McKinley County, New Mexico: New American county. In 2024, voted D+25%. Democratic peak: D+47 in 2012.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+25MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 70,4312024 5-year
- Median household income
- $47,6682024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 9.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.5%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 12.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+47 in 2012MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+25 in 1928MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Wilcox County, AL · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of McKinley CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for McKinley 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 | −5.5% |
| 1916 | −9.7% |
| 1920 | −21.1% |
| 1924 | −15.6% |
| 1928 | −24.8% |
| 1932 | +20.7% |
| 1936 | +28.4% |
| 1940 | +19.5% |
| 1944 | +17.6% |
| 1948 | +17.2% |
| 1952 | +0.1% |
| 1956 | −14.3% |
| 1960 | +13.5% |
| 1964 | +39.5% |
| 1968 | +1.2% |
| 1972 | −2.2% |
| 1976 | +19.3% |
| 1980 | −19.0% |
| 1984 | +9.3% |
| 1988 | +25.2% |
| 1992 | +30.2% |
| 1996 | +36.4% |
| 2000 | +32.8% |
| 2004 | +27.6% |
| 2008 | +43.9% |
| 2012 | +46.9% |
| 2016 | +39.0% |
| 2020 | +38.6% |
| 2024 | +24.5% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 15,711 | 9,364 | 25,867 | ||
| D | 18,029 | 7,801 | 26,486 | ||
| D | 13,576 | 5,104 | 21,703 | ||
| D | 15,841 | 5,546 | 21,929 | ||
| D | 16,572 | 6,382 | 23,207 | ||
| D | 13,051 | 7,351 | 20,623 | ||
| D | 10,281 | 5,070 | 15,879 | ||
| D | 10,124 | 4,470 | 15,526 | ||
| D | 9,405 | 4,720 | 15,531 | ||
| D | 9,595 | 5,694 | 15,467 | ||
| D | 7,915 | 6,557 | 14,643 | ||
| R | 4,869 | 7,329 | 12,934 | ||
| D | 6,856 | 4,617 | 11,593 | ||
| R | 5,124 | 5,366 | 10,789 | ||
| D | 4,491 | 4,376 | 9,573 | ||
| D | 6,913 | 2,965 | 10,000 | ||
| D | 5,599 | 4,262 | 9,893 | ||
| R | 3,331 | 4,450 | 7,811 | ||
| D | 3,097 | 3,091 | 6,207 | ||
| D | 2,995 | 2,109 | 5,149 | ||
| D | 2,210 | 1,547 | 3,760 | ||
| D | 2,525 | 1,701 | 4,232 | ||
| D | 2,526 | 1,404 | 3,944 | ||
| D | 2,096 | 1,373 | 3,489 | ||
| R | 1,247 | 2,075 | 3,335 | ||
| R | 1,150 | 1,653 | 3,226 | ||
| R | 989 | 1,525 | 2,541 | ||
| R | 550 | 669 | 1,226 | ||
| R | 224 | 264 | 732 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
2.1%
Irish
1.7%
English
1.4%
American
0.7%
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
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: 34.6 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
$47,668
McKinley County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
McKinley County$47,668
New Mexico$64,059
United States$80,734
McKinley 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
33.2%
Nearly half of children live in poverty.
Children under 1842.5%
Working age (18–64)30.0%
Seniors (65+)27.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
51.1%
speak English only
Other languages42.9%
Spanish4.5%
Other Indo-European0.7%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.7%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 73.6% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
McKinley County, home to a large portion of the Navajo Nation, posts some of New Mexico's widest Democratic presidential margins — the 2024 gap exceeded 24 points — reflecting a predominantly Native American electorate with distinct policy priorities.
McKinley County has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of forty-seven points in 2012. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved fourteen 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 10% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $47,668, and a population of 70,431. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Wilcox County and Sumter 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.
McKinley County, New Mexico. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/35031/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did McKinley County, New Mexico vote in 2024?
In 2024, McKinley County, New Mexico voted Democratic by 24.5 points (D+25), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 25,867 votes cast, 15,711 went Democratic and 9,364 went Republican.
What is McKinley County, New Mexico's political typology?
Akashic places McKinley 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 21 times, Republican 8 times, and other 0 times.
When did McKinley County, New Mexico last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which McKinley County, New Mexico voted Republican was 1980.
How many people live in McKinley County, New Mexico?
McKinley County, New Mexico has a population of 70,431 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in McKinley County, New Mexico?
Median household income in McKinley County, New Mexico is $47,668 — below the national median of $80,734. The New Mexico state median is $64,059.
What is the political history of McKinley County, New Mexico?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in McKinley County, New Mexico from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 21 went Democratic and 8 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.