Deer Lodge County, Montana: Heartland Swing county. In 2024, voted D+1%. Democratic peak: D+83 in 1896.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+1MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Heartland SwingAkashic typology
- Population
- 9,5972024 5-year
- Median household income
- $57,5272024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 89.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+83 in 1896MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+30 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Lake County, MN · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Deer Lodge CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Deer Lodge 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 | +4.1% |
| 1896 | +83.2% |
| 1900 | +33.9% |
| 1904 | −4.7% |
| 1908 | +7.4% |
| 1912 | +4.8% |
| 1916 | +37.6% |
| 1920 | −29.9% |
| 1924 | −6.0% |
| 1928 | +8.3% |
| 1932 | +27.3% |
| 1936 | +48.5% |
| 1940 | +34.3% |
| 1944 | +33.1% |
| 1948 | +29.4% |
| 1952 | +16.1% |
| 1956 | +3.3% |
| 1960 | +40.3% |
| 1964 | +54.6% |
| 1968 | +43.7% |
| 1972 | +24.3% |
| 1976 | +26.9% |
| 1980 | +20.8% |
| 1984 | +29.8% |
| 1988 | +45.8% |
| 1992 | +44.4% |
| 1996 | +48.9% |
| 2000 | +26.0% |
| 2004 | +21.5% |
| 2008 | +37.4% |
| 2012 | +31.7% |
| 2016 | +7.0% |
| 2020 | +7.7% |
| 2024 | +1.0% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 2,376 | 2,329 | 4,870 | ||
| D | 2,562 | 2,186 | 4,891 | ||
| D | 2,058 | 1,763 | 4,206 | ||
| D | 2,860 | 1,448 | 4,460 | ||
| D | 3,402 | 1,502 | 5,074 | ||
| D | 2,700 | 1,725 | 4,543 | ||
| D | 2,672 | 1,493 | 4,534 | ||
| D | 3,331 | 883 | 5,010 | ||
| D | 3,174 | 832 | 5,269 | ||
| D | 3,185 | 1,168 | 4,406 | ||
| D | 3,539 | 1,901 | 5,505 | ||
| D | 3,077 | 1,905 | 5,638 | ||
| D | 3,859 | 2,197 | 6,176 | ||
| D | 3,979 | 2,373 | 6,604 | ||
| D | 4,208 | 1,554 | 6,074 | ||
| D | 4,835 | 1,415 | 6,259 | ||
| D | 5,149 | 2,188 | 7,344 | ||
| D | 3,792 | 3,551 | 7,343 | ||
| D | 4,162 | 3,001 | 7,217 | ||
| D | 3,862 | 2,036 | 6,212 | ||
| D | 4,347 | 2,176 | 6,556 | ||
| D | 4,916 | 2,397 | 7,345 | ||
| D | 4,813 | 1,640 | 6,549 | ||
| D | 3,893 | 2,198 | 6,204 | ||
| D | 3,184 | 2,695 | 5,901 | ||
| R | 1,611 | 1,937 | 5,467 | ||
| R | 1,567 | 3,130 | 5,219 | ||
| D | 4,171 | 1,860 | 6,143 | ||
| D | 1,197 | 1,060 | 2,860 | ||
| D | 1,611 | 1,377 | 3,153 | ||
| R | 1,504 | 1,666 | 3,425 | ||
| D | 3,395 | 1,636 | 5,193 | ||
| D | 4,916 | 446 | 5,370 | ||
| D | 2,152 | 1,930 | 5,441 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
Irish
19.8%
German
19.7%
English
12.8%
Italian
6.3%
French
5.3%
American
5.1%
Polish
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: 49.9 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
$57,527
Deer Lodge County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Deer Lodge County$57,527
Montana$72,509
United States$80,734
Deer Lodge 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%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1811.1%
Working age (18–64)16.8%
Seniors (65+)18.6%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
98.0%
speak English only
Spanish1.0%
Other Indo-European0.7%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.2%
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 65.2% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Deer Lodge County, home to Anaconda and its smelter legacy, leans modestly Democratic in a heavily Republican state — a holdover from organized labor's deep roots in Montana's copper-mining era.
The Democratic margin here peaked at eighty-three points in 1896. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved seven points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was one point.
A population of 9,597, a 90% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $57,527 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Lake County and Silver Bow 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.
Deer Lodge County, Montana. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/30023/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in Montana
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Frequently asked questions
How did Deer Lodge County, Montana vote in 2024?
In 2024, Deer Lodge County, Montana voted Democratic by 1.0 points (D+1), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 4,870 votes cast, 2,376 went Democratic and 2,329 went Republican.
What is Deer Lodge County, Montana's political typology?
Akashic places Deer Lodge County, Montana in the "Heartland Swing" typology — Industrial Midwest swing counties drifting steadily toward the Republican Party. 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 31 times, Republican 3 times, and other 0 times.
When did Deer Lodge County, Montana last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Deer Lodge County, Montana voted Republican was 1924.
How many people live in Deer Lodge County, Montana?
Deer Lodge County, Montana has a population of 9,597 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Deer Lodge County, Montana?
Median household income in Deer Lodge County, Montana is $57,527 — below the national median of $80,734. The Montana state median is $72,509.
What is the political history of Deer Lodge County, Montana?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Deer Lodge County, Montana from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 31 went Democratic and 3 went Republican. The county's typology — "Heartland Swing" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.