Winston County, Mississippi: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted R+18%. Democratic peak: D+98 in 1932.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+18MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 17,5362024 5-year
- Median household income
- $53,0312024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 49.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 47.1%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 0.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+98 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+89 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Leake County, MS · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Winston CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Winston 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 | +59.1% |
| 1896 | +90.8% |
| 1900 | +81.7% |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | +89.3% |
| 1916 | +90.1% |
| 1920 | +77.1% |
| 1924 | +92.4% |
| 1928 | +88.7% |
| 1932 | +98.4% |
| 1936 | +98.2% |
| 1940 | +97.4% |
| 1944 | +94.6% |
| 1948 | +9.8% |
| 1952 | +53.7% |
| 1956 | +65.5% |
| 1960 | +21.9% |
| 1964 | −88.6% |
| 1968 | +6.7% |
| 1972 | −58.0% |
| 1976 | +3.8% |
| 1980 | +4.9% |
| 1984 | −18.9% |
| 1988 | −15.9% |
| 1992 | −4.0% |
| 1996 | −0.1% |
| 2000 | −11.6% |
| 2004 | −15.0% |
| 2008 | −8.3% |
| 2012 | −5.7% |
| 2016 | −11.9% |
| 2020 | −11.6% |
| 2024 | −18.2% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 3,392 | 4,922 | 8,384 | ||
| R | 4,040 | 5,112 | 9,236 | ||
| R | 3,850 | 4,910 | 8,881 | ||
| R | 4,607 | 5,168 | 9,829 | ||
| R | 4,653 | 5,497 | 10,221 | ||
| R | 3,978 | 5,386 | 9,415 | ||
| R | 3,672 | 4,645 | 8,368 | ||
| R | 3,488 | 3,498 | 7,438 | ||
| R | 3,953 | 4,311 | 8,968 | ||
| R | 3,851 | 5,317 | 9,229 | ||
| R | 3,543 | 5,192 | 8,746 | ||
| D | 4,416 | 3,998 | 8,545 | ||
| D | 3,956 | 3,659 | 7,792 | ||
| R | 1,354 | 5,155 | 6,555 | ||
| O | 911 | 508 | 6,054 | ||
| R | 237 | 3,922 | 4,159 | ||
| O | 1,056 | 405 | 2,966 | ||
| D | 2,132 | 361 | 2,705 | ||
| D | 2,559 | 771 | 3,330 | ||
| O | 240 | 33 | 2,105 | ||
| D | 1,822 | 51 | 1,873 | ||
| D | 1,979 | 26 | 2,005 | ||
| D | 2,418 | 21 | 2,440 | ||
| D | 1,720 | 12 | 1,736 | ||
| D | 1,620 | 97 | 1,717 | ||
| D | 1,344 | 53 | 1,397 | ||
| D | 932 | 113 | 1,062 | ||
| D | 1,152 | 47 | 1,226 | ||
| D | 743 | 9 | 822 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| D | 597 | 42 | 679 | ||
| D | 793 | 32 | 838 | ||
| D | 357 | 4 | 597 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
11.0%
English
7.9%
Irish
7.0%
German
2.3%
Scottish
1.8%
Italian
0.5%
African American
37.7%
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: 42.8 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
$53,031
Winston County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Winston County$53,031
Mississippi$56,447
United States$80,734
Winston County ranks in the bottom 25% 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
26.9%
Nearly half of children live in poverty.
Children under 1843.7%
Working age (18–64)22.3%
Seniors (65+)20.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
98.4%
speak English only
Other languages0.9%
Spanish0.6%
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 30.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Winston County sits in east-central Mississippi's piney-woods belt, where a declining manufacturing base and a population that has shrunk roughly 15% since 2000 have reshaped the electorate even as presidential margins continue to widen on the Republican side.
The Democratic margin here reached ninety-eight points in 1932. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved seven points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was eighteen 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 $53,031 and a 27% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Leake County and Grenada 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.
Winston County, Mississippi. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/28159/. 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 Winston County, Mississippi vote in 2024?
In 2024, Winston County, Mississippi voted Republican by 18.2 points (R+18), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 8,384 votes cast, 3,392 went Democratic and 4,922 went Republican.
What is Winston County, Mississippi's political typology?
Akashic places Winston 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 16 times, Republican 13 times, and other 3 times.
When did Winston County, Mississippi last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Winston County, Mississippi voted Democratic was 1980.
How many people live in Winston County, Mississippi?
Winston County, Mississippi has a population of 17,536 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Winston County, Mississippi?
Median household income in Winston County, Mississippi is $53,031 — below the national median of $80,734. The Mississippi state median is $56,447.
What is the political history of Winston County, Mississippi?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Winston County, Mississippi from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 16 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.