Lafayette County, Mississippi: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted R+22%. Democratic peak: D+97 in 1932.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+22MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 58,3272024 5-year
- Median household income
- $67,1852024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 69.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 22.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.7%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+97 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+63 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Thomas County, GA · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Lafayette CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Lafayette 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 | +75.0% |
| 1896 | +81.9% |
| 1900 | +82.7% |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | +88.6% |
| 1916 | +92.5% |
| 1920 | +45.8% |
| 1924 | +89.1% |
| 1928 | +85.3% |
| 1932 | +97.0% |
| 1936 | +96.6% |
| 1940 | +94.1% |
| 1944 | +92.2% |
| 1948 | +35.2% |
| 1952 | +46.3% |
| 1956 | +51.6% |
| 1960 | +20.6% |
| 1964 | −63.3% |
| 1968 | +5.6% |
| 1972 | −54.9% |
| 1976 | +7.7% |
| 1980 | +5.4% |
| 1984 | −24.4% |
| 1988 | −19.0% |
| 1992 | −0.2% |
| 1996 | −1.1% |
| 2000 | −15.3% |
| 2004 | −18.1% |
| 2008 | −12.4% |
| 2012 | −15.3% |
| 2016 | −14.8% |
| 2020 | −12.3% |
| 2024 | −21.8% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 8,956 | 14,050 | 23,409 | ||
| R | 10,070 | 12,949 | 23,423 | ||
| R | 7,969 | 10,872 | 19,643 | ||
| R | 8,091 | 11,075 | 19,505 | ||
| R | 7,997 | 10,278 | 18,460 | ||
| R | 6,218 | 9,004 | 15,401 | ||
| R | 5,139 | 7,081 | 12,678 | ||
| R | 4,646 | 4,753 | 10,074 | ||
| R | 5,224 | 5,251 | 11,397 | ||
| R | 3,967 | 5,841 | 9,852 | ||
| R | 3,646 | 6,006 | 9,680 | ||
| D | 4,887 | 4,366 | 9,571 | ||
| D | 4,375 | 3,735 | 8,351 | ||
| R | 1,545 | 5,391 | 7,011 | ||
| O | 1,578 | 1,235 | 6,142 | ||
| R | 720 | 3,202 | 3,922 | ||
| D | 1,308 | 705 | 2,922 | ||
| D | 1,968 | 575 | 2,701 | ||
| D | 2,363 | 868 | 3,231 | ||
| O | 744 | 48 | 1,980 | ||
| D | 2,148 | 87 | 2,235 | ||
| D | 2,188 | 65 | 2,255 | ||
| D | 1,652 | 26 | 1,683 | ||
| D | 1,831 | 26 | 1,861 | ||
| D | 1,652 | 131 | 1,783 | ||
| D | 1,848 | 89 | 1,974 | ||
| D | 873 | 321 | 1,206 | ||
| D | 1,370 | 47 | 1,430 | ||
| D | 973 | 28 | 1,066 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| D | 1,020 | 91 | 1,123 | ||
| D | 1,314 | 129 | 1,447 | ||
| D | 866 | 48 | 1,090 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
14.7%
Irish
7.7%
German
7.3%
American
5.8%
Scottish
2.7%
Italian
2.4%
French
1.5%
African American
18.2%
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: 30.7 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
$67,185
Lafayette County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Lafayette County$67,185
Mississippi$56,447
United States$80,734
Lafayette County ranks near the middle 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
18.5%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1815.5%
Working age (18–64)20.3%
Seniors (65+)5.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
95.8%
speak English only
Other Indo-European1.6%
Spanish1.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.0%
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 60.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Lafayette County anchors the University of Mississippi in Oxford, giving it a younger and more educated demographic profile than most of rural Mississippi, yet it still returned a Republican margin above 20 points in 2024.
The Democratic margin here reached ninety-seven points in 1932. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved nine points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was twenty-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 $67,185 and a 19% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Thomas County and Bulloch 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.
Lafayette County, Mississippi. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/28071/. 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 Lafayette County, Mississippi vote in 2024?
In 2024, Lafayette County, Mississippi voted Republican by 21.8 points (R+22), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 23,409 votes cast, 8,956 went Democratic and 14,050 went Republican.
What is Lafayette County, Mississippi's political typology?
Akashic places Lafayette 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 17 times, Republican 13 times, and other 2 times.
When did Lafayette County, Mississippi last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Lafayette County, Mississippi voted Democratic was 1980.
How many people live in Lafayette County, Mississippi?
Lafayette County, Mississippi has a population of 58,327 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Lafayette County, Mississippi?
Median household income in Lafayette County, Mississippi is $67,185 — below the national median of $80,734. The Mississippi state median is $56,447.
What is the political history of Lafayette County, Mississippi?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Lafayette County, Mississippi from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 17 went Democratic and 13 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.