninety-five points in 1936. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved six points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was ten 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 $43,125 and a 21% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Jefferson Davis County and Marion 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.
Clay County, Mississippi. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/28025/. 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 Clay County, Mississippi vote in 2024?
In 2024, Clay County, Mississippi voted Democratic by 10.4 points (D+10), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 9,057 votes cast, 4,960 went Democratic and 4,017 went Republican.
What is Clay County, Mississippi's political typology?
Akashic places Clay 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 26 times, Republican 3 times, and other 3 times.
When did Clay County, Mississippi last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Clay County, Mississippi voted Republican was 1984.
How many people live in Clay County, Mississippi?
Clay County, Mississippi has a population of 18,383 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Clay County, Mississippi?
Median household income in Clay County, Mississippi is $43,125 — below the national median of $80,734. The Mississippi state median is $56,447.
What is the political history of Clay County, Mississippi?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Clay County, Mississippi from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 26 went Democratic and 3 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.