Panola County, Mississippi: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted R+15%. Democratic peak: D+100 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+15MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 32,8082024 5-year
- Median household income
- $45,9452024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 46.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 48.3%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+100 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+81 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Chester County, SC · similarity 0.97
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Panola CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Panola 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 | +65.4% |
| 1896 | +85.3% |
| 1900 | +93.1% |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | +87.7% |
| 1916 | +95.5% |
| 1920 | +82.4% |
| 1924 | +89.8% |
| 1928 | +83.4% |
| 1932 | +96.8% |
| 1936 | +99.6% |
| 1940 | +95.5% |
| 1944 | +91.1% |
| 1948 | +7.2% |
| 1952 | +33.0% |
| 1956 | +46.4% |
| 1960 | +6.9% |
| 1964 | −81.3% |
| 1968 | +20.6% |
| 1972 | −42.7% |
| 1976 | +24.0% |
| 1980 | +18.3% |
| 1984 | −3.4% |
| 1988 | −1.5% |
| 1992 | +12.4% |
| 1996 | +17.7% |
| 2000 | +4.0% |
| 2004 | −1.1% |
| 2008 | +6.5% |
| 2012 | +8.6% |
| 2016 | −0.1% |
| 2020 | −4.2% |
| 2024 | −14.8% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 6,061 | 8,202 | 14,422 | ||
| R | 7,403 | 8,060 | 15,627 | ||
| R | 7,431 | 7,449 | 15,064 | ||
| D | 9,079 | 7,629 | 16,826 | ||
| D | 8,690 | 7,620 | 16,416 | ||
| R | 6,615 | 6,769 | 13,440 | ||
| D | 5,880 | 5,424 | 11,389 | ||
| D | 5,408 | 3,701 | 9,652 | ||
| D | 6,066 | 4,644 | 11,460 | ||
| R | 5,222 | 5,382 | 10,665 | ||
| R | 5,465 | 5,850 | 11,375 | ||
| D | 6,179 | 4,219 | 10,728 | ||
| D | 5,517 | 3,341 | 9,067 | ||
| R | 2,091 | 5,284 | 7,483 | ||
| O | 2,743 | 1,098 | 7,974 | ||
| R | 413 | 4,002 | 4,415 | ||
| O | 841 | 643 | 2,888 | ||
| D | 1,741 | 519 | 2,631 | ||
| D | 2,047 | 1,032 | 3,079 | ||
| O | 195 | 38 | 2,170 | ||
| D | 1,931 | 90 | 2,021 | ||
| D | 1,988 | 45 | 2,034 | ||
| D | 1,481 | 3 | 1,484 | ||
| D | 1,318 | 20 | 1,341 | ||
| D | 1,569 | 142 | 1,711 | ||
| D | 1,264 | 53 | 1,348 | ||
| D | 843 | 80 | 926 | ||
| D | 1,262 | 29 | 1,291 | ||
| D | 760 | 13 | 852 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| D | 1,042 | 33 | 1,084 | ||
| D | 1,235 | 78 | 1,357 | ||
| D | 624 | 24 | 918 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
12.9%
Irish
5.4%
American
5.0%
German
3.1%
Italian
2.4%
French
0.9%
Scottish
0.5%
African American
38.6%
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: 39.4 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
$45,945
Panola County ranks in the bottom 10% of US counties.
Panola County$45,945
Mississippi$56,447
United States$80,734
Panola 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
23.3%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1830.0%
Working age (18–64)21.5%
Seniors (65+)16.5%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.8%
speak English only
Spanish1.6%
Other languages0.4%
Other Indo-European0.1%
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 49.3% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Panola County sits at the boundary of the Mississippi Delta and the North Central Hills, with a population that is roughly half Black — a demographic split that has historically kept presidential margins closer here than in surrounding counties.
The Democratic margin here reached 100 points in 1936. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved eleven points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was fifteen 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 $45,945 and a 23% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Chester County and Burke 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.
Panola County, Mississippi. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/28107/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in Mississippi
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Frequently asked questions
How did Panola County, Mississippi vote in 2024?
In 2024, Panola County, Mississippi voted Republican by 14.8 points (R+15), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 14,422 votes cast, 6,061 went Democratic and 8,202 went Republican.
What is Panola County, Mississippi's political typology?
Akashic places Panola 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 21 times, Republican 8 times, and other 3 times.
When did Panola County, Mississippi last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Panola County, Mississippi voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Panola County, Mississippi?
Panola County, Mississippi has a population of 32,808 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Panola County, Mississippi?
Median household income in Panola County, Mississippi is $45,945 — below the national median of $80,734. The Mississippi state median is $56,447.
What is the political history of Panola County, Mississippi?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Panola County, Mississippi from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 21 went Democratic and 8 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.