Prairie County, Montana: Stable Rural Right county. In 2024, voted R+62%. Republican peak: R+66 in 2016.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+62MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Stable Rural RightAkashic typology
- Population
- 1,2502024 5-year
- Median household income
- $51,2502024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 88.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 0.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+31 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+66 in 2016MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Fallon County, MT · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Prairie CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Prairie 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 | No data |
| 1896 | No data |
| 1900 | No data |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | No data |
| 1916 | +7.4% |
| 1920 | −55.6% |
| 1924 | −42.9% |
| 1928 | −40.8% |
| 1932 | +7.1% |
| 1936 | +31.0% |
| 1940 | −3.7% |
| 1944 | −12.1% |
| 1948 | +2.7% |
| 1952 | −38.9% |
| 1956 | −22.5% |
| 1960 | −31.5% |
| 1964 | −6.4% |
| 1968 | −39.0% |
| 1972 | −38.2% |
| 1976 | −17.9% |
| 1980 | −32.0% |
| 1984 | −40.8% |
| 1988 | −22.0% |
| 1992 | −17.8% |
| 1996 | −20.3% |
| 2000 | −50.5% |
| 2004 | −49.6% |
| 2008 | −39.7% |
| 2012 | −50.2% |
| 2016 | −66.2% |
| 2020 | −64.1% |
| 2024 | −61.6% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 122 | 546 | 688 | ||
| R | 126 | 603 | 744 | ||
| R | 100 | 556 | 689 | ||
| R | 167 | 520 | 703 | ||
| R | 211 | 503 | 735 | ||
| R | 181 | 546 | 736 | ||
| R | 164 | 541 | 746 | ||
| R | 259 | 417 | 780 | ||
| R | 260 | 412 | 856 | ||
| R | 343 | 541 | 900 | ||
| R | 289 | 693 | 991 | ||
| R | 283 | 580 | 927 | ||
| R | 415 | 597 | 1,019 | ||
| R | 303 | 685 | 999 | ||
| R | 270 | 635 | 937 | ||
| R | 488 | 555 | 1,048 | ||
| R | 338 | 649 | 987 | ||
| R | 403 | 637 | 1,040 | ||
| R | 338 | 771 | 1,114 | ||
| D | 527 | 499 | 1,042 | ||
| R | 468 | 598 | 1,074 | ||
| R | 554 | 597 | 1,161 | ||
| D | 877 | 454 | 1,363 | ||
| D | 732 | 634 | 1,387 | ||
| R | 405 | 968 | 1,379 | ||
| R | 162 | 683 | 1,215 | ||
| R | 242 | 881 | 1,149 | ||
| D | 622 | 535 | 1,179 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
41.7%
Irish
14.6%
American
10.5%
English
10.2%
Italian
1.7%
Scottish
0.9%
French
0.8%
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: 57.8 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
$51,250
Prairie County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Prairie County$51,250
Montana$72,509
United States$80,734
Prairie 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
20.6%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1810.3%
Working age (18–64)22.1%
Seniors (65+)25.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
98.9%
speak English only
Other Indo-European1.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 74.6% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Prairie County's roughly 1,200 residents are spread across 1,700 square miles of eastern Montana rangeland, and its presidential margins have exceeded R+60 in recent cycles, making it a reliable anchor of the state's deep-red eastern bloc.
The Republican margin here reached sixty-six points in 2016. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved two points toward the Democratic candidate; the 2024 margin was sixty-two points.
A population of 1,250, a 89% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $51,250 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Fallon County and Lincoln 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.
Prairie County, Montana. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/30079/. 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 Prairie County, Montana vote in 2024?
In 2024, Prairie County, Montana voted Republican by 61.6 points (R+62), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 688 votes cast, 122 went Democratic and 546 went Republican.
What is Prairie County, Montana's political typology?
Akashic places Prairie County, Montana in the "Stable Rural Right" typology — Mountain, Plains, and rural Republican counties already near their ceiling, with little further room to swing. 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 24 times, and other 0 times.
When did Prairie County, Montana last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Prairie County, Montana voted Democratic was 1948.
How many people live in Prairie County, Montana?
Prairie County, Montana has a population of 1,250 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Prairie County, Montana?
Median household income in Prairie County, Montana is $51,250 — below the national median of $80,734. The Montana state median is $72,509.
What is the political history of Prairie County, Montana?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Prairie County, Montana from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 4 went Democratic and 24 went Republican. The county's typology — "Stable Rural Right" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.