Forrest County, Mississippi: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted R+18%. Democratic peak: D+88 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+18MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 78,2722024 5-year
- Median household income
- $53,6402024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 56.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 35.5%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 4.4%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+88 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+78 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Prince George County, VA · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Forrest CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Forrest 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 | No data |
| 1896 | No data |
| 1900 | No data |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | +81.1% |
| 1916 | +86.5% |
| 1920 | +74.4% |
| 1924 | +78.3% |
| 1928 | +10.7% |
| 1932 | +82.7% |
| 1936 | +87.5% |
| 1940 | +85.9% |
| 1944 | +78.7% |
| 1948 | +4.1% |
| 1952 | −20.8% |
| 1956 | −5.5% |
| 1960 | −15.6% |
| 1964 | −78.3% |
| 1968 | −2.1% |
| 1972 | −64.2% |
| 1976 | −14.9% |
| 1980 | −20.5% |
| 1984 | −39.6% |
| 1988 | −34.2% |
| 1992 | −18.0% |
| 1996 | −16.2% |
| 2000 | −21.5% |
| 2004 | −22.8% |
| 2008 | −13.5% |
| 2012 | −10.9% |
| 2016 | −13.3% |
| 2020 | −11.2% |
| 2024 | −17.9% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 11,475 | 16,579 | 28,466 | ||
| R | 13,755 | 17,290 | 31,654 | ||
| R | 11,716 | 15,461 | 28,064 | ||
| R | 13,272 | 16,574 | 30,236 | ||
| R | 11,622 | 15,296 | 27,184 | ||
| R | 10,220 | 16,318 | 26,745 | ||
| R | 8,500 | 13,281 | 22,251 | ||
| R | 7,965 | 11,278 | 20,442 | ||
| R | 8,333 | 12,432 | 22,753 | ||
| R | 6,953 | 14,249 | 21,318 | ||
| R | 6,786 | 15,719 | 22,576 | ||
| R | 8,274 | 12,656 | 21,327 | ||
| R | 7,914 | 10,770 | 19,120 | ||
| R | 2,933 | 14,418 | 17,898 | ||
| O | 2,957 | 3,294 | 16,226 | ||
| R | 1,128 | 9,291 | 10,419 | ||
| R | 2,068 | 3,412 | 8,632 | ||
| R | 1,928 | 2,256 | 6,013 | ||
| R | 2,936 | 4,480 | 7,416 | ||
| O | 406 | 167 | 5,880 | ||
| D | 3,649 | 436 | 4,085 | ||
| D | 3,075 | 228 | 3,313 | ||
| D | 3,596 | 234 | 3,841 | ||
| D | 2,068 | 182 | 2,280 | ||
| D | 1,793 | 1,447 | 3,240 | ||
| D | 1,826 | 156 | 2,134 | ||
| D | 1,146 | 140 | 1,352 | ||
| D | 1,146 | 54 | 1,262 | ||
| D | 886 | 16 | 1,073 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
12.2%
English
10.6%
Irish
8.5%
German
7.3%
French
2.7%
Scottish
2.3%
Italian
1.6%
African American
28.4%
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: 32.0 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
$53,640
Forrest County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Forrest County$53,640
Mississippi$56,447
United States$80,734
Forrest County ranks in the bottom 25% 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
21.0%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1827.5%
Working age (18–64)19.4%
Seniors (65+)13.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.1%
speak English only
Spanish2.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.7%
Other Indo-European0.5%
Other languages0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 28.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Forrest County's Republican margins have narrowed noticeably compared to surrounding rural counties, a pattern driven by Hattiesburg's university presence and a more diverse urban core along the Highway 49 corridor.
The Democratic margin here reached eighty-eight points in 1936. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved seven points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was eighteen 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 $53,640 and a 21% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Prince George County and Dorchester 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.
Forrest County, Mississippi. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/28035/. 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 Forrest County, Mississippi vote in 2024?
In 2024, Forrest County, Mississippi voted Republican by 17.9 points (R+18), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 28,466 votes cast, 11,475 went Democratic and 16,579 went Republican.
What is Forrest County, Mississippi's political typology?
Akashic places Forrest 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 9 times, Republican 18 times, and other 2 times.
When did Forrest County, Mississippi last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Forrest County, Mississippi voted Democratic was 1944.
How many people live in Forrest County, Mississippi?
Forrest County, Mississippi has a population of 78,272 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Forrest County, Mississippi?
Median household income in Forrest County, Mississippi is $53,640 — below the national median of $80,734. The Mississippi state median is $56,447.
What is the political history of Forrest County, Mississippi?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Forrest County, Mississippi from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 9 went Democratic and 18 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.