Lea County, New Mexico: New American county. In 2024, voted R+62%. Democratic peak: D+76 in 1932.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+62MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 73,7332024 5-year
- Median household income
- $68,0152024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 42.9%2024 5-year
- Black
- 3.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 62.7%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+76 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+62 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Crane County, TX · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Lea CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Lea 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 | No data |
| 1920 | +47.3% |
| 1924 | +56.3% |
| 1928 | −6.2% |
| 1932 | +76.2% |
| 1936 | +74.7% |
| 1940 | +53.8% |
| 1944 | +41.1% |
| 1948 | +57.0% |
| 1952 | +4.7% |
| 1956 | +4.0% |
| 1960 | +1.7% |
| 1964 | +11.5% |
| 1968 | −17.3% |
| 1972 | −55.4% |
| 1976 | −14.5% |
| 1980 | −35.3% |
| 1984 | −51.7% |
| 1988 | −31.4% |
| 1992 | −17.6% |
| 1996 | −15.5% |
| 2000 | −44.2% |
| 2004 | −59.3% |
| 2008 | −44.2% |
| 2012 | −49.8% |
| 2016 | −48.4% |
| 2020 | −59.6% |
| 2024 | −61.6% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 3,930 | 16,997 | 21,209 | ||
| R | 4,061 | 16,531 | 20,918 | ||
| R | 3,930 | 12,495 | 17,712 | ||
| R | 4,080 | 12,548 | 17,015 | ||
| R | 5,108 | 13,347 | 18,645 | ||
| R | 3,646 | 14,430 | 18,181 | ||
| R | 3,855 | 10,157 | 14,256 | ||
| R | 5,393 | 7,661 | 14,666 | ||
| R | 5,047 | 7,921 | 16,311 | ||
| R | 5,879 | 11,309 | 17,303 | ||
| R | 4,558 | 14,569 | 19,357 | ||
| R | 5,006 | 10,727 | 16,185 | ||
| R | 6,533 | 8,773 | 15,441 | ||
| R | 3,429 | 12,478 | 16,331 | ||
| R | 4,751 | 7,415 | 15,382 | ||
| D | 8,862 | 7,033 | 15,948 | ||
| D | 7,806 | 7,548 | 15,474 | ||
| D | 6,140 | 5,661 | 11,879 | ||
| D | 5,204 | 4,738 | 9,971 | ||
| D | 4,708 | 1,273 | 6,025 | ||
| D | 2,938 | 1,227 | 4,168 | ||
| D | 4,295 | 1,286 | 5,592 | ||
| D | 3,905 | 549 | 4,491 | ||
| D | 2,371 | 271 | 2,756 | ||
| R | 474 | 537 | 1,014 | ||
| D | 552 | 138 | 736 | ||
| D | 733 | 255 | 1,011 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
6.0%
English
5.6%
American
5.5%
Irish
5.1%
Italian
0.7%
French
0.7%
Scottish
0.5%
African American
2.7%
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: 32.5 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
$68,015
Lea County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Lea County$68,015
New Mexico$64,059
United States$80,734
Lea 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
18.7%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1823.6%
Working age (18–64)15.9%
Seniors (65+)26.4%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
55.4%
speak English only
Spanish43.0%
Other Indo-European1.0%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.4%
Other languages0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 54.1% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Lea County's economy runs on petroleum extraction, and its electorate has returned Republican presidential margins above 60 points in recent cycles, making it a consistent outlier in a state that otherwise trends competitive to Democratic at the statewide level.
Lea County has leaned Republican in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of seventy-six points in 1932. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved two 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 43% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $68,015, and a population of 73,733. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Crane County and Reagan 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.
Lea County, New Mexico. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/35025/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in New Mexico
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Frequently asked questions
How did Lea County, New Mexico vote in 2024?
In 2024, Lea County, New Mexico voted Republican by 61.6 points (R+62), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 21,209 votes cast, 3,930 went Democratic and 16,997 went Republican.
What is Lea County, New Mexico's political typology?
Akashic places Lea County, New Mexico 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 11 times, Republican 16 times, and other 0 times.
When did Lea County, New Mexico last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Lea County, New Mexico voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Lea County, New Mexico?
Lea County, New Mexico has a population of 73,733 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Lea County, New Mexico?
Median household income in Lea County, New Mexico is $68,015 — below the national median of $80,734. The New Mexico state median is $64,059.
What is the political history of Lea County, New Mexico?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Lea County, New Mexico from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 11 went Democratic and 16 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.