Washington County, Mississippi: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted D+35%. Democratic peak: D+92 in 1892.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+35MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 42,7652024 5-year
- Median household income
- $42,1652024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 23.9%2024 5-year
- Black
- 71.6%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 1.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+92 in 1892MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+47 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Shelby County, TN · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Washington CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Washington 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 | +91.8% |
| 1896 | +67.7% |
| 1900 | +65.2% |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | +86.0% |
| 1916 | +89.1% |
| 1920 | +85.5% |
| 1924 | +79.7% |
| 1928 | +71.8% |
| 1932 | +88.6% |
| 1936 | +91.4% |
| 1940 | +77.9% |
| 1944 | +63.2% |
| 1948 | −0.4% |
| 1952 | −11.5% |
| 1956 | +13.6% |
| 1960 | +12.2% |
| 1964 | −47.4% |
| 1968 | +13.2% |
| 1972 | −33.2% |
| 1976 | +12.0% |
| 1980 | +8.7% |
| 1984 | −7.8% |
| 1988 | −0.0% |
| 1992 | +15.2% |
| 1996 | +18.9% |
| 2000 | +16.6% |
| 2004 | +19.6% |
| 2008 | +34.7% |
| 2012 | +42.3% |
| 2016 | +36.5% |
| 2020 | +39.9% |
| 2024 | +35.0% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 9,735 | 4,649 | 14,540 | ||
| D | 12,503 | 5,300 | 18,034 | ||
| D | 11,380 | 5,244 | 16,825 | ||
| D | 13,981 | 5,651 | 19,715 | ||
| D | 13,148 | 6,347 | 19,583 | ||
| D | 11,569 | 7,731 | 19,597 | ||
| D | 10,405 | 7,367 | 18,328 | ||
| D | 10,053 | 6,762 | 17,440 | ||
| D | 10,588 | 7,598 | 19,689 | ||
| R | 10,222 | 10,229 | 20,687 | ||
| R | 10,617 | 12,454 | 23,414 | ||
| D | 10,722 | 8,978 | 20,117 | ||
| D | 9,650 | 7,474 | 18,149 | ||
| R | 4,623 | 9,634 | 15,104 | ||
| O | 5,520 | 3,500 | 15,320 | ||
| R | 2,004 | 5,611 | 7,615 | ||
| D | 3,105 | 2,292 | 6,655 | ||
| D | 2,722 | 1,973 | 5,490 | ||
| R | 2,618 | 3,301 | 5,919 | ||
| O | 260 | 271 | 2,979 | ||
| D | 2,012 | 454 | 2,466 | ||
| D | 2,349 | 292 | 2,642 | ||
| D | 2,143 | 94 | 2,241 | ||
| D | 1,691 | 100 | 1,795 | ||
| D | 1,496 | 246 | 1,742 | ||
| D | 1,277 | 143 | 1,422 | ||
| D | 776 | 60 | 837 | ||
| D | 836 | 47 | 886 | ||
| D | 731 | 20 | 827 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| D | 580 | 122 | 702 | ||
| D | 611 | 98 | 758 | ||
| D | 600 | 20 | 632 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
34.4%
English
4.2%
Irish
2.4%
German
1.8%
Italian
1.3%
African American
57.3%
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: 38.0 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
$42,165
Washington County ranks in the bottom 10% of US counties.
Washington County$42,165
Mississippi$56,447
United States$80,734
Washington 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
26.4%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1838.1%
Working age (18–64)22.7%
Seniors (65+)18.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.5%
speak English only
Spanish1.5%
Other Indo-European0.6%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 24.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Washington County's electorate is majority-Black, a demographic legacy of the Delta's plantation-era settlement patterns, and it has returned Democratic presidential margins above 30 points in every recent cycle.
The Democratic margin here reached ninety-two points in 1892. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved five points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was thirty-five 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 $42,165 and a 26% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Shelby County and Leflore 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.
Washington County, Mississippi. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/28151/. 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 Washington County, Mississippi vote in 2024?
In 2024, Washington County, Mississippi voted Democratic by 35.0 points (D+35), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 14,540 votes cast, 9,735 went Democratic and 4,649 went Republican.
What is Washington County, Mississippi's political typology?
Akashic places Washington 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 5 times, and other 2 times.
When did Washington County, Mississippi last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Washington County, Mississippi voted Republican was 1988.
How many people live in Washington County, Mississippi?
Washington County, Mississippi has a population of 42,765 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Washington County, Mississippi?
Median household income in Washington County, Mississippi is $42,165 — below the national median of $80,734. The Mississippi state median is $56,447.
What is the political history of Washington County, Mississippi?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Washington County, Mississippi from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 25 went Democratic and 5 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.