Holmes County, Mississippi: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted D+62%. Democratic peak: D+99 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+62MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 16,1912024 5-year
- Median household income
- $32,5382024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 14.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 81.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 0.4%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+99 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+93 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Petersburg city, VA · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Holmes CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Holmes 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 | +71.7% |
| 1896 | +85.5% |
| 1900 | +90.3% |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | +94.8% |
| 1916 | +94.9% |
| 1920 | +84.7% |
| 1924 | +85.5% |
| 1928 | +87.5% |
| 1932 | +94.7% |
| 1936 | +98.7% |
| 1940 | +96.4% |
| 1944 | +88.2% |
| 1948 | +1.7% |
| 1952 | +4.3% |
| 1956 | +30.7% |
| 1960 | +6.7% |
| 1964 | −93.2% |
| 1968 | +45.4% |
| 1972 | +4.5% |
| 1976 | +30.2% |
| 1980 | +33.2% |
| 1984 | +29.0% |
| 1988 | +32.2% |
| 1992 | +39.9% |
| 1996 | +49.7% |
| 2000 | +47.3% |
| 2004 | +52.5% |
| 2008 | +63.4% |
| 2012 | +68.7% |
| 2016 | +66.6% |
| 2020 | +64.3% |
| 2024 | +62.1% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 5,420 | 1,243 | 6,730 | ||
| D | 6,588 | 1,369 | 8,115 | ||
| D | 6,689 | 1,309 | 8,076 | ||
| D | 7,812 | 1,435 | 9,288 | ||
| D | 7,765 | 1,714 | 9,543 | ||
| D | 6,366 | 1,961 | 8,383 | ||
| D | 5,447 | 1,937 | 7,422 | ||
| D | 4,720 | 1,536 | 6,411 | ||
| D | 4,092 | 1,694 | 6,014 | ||
| D | 5,350 | 2,737 | 8,126 | ||
| D | 5,641 | 3,102 | 8,753 | ||
| D | 5,463 | 2,693 | 8,336 | ||
| D | 4,616 | 2,438 | 7,203 | ||
| D | 3,459 | 3,158 | 6,686 | ||
| D | 3,881 | 520 | 7,409 | ||
| R | 110 | 3,115 | 3,225 | ||
| O | 628 | 455 | 2,567 | ||
| O | 872 | 215 | 2,139 | ||
| D | 1,423 | 1,305 | 2,728 | ||
| O | 61 | 24 | 2,224 | ||
| D | 1,954 | 122 | 2,076 | ||
| D | 2,041 | 37 | 2,078 | ||
| D | 1,885 | 12 | 1,897 | ||
| D | 1,799 | 45 | 1,852 | ||
| D | 2,004 | 134 | 2,138 | ||
| D | 1,173 | 92 | 1,265 | ||
| D | 917 | 69 | 1,001 | ||
| D | 1,070 | 21 | 1,105 | ||
| D | 936 | 5 | 982 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| D | 900 | 39 | 953 | ||
| D | 1,010 | 74 | 1,095 | ||
| D | 641 | 23 | 862 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
6.0%
English
2.6%
Irish
2.0%
Italian
0.7%
German
0.6%
African American
64.8%
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: 36.3 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
$32,538
Holmes County ranks in the bottom 5% of US counties.
Holmes County$32,538
Mississippi$56,447
United States$80,734
Holmes County ranks in the bottom 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
36.4%
Nearly half of children live in poverty.
Children under 1848.5%
Working age (18–64)32.7%
Seniors (65+)27.5%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
99.3%
speak English only
Spanish0.3%
Other Indo-European0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 51.1% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Holmes County, anchored by the Delta town of Lexington, posts presidential margins exceeding 60 points Democratic — driven by a population that is roughly 80% Black, a demographic legacy of the Delta's plantation-era labor geography.
The Democratic margin here reached ninety-nine points in 1936. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved two points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was sixty-two 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 $32,538 and a 36% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Petersburg city and Alameda 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.
Holmes County, Mississippi. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/28051/. 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 Holmes County, Mississippi vote in 2024?
In 2024, Holmes County, Mississippi voted Democratic by 62.1 points (D+62), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 6,730 votes cast, 5,420 went Democratic and 1,243 went Republican.
What is Holmes County, Mississippi's political typology?
Akashic places Holmes 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 28 times, Republican 1 times, and other 3 times.
When did Holmes County, Mississippi last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Holmes County, Mississippi voted Republican was 1964.
How many people live in Holmes County, Mississippi?
Holmes County, Mississippi has a population of 16,191 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Holmes County, Mississippi?
Median household income in Holmes County, Mississippi is $32,538 — below the national median of $80,734. The Mississippi state median is $56,447.
What is the political history of Holmes County, Mississippi?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Holmes County, Mississippi from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 28 went Democratic and 1 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.