Columbia County, New York: Realigning Affluent Suburb county. In 2024, voted D+15%. Republican peak: R+58 in 1956.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+15MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Realigning Affluent SuburbAkashic typology
- Population
- 61,1002024 5-year
- Median household income
- $81,5282024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 83.3%2024 5-year
- Black
- 3.6%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 6.3%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+23 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+58 in 1956MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Ulster County, NY · similarity 0.97
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Columbia CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Columbia 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 | +4.1% |
| 1896 | −20.0% |
| 1900 | −13.1% |
| 1904 | −6.6% |
| 1908 | −5.7% |
| 1912 | +8.7% |
| 1916 | −3.6% |
| 1920 | −27.5% |
| 1924 | −31.4% |
| 1928 | −36.9% |
| 1932 | −12.3% |
| 1936 | −21.5% |
| 1940 | −22.3% |
| 1944 | −30.3% |
| 1948 | −34.6% |
| 1952 | −48.5% |
| 1956 | −58.3% |
| 1960 | −29.0% |
| 1964 | +23.3% |
| 1968 | −26.4% |
| 1972 | −40.8% |
| 1976 | −20.2% |
| 1980 | −16.9% |
| 1984 | −35.3% |
| 1988 | −13.1% |
| 1992 | −0.7% |
| 1996 | +9.4% |
| 2000 | +1.2% |
| 2004 | +4.7% |
| 2008 | +13.4% |
| 2012 | +13.7% |
| 2016 | +4.9% |
| 2020 | +16.7% |
| 2024 | +14.6% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 20,396 | 15,168 | 35,897 | ||
| D | 20,386 | 14,464 | 35,522 | ||
| D | 15,284 | 13,756 | 30,902 | ||
| D | 16,221 | 12,225 | 29,129 | ||
| D | 17,556 | 13,337 | 31,433 | ||
| D | 15,929 | 14,457 | 31,103 | ||
| D | 13,489 | 13,153 | 28,698 | ||
| D | 12,910 | 10,324 | 27,403 | ||
| R | 11,368 | 11,568 | 29,056 | ||
| R | 11,585 | 15,111 | 26,924 | ||
| R | 8,960 | 18,814 | 27,891 | ||
| R | 9,500 | 13,946 | 26,274 | ||
| R | 10,514 | 15,871 | 26,574 | ||
| R | 7,558 | 17,995 | 25,610 | ||
| R | 7,762 | 13,857 | 23,085 | ||
| D | 14,516 | 9,023 | 23,558 | ||
| R | 8,747 | 15,893 | 24,664 | ||
| R | 4,999 | 19,004 | 24,003 | ||
| R | 6,075 | 17,539 | 23,659 | ||
| R | 6,527 | 13,758 | 20,880 | ||
| R | 6,969 | 13,055 | 20,078 | ||
| R | 8,591 | 13,527 | 22,162 | ||
| R | 8,375 | 13,034 | 21,673 | ||
| R | 9,083 | 11,667 | 20,931 | ||
| R | 6,403 | 14,000 | 20,612 | ||
| R | 5,466 | 10,774 | 16,914 | ||
| R | 5,203 | 9,284 | 14,823 | ||
| R | 4,938 | 5,314 | 10,349 | ||
| D | 4,599 | 3,741 | 9,841 | ||
| R | 5,097 | 5,726 | 11,109 | ||
| R | 5,245 | 5,996 | 11,447 | ||
| R | 4,953 | 6,478 | 11,648 | ||
| R | 4,373 | 6,654 | 11,382 | ||
| D | 5,868 | 5,384 | 11,807 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
17.2%
Irish
16.8%
English
12.9%
Italian
12.2%
Polish
5.4%
American
4.7%
French
3.7%
African American
2.9%
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: 49.8 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
$81,528
Columbia County ranks in the top 25% of US counties.
Columbia County$81,528
New York$85,974
United States$80,734
Columbia 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
12.1%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1815.1%
Working age (18–64)11.8%
Seniors (65+)9.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
90.8%
speak English only
Other Indo-European4.3%
Spanish4.0%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.6%
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 74.8% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Columbia County has shifted steadily toward Democratic margins over the past two decades, driven partly by an influx of metro-area transplants settling in towns like Hudson and Kinderhook alongside a long-established rural and small-manufacturing base.
Once reliably Republican — a margin of fifty-eight points in 1956 at its widest — Columbia County has trended Democratic. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved two points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was fifteen points.
A median household income of $81,528 — among the higher at this geographic scale — and a population of 61,100 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Ulster County and Grafton 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.
Columbia County, New York. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/36021/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in New York
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Frequently asked questions
How did Columbia County, New York vote in 2024?
In 2024, Columbia County, New York voted Democratic by 14.6 points (D+15), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 35,897 votes cast, 20,396 went Democratic and 15,168 went Republican.
What is Columbia County, New York's political typology?
Akashic places Columbia County, New York in the "Realigning Affluent Suburb" typology — College-educated, affluent suburbs — the one bloc moving toward the Democratic Party. 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 23 times, and other 0 times.
When did Columbia County, New York last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Columbia County, New York voted Republican was 1992.
How many people live in Columbia County, New York?
Columbia County, New York has a population of 61,100 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Columbia County, New York?
Median household income in Columbia County, New York is $81,528 — above the national median of $80,734. The New York state median is $85,974.
What is the political history of Columbia County, New York?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Columbia County, New York from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 11 went Democratic and 23 went Republican. The county's typology — "Realigning Affluent Suburb" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.