Sweet Grass County, Montana: Stable Rural Right county. In 2024, voted R+53%. Republican peak: R+62 in 2000.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+53MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Stable Rural RightAkashic typology
- Population
- 3,7202024 5-year
- Median household income
- $77,0002024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 90.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 1.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+10 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+62 in 2000MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Johnson County, WY · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Sweet Grass CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Sweet Grass 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 | +1.0% |
| 1900 | −23.1% |
| 1904 | −47.7% |
| 1908 | −31.8% |
| 1912 | +10.2% |
| 1916 | −2.9% |
| 1920 | −48.7% |
| 1924 | −42.2% |
| 1928 | −45.4% |
| 1932 | −1.4% |
| 1936 | +7.7% |
| 1940 | −7.4% |
| 1944 | −25.3% |
| 1948 | −25.2% |
| 1952 | −55.3% |
| 1956 | −42.6% |
| 1960 | −35.6% |
| 1964 | −13.4% |
| 1968 | −47.4% |
| 1972 | −54.9% |
| 1976 | −38.2% |
| 1980 | −41.9% |
| 1984 | −57.6% |
| 1988 | −45.0% |
| 1992 | −26.9% |
| 1996 | −35.9% |
| 2000 | −62.0% |
| 2004 | −53.7% |
| 2008 | −45.8% |
| 2012 | −52.9% |
| 2016 | −56.6% |
| 2020 | −52.8% |
| 2024 | −53.1% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 525 | 1,789 | 2,381 | ||
| R | 549 | 1,840 | 2,446 | ||
| R | 402 | 1,595 | 2,107 | ||
| R | 475 | 1,594 | 2,117 | ||
| R | 541 | 1,494 | 2,083 | ||
| R | 445 | 1,509 | 1,983 | ||
| R | 305 | 1,450 | 1,846 | ||
| R | 469 | 1,109 | 1,782 | ||
| R | 395 | 880 | 1,801 | ||
| R | 462 | 1,242 | 1,733 | ||
| R | 378 | 1,417 | 1,803 | ||
| R | 440 | 1,169 | 1,739 | ||
| R | 502 | 1,135 | 1,659 | ||
| R | 350 | 1,260 | 1,658 | ||
| R | 336 | 1,043 | 1,490 | ||
| R | 653 | 856 | 1,514 | ||
| R | 521 | 1,096 | 1,617 | ||
| R | 455 | 1,129 | 1,584 | ||
| R | 372 | 1,315 | 1,704 | ||
| R | 499 | 843 | 1,366 | ||
| R | 533 | 897 | 1,440 | ||
| R | 741 | 861 | 1,611 | ||
| D | 783 | 664 | 1,544 | ||
| R | 761 | 784 | 1,594 | ||
| R | 435 | 1,163 | 1,605 | ||
| R | 248 | 853 | 1,432 | ||
| R | 349 | 1,035 | 1,408 | ||
| R | 839 | 890 | 1,773 | ||
| O | 277 | 181 | 942 | ||
| R | 264 | 526 | 825 | ||
| R | 174 | 538 | 763 | ||
| R | 287 | 460 | 748 | ||
| D | 298 | 292 | 591 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
24.7%
English
16.2%
Irish
9.6%
Scottish
3.1%
American
2.7%
French
1.7%
Italian
1.1%
African American
0.8%
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: 47.0 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
$77,000
Sweet Grass County ranks in the top 25% of US counties.
Sweet Grass County$77,000
Montana$72,509
United States$80,734
Sweet Grass County ranks in the top 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
7.9%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1810.2%
Working age (18–64)6.8%
Seniors (65+)10.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.3%
speak English only
Spanish1.2%
Other Indo-European0.8%
Other languages0.5%
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 72.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Sweet Grass County, anchored by the small city of Big Timber, delivers some of the widest Republican presidential margins in Montana, reflecting its sparse ranching economy and a population that has held steady below 4,000 for decades.
The Republican margin here reached sixty-two points in 2000. The 2024 margin was fifty-three points.
A population of 3,720, a 91% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $77,000 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Johnson County and Sublette 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.
Sweet Grass County, Montana. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/30097/. 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 Sweet Grass County, Montana vote in 2024?
In 2024, Sweet Grass County, Montana voted Republican by 53.1 points (R+53), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 2,381 votes cast, 525 went Democratic and 1,789 went Republican.
What is Sweet Grass County, Montana's political typology?
Akashic places Sweet Grass 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 2 times, Republican 30 times, and other 1 times.
When did Sweet Grass County, Montana last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Sweet Grass County, Montana voted Democratic was 1936.
How many people live in Sweet Grass County, Montana?
Sweet Grass County, Montana has a population of 3,720 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Sweet Grass County, Montana?
Median household income in Sweet Grass County, Montana is $77,000 — below the national median of $80,734. The Montana state median is $72,509.
What is the political history of Sweet Grass County, Montana?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Sweet Grass County, Montana from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 2 went Democratic and 30 went Republican. The county's typology — "Stable Rural Right" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.