Wayne County, Missouri: Appalachian Realigners county. In 2024, voted R+73%. Republican peak: R+73 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+73MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Appalachian RealignersAkashic typology
- Population
- 10,8622024 5-year
- Median household income
- $47,2262024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 93.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 1.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+24 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+73 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Daviess County, MO · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Wayne CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Wayne 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 | +17.7% |
| 1896 | +5.0% |
| 1900 | +2.8% |
| 1904 | −3.3% |
| 1908 | +2.6% |
| 1912 | +12.8% |
| 1916 | +2.0% |
| 1920 | −6.8% |
| 1924 | +7.3% |
| 1928 | −13.9% |
| 1932 | +23.5% |
| 1936 | +12.9% |
| 1940 | +4.5% |
| 1944 | −0.0% |
| 1948 | +16.4% |
| 1952 | +1.6% |
| 1956 | −1.2% |
| 1960 | −17.6% |
| 1964 | +19.6% |
| 1968 | −9.8% |
| 1972 | −27.8% |
| 1976 | +20.7% |
| 1980 | −5.0% |
| 1984 | −9.6% |
| 1988 | −3.8% |
| 1992 | +16.1% |
| 1996 | +10.3% |
| 2000 | −16.4% |
| 2004 | −26.9% |
| 2008 | −25.0% |
| 2012 | −34.6% |
| 2016 | −64.4% |
| 2020 | −70.5% |
| 2024 | −72.6% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 783 | 5,030 | 5,847 | ||
| R | 845 | 4,987 | 5,878 | ||
| R | 948 | 4,658 | 5,762 | ||
| R | 1,813 | 3,790 | 5,720 | ||
| R | 2,243 | 3,784 | 6,154 | ||
| R | 2,250 | 3,919 | 6,204 | ||
| R | 2,387 | 3,346 | 5,848 | ||
| D | 2,754 | 2,172 | 5,649 | ||
| D | 3,073 | 2,101 | 6,019 | ||
| R | 2,456 | 2,648 | 5,112 | ||
| R | 2,363 | 2,867 | 5,230 | ||
| R | 2,549 | 2,823 | 5,444 | ||
| D | 2,987 | 1,963 | 4,958 | ||
| R | 1,746 | 3,091 | 4,837 | ||
| R | 1,714 | 2,156 | 4,511 | ||
| D | 3,005 | 2,019 | 5,024 | ||
| R | 2,152 | 3,069 | 5,221 | ||
| R | 2,451 | 2,513 | 4,964 | ||
| D | 2,500 | 2,423 | 4,937 | ||
| D | 2,695 | 1,937 | 4,634 | ||
| R | 2,169 | 2,171 | 4,349 | ||
| D | 2,991 | 2,735 | 5,739 | ||
| D | 3,235 | 2,494 | 5,745 | ||
| D | 3,172 | 1,955 | 5,169 | ||
| R | 2,011 | 2,662 | 4,685 | ||
| D | 2,283 | 1,958 | 4,439 | ||
| R | 2,072 | 2,380 | 4,552 | ||
| D | 1,594 | 1,528 | 3,229 | ||
| D | 1,432 | 1,052 | 2,967 | ||
| D | 1,641 | 1,554 | 3,299 | ||
| R | 1,567 | 1,678 | 3,331 | ||
| D | 1,745 | 1,648 | 3,427 | ||
| D | 1,568 | 1,418 | 3,008 | ||
| D | 1,393 | 964 | 2,419 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
13.9%
Irish
10.5%
American
8.0%
English
7.7%
Italian
2.1%
Scottish
1.6%
French
1.3%
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: 48.6 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
$47,226
Wayne County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Wayne County$47,226
Missouri$70,702
United States$80,734
Wayne 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
25.7%
Nearly half of children live in poverty.
Children under 1841.0%
Working age (18–64)22.2%
Seniors (65+)20.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
99.3%
speak English only
Spanish0.3%
Other Indo-European0.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 67.1% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Wayne County, anchored by the Ozark hills of southeastern Missouri, delivered a 72-point Republican margin in 2024 — among the widest in the state — reflecting a rural, predominantly white population with a long Democratic heritage that shifted sharply rightward over the past two decades.
The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin peaked at twenty-four points in 1932 and narrowed across the late twentieth century. The 2000 election carried the county to the Republican party for the first time in many years, by sixteen points. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved two points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was seventy-three points.
The economic context is severe: a median household income of $47,226 — among the lowest at this geographic scale — and a 26% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Daviess County and Audrain 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.
Wayne County, Missouri. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/29223/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Wayne County, Missouri vote in 2024?
In 2024, Wayne County, Missouri voted Republican by 72.6 points (R+73), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 5,847 votes cast, 783 went Democratic and 5,030 went Republican.
What is Wayne County, Missouri's political typology?
Akashic places Wayne County, Missouri in the "Appalachian Realigners" typology — Lower-income counties of Greater Appalachia — a long, deep arc from Democratic to Republican. 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 18 times, and other 0 times.
When did Wayne County, Missouri last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Wayne County, Missouri voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Wayne County, Missouri?
Wayne County, Missouri has a population of 10,862 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Wayne County, Missouri?
Median household income in Wayne County, Missouri is $47,226 — below the national median of $80,734. The Missouri state median is $70,702.
What is the political history of Wayne County, Missouri?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Wayne County, Missouri from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 16 went Democratic and 18 went Republican. The county's typology — "Appalachian Realigners" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.