Union County, New Jersey: New American county. In 2024, voted D+24%. Republican peak: R+50 in 1920.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+24MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 579,2902024 5-year
- Median household income
- $103,2022024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 39.4%2024 5-year
- Black
- 19.9%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 35.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+36 in 2020MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+50 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Westchester County, NY · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Union CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Union 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 | +4.6% |
| 1896 | −29.6% |
| 1900 | −22.9% |
| 1904 | −22.8% |
| 1908 | −27.2% |
| 1912 | +17.0% |
| 1916 | −22.6% |
| 1920 | −50.3% |
| 1924 | −48.1% |
| 1928 | −28.9% |
| 1932 | −13.1% |
| 1936 | +8.5% |
| 1940 | −6.1% |
| 1944 | −6.4% |
| 1948 | −12.7% |
| 1952 | −21.9% |
| 1956 | −36.4% |
| 1960 | −1.3% |
| 1964 | +32.9% |
| 1968 | −0.3% |
| 1972 | −23.8% |
| 1976 | −5.1% |
| 1980 | −12.1% |
| 1984 | −18.9% |
| 1988 | −9.5% |
| 1992 | +4.2% |
| 1996 | +22.2% |
| 2000 | +23.3% |
| 2004 | +18.1% |
| 2008 | +28.2% |
| 2012 | +34.0% |
| 2016 | +35.5% |
| 2020 | +35.9% |
| 2024 | +24.1% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 147,327 | 89,063 | 241,923 | ||
| D | 170,310 | 80,038 | 251,775 | ||
| D | 147,414 | 68,114 | 223,570 | ||
| D | 139,752 | 68,314 | 210,088 | ||
| D | 141,417 | 78,768 | 222,097 | ||
| D | 119,372 | 82,517 | 203,502 | ||
| D | 112,003 | 68,554 | 186,373 | ||
| D | 108,102 | 65,912 | 190,241 | ||
| D | 96,671 | 87,742 | 210,112 | ||
| R | 93,158 | 112,967 | 208,153 | ||
| R | 92,056 | 135,446 | 229,140 | ||
| R | 86,074 | 112,288 | 217,339 | ||
| R | 106,267 | 118,019 | 228,902 | ||
| R | 90,482 | 148,290 | 242,973 | ||
| R | 109,674 | 110,309 | 241,256 | ||
| D | 164,989 | 82,999 | 249,347 | ||
| R | 119,986 | 123,224 | 245,008 | ||
| R | 67,540 | 146,228 | 216,414 | ||
| R | 78,336 | 122,885 | 203,245 | ||
| R | 66,759 | 87,402 | 162,180 | ||
| R | 75,969 | 86,543 | 164,625 | ||
| R | 70,737 | 79,962 | 152,296 | ||
| D | 70,813 | 59,553 | 132,097 | ||
| R | 51,357 | 67,512 | 122,961 | ||
| R | 37,476 | 68,119 | 106,092 | ||
| R | 14,738 | 50,356 | 74,060 | ||
| R | 12,103 | 39,409 | 54,303 | ||
| R | 10,328 | 16,705 | 28,214 | ||
| O | 9,695 | 5,421 | 25,156 | ||
| R | 8,806 | 15,919 | 26,139 | ||
| R | 8,574 | 13,906 | 23,396 | ||
| R | 7,665 | 12,522 | 21,248 | ||
| R | 6,073 | 11,707 | 19,010 | ||
| D | 8,600 | 7,825 | 16,934 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
Italian
9.0%
Irish
7.1%
German
4.9%
American
4.0%
Polish
3.9%
English
2.5%
French
0.5%
African American
15.9%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
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: 39.1 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
$103,202
Union County ranks in the top 5% of US counties.
Union County$103,202
New Jersey$103,556
United States$80,734
Union County ranks in the top 5% 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
9.2%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1811.8%
Working age (18–64)8.1%
Seniors (65+)12.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
52.4%
speak English only
Spanish30.2%
Other Indo-European12.0%
Asian & Pacific Islander3.0%
Other languages2.5%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 43.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Union County sits at the urban-suburban seam of northeastern New Jersey, blending Elizabeth's heavily immigrant working-class wards with older bedroom communities like Westfield, producing a consistent Democratic tilt that has widened as college-educated suburbs have shifted leftward.
Union County has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of thirty-six points in 2020. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved twelve points toward the Republican candidate — part of the sharpest rightward shift recorded among any group of places in the country.
Its demographics describe the shift: a 39% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $103,202, and a population of 579,290. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Westchester County and Leflore 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.
Union County, New Jersey. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/34039/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Union County, New Jersey vote in 2024?
In 2024, Union County, New Jersey voted Democratic by 24.1 points (D+24), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 241,923 votes cast, 147,327 went Democratic and 89,063 went Republican.
What is Union County, New Jersey's political typology?
Akashic places Union County, New Jersey in the "New American" typology — Communities where a large share of households speak a language other than English — multilingual, Democratic-leaning overall, yet the hardest-swinging bloc toward the Republican Party in 2024. 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 12 times, Republican 21 times, and other 1 times.
When did Union County, New Jersey last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Union County, New Jersey voted Republican was 1988.
How many people live in Union County, New Jersey?
Union County, New Jersey has a population of 579,290 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Union County, New Jersey?
Median household income in Union County, New Jersey is $103,202 — above the national median of $80,734. The New Jersey state median is $103,556.
What is the political history of Union County, New Jersey?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Union County, New Jersey from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 12 went Democratic and 21 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.