Sharkey County, Mississippi: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted D+37%. Democratic peak: D+100 in 1932.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+37MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 3,8722024 5-year
- Median household income
- $40,0002024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 23.3%2024 5-year
- Black
- 75.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 0.4%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+100 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+79 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Norfolk city, VA · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Sharkey CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Sharkey 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 | +76.3% |
| 1896 | +77.8% |
| 1900 | +80.0% |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | +91.7% |
| 1916 | +94.5% |
| 1920 | +94.0% |
| 1924 | +81.2% |
| 1928 | +85.9% |
| 1932 | +99.8% |
| 1936 | +97.6% |
| 1940 | +95.3% |
| 1944 | +93.4% |
| 1948 | +1.7% |
| 1952 | −21.5% |
| 1956 | +11.7% |
| 1960 | −5.0% |
| 1964 | −79.4% |
| 1968 | +30.0% |
| 1972 | −36.7% |
| 1976 | +10.6% |
| 1980 | +31.8% |
| 1984 | +6.9% |
| 1988 | +11.2% |
| 1992 | +18.8% |
| 1996 | +25.2% |
| 2000 | +21.8% |
| 2004 | +14.2% |
| 2008 | +37.0% |
| 2012 | +41.3% |
| 2016 | +35.9% |
| 2020 | +35.6% |
| 2024 | +36.8% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 1,201 | 551 | 1,766 | ||
| D | 1,465 | 688 | 2,183 | ||
| D | 1,479 | 692 | 2,190 | ||
| D | 1,782 | 737 | 2,532 | ||
| D | 1,907 | 873 | 2,795 | ||
| D | 1,560 | 1,120 | 3,093 | ||
| D | 1,706 | 1,074 | 2,903 | ||
| D | 1,566 | 906 | 2,619 | ||
| D | 1,526 | 1,008 | 2,752 | ||
| D | 1,609 | 1,277 | 2,970 | ||
| D | 1,723 | 1,487 | 3,398 | ||
| D | 1,957 | 996 | 3,021 | ||
| D | 1,283 | 1,024 | 2,449 | ||
| R | 655 | 1,426 | 2,099 | ||
| O | 972 | 249 | 2,409 | ||
| R | 128 | 1,116 | 1,244 | ||
| O | 263 | 313 | 1,007 | ||
| O | 308 | 211 | 832 | ||
| R | 388 | 600 | 988 | ||
| O | 23 | 10 | 778 | ||
| D | 698 | 24 | 722 | ||
| D | 747 | 18 | 765 | ||
| D | 567 | 7 | 574 | ||
| D | 551 | 0 | 552 | ||
| D | 475 | 36 | 511 | ||
| D | 353 | 34 | 393 | ||
| D | 228 | 7 | 235 | ||
| D | 246 | 6 | 254 | ||
| D | 157 | 3 | 168 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| D | 186 | 18 | 210 | ||
| D | 194 | 22 | 221 | ||
| D | 135 | 13 | 160 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
21.5%
English
2.8%
French
2.2%
Irish
1.6%
German
0.6%
African American
60.6%
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: 38.4 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
$40,000
Sharkey County ranks in the bottom 5% of US counties.
Sharkey County$40,000
Mississippi$56,447
United States$80,734
Sharkey 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
30.9%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1836.9%
Working age (18–64)29.7%
Seniors (65+)20.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
99.9%
speak English only
Spanish0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 39.8% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Sharkey County's heavily Black majority population — among the highest proportions in Mississippi — anchors a Democratic lean that has held across multiple election cycles, even as surrounding Delta counties have shifted toward Republicans.
The Democratic margin here reached 100 points in 1932. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved one point toward the Democratic candidate; the 2024 margin was thirty-seven points.
The economic context is part of the story: a median household income of $40,000 and a 31% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Norfolk city and Dallas 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.
Sharkey County, Mississippi. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/28125/. 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 Sharkey County, Mississippi vote in 2024?
In 2024, Sharkey County, Mississippi voted Democratic by 36.8 points (D+37), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 1,766 votes cast, 1,201 went Democratic and 551 went Republican.
What is Sharkey County, Mississippi's political typology?
Akashic places Sharkey 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 25 times, Republican 3 times, and other 4 times.
When did Sharkey County, Mississippi last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Sharkey County, Mississippi voted Republican was 1972.
How many people live in Sharkey County, Mississippi?
Sharkey County, Mississippi has a population of 3,872 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Sharkey County, Mississippi?
Median household income in Sharkey County, Mississippi is $40,000 — below the national median of $80,734. The Mississippi state median is $56,447.
What is the political history of Sharkey County, Mississippi?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Sharkey County, Mississippi from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 25 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.