Polk County, Missouri: Evangelical Deep South county. In 2024, voted R+61%. Republican peak: R+61 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+61MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Evangelical Deep SouthAkashic typology
- Population
- 32,4442024 5-year
- Median household income
- $59,6472024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 91.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.0%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+7 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+61 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Lawrence County, MO · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Polk CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Polk County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
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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 | −17.0% |
| 1896 | +2.8% |
| 1900 | −10.0% |
| 1904 | −18.2% |
| 1908 | −10.8% |
| 1912 | +2.9% |
| 1916 | −9.6% |
| 1920 | −26.8% |
| 1924 | −14.6% |
| 1928 | −39.4% |
| 1932 | +6.6% |
| 1936 | −13.6% |
| 1940 | −24.1% |
| 1944 | −33.1% |
| 1948 | −13.3% |
| 1952 | −35.9% |
| 1956 | −19.5% |
| 1960 | −33.0% |
| 1964 | +1.0% |
| 1968 | −28.5% |
| 1972 | −41.3% |
| 1976 | −3.0% |
| 1980 | −18.0% |
| 1984 | −32.0% |
| 1988 | −19.0% |
| 1992 | −1.7% |
| 1996 | −13.4% |
| 2000 | −27.4% |
| 2004 | −38.6% |
| 2008 | −32.1% |
| 2012 | −43.2% |
| 2016 | −56.7% |
| 2020 | −59.4% |
| 2024 | −61.2% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 2,948 | 12,691 | 15,908 | ||
| R | 2,885 | 11,850 | 15,098 | ||
| R | 2,631 | 10,438 | 13,763 | ||
| R | 3,580 | 9,252 | 13,119 | ||
| R | 4,553 | 8,956 | 13,697 | ||
| R | 3,775 | 8,586 | 12,453 | ||
| R | 3,606 | 6,430 | 10,294 | ||
| R | 3,307 | 4,521 | 9,089 | ||
| R | 3,316 | 3,465 | 8,675 | ||
| R | 3,419 | 5,030 | 8,470 | ||
| R | 2,819 | 5,467 | 8,286 | ||
| R | 3,336 | 4,842 | 8,368 | ||
| R | 3,663 | 3,893 | 7,590 | ||
| R | 2,245 | 5,409 | 7,654 | ||
| R | 2,170 | 4,145 | 6,929 | ||
| D | 3,353 | 3,288 | 6,641 | ||
| R | 2,440 | 4,849 | 7,289 | ||
| R | 2,968 | 4,410 | 7,378 | ||
| R | 2,474 | 5,263 | 7,761 | ||
| R | 3,079 | 4,026 | 7,107 | ||
| R | 2,527 | 5,040 | 7,585 | ||
| R | 3,380 | 5,534 | 8,928 | ||
| R | 3,899 | 5,126 | 9,048 | ||
| D | 4,355 | 3,811 | 8,213 | ||
| R | 2,303 | 5,307 | 7,622 | ||
| R | 3,033 | 4,097 | 7,291 | ||
| R | 2,847 | 4,967 | 7,907 | ||
| R | 2,149 | 2,613 | 4,858 | ||
| D | 1,935 | 1,802 | 4,616 | ||
| R | 2,139 | 2,670 | 4,905 | ||
| R | 1,807 | 2,659 | 4,675 | ||
| R | 2,178 | 2,679 | 4,999 | ||
| D | 2,711 | 2,564 | 5,306 | ||
| R | 1,211 | 1,918 | 4,171 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
17.9%
German
16.5%
Irish
9.5%
American
9.2%
Scottish
2.1%
French
1.7%
Italian
1.4%
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
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: 38.1 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
$59,647
Polk County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Polk County$59,647
Missouri$70,702
United States$80,734
Polk 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
16.3%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1818.6%
Working age (18–64)15.2%
Seniors (65+)19.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.1%
speak English only
Other Indo-European2.2%
Spanish1.1%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.6%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 60.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Polk County, anchored by Bolivar in the Ozarks fringe, returned a 61-point Republican margin in 2024 — a figure that places it among Missouri's most one-sided counties and reflects the region's deep rural realignment over the past two decades.
The Republican margin here reached its widest at sixty-one points in 2024. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved two points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was sixty-one points.
A median household income of $59,647, a 16% poverty rate, and a 92% non-Hispanic-white share describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Lawrence County and Dade 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.
Polk County, Missouri. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/29167/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More evangelical deep south counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Polk County, Missouri vote in 2024?
In 2024, Polk County, Missouri voted Republican by 61.2 points (R+61), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 15,908 votes cast, 2,948 went Democratic and 12,691 went Republican.
What is Polk County, Missouri's political typology?
Akashic places Polk County, Missouri in the "Evangelical Deep South" typology — Deeply Republican, heavily Baptist counties of the Deep South. 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 4 times, Republican 30 times, and other 0 times.
When did Polk County, Missouri last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Polk County, Missouri voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Polk County, Missouri?
Polk County, Missouri has a population of 32,444 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Polk County, Missouri?
Median household income in Polk County, Missouri is $59,647 — below the national median of $80,734. The Missouri state median is $70,702.
What is the political history of Polk County, Missouri?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Polk County, Missouri from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 4 went Democratic and 30 went Republican. The county's typology — "Evangelical Deep South" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.