Bladen County, North Carolina: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted R+20%. Democratic peak: D+72 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+20MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 29,5662024 5-year
- Median household income
- $42,4222024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 54.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 32.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 9.3%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+72 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+31 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Richmond County, NC · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Bladen CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Bladen 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 | +0.8% |
| 1896 | +14.0% |
| 1900 | −3.9% |
| 1904 | +24.4% |
| 1908 | +26.3% |
| 1912 | +65.7% |
| 1916 | +31.9% |
| 1920 | +29.1% |
| 1924 | +32.4% |
| 1928 | −10.4% |
| 1932 | +52.7% |
| 1936 | +71.8% |
| 1940 | +68.7% |
| 1944 | +55.3% |
| 1948 | +59.6% |
| 1952 | +34.4% |
| 1956 | +45.1% |
| 1960 | +40.3% |
| 1964 | +35.1% |
| 1968 | +12.0% |
| 1972 | −30.8% |
| 1976 | +58.8% |
| 1980 | +37.6% |
| 1984 | +3.7% |
| 1988 | +14.3% |
| 1992 | +24.4% |
| 1996 | +18.0% |
| 2000 | −8.4% |
| 2004 | −0.5% |
| 2008 | +2.1% |
| 2012 | +2.0% |
| 2016 | −9.4% |
| 2020 | −13.7% |
| 2024 | −20.4% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 6,620 | 10,035 | 16,764 | ||
| R | 7,326 | 9,676 | 17,125 | ||
| R | 7,058 | 8,550 | 15,897 | ||
| D | 8,062 | 7,748 | 15,957 | ||
| D | 7,853 | 7,532 | 15,480 | ||
| R | 6,109 | 6,174 | 12,313 | ||
| R | 4,977 | 5,889 | 10,908 | ||
| D | 4,952 | 3,335 | 8,960 | ||
| D | 5,700 | 3,214 | 10,177 | ||
| D | 5,031 | 3,770 | 8,814 | ||
| D | 5,064 | 4,701 | 9,779 | ||
| D | 6,104 | 2,745 | 8,941 | ||
| D | 6,009 | 1,546 | 7,589 | ||
| R | 2,201 | 4,205 | 6,497 | ||
| O | 2,754 | 1,746 | 8,397 | ||
| D | 4,516 | 2,169 | 6,685 | ||
| D | 4,353 | 1,854 | 6,207 | ||
| D | 4,078 | 1,542 | 5,620 | ||
| D | 3,506 | 1,710 | 5,216 | ||
| D | 2,831 | 500 | 3,914 | ||
| D | 2,542 | 731 | 3,273 | ||
| D | 2,925 | 543 | 3,468 | ||
| D | 3,360 | 551 | 3,911 | ||
| D | 2,651 | 808 | 3,495 | ||
| R | 1,552 | 1,911 | 3,463 | ||
| D | 1,551 | 786 | 2,360 | ||
| D | 1,939 | 1,064 | 3,003 | ||
| D | 1,261 | 651 | 1,912 | ||
| D | 1,140 | 33 | 1,684 | ||
| D | 1,132 | 660 | 1,792 | ||
| D | 927 | 558 | 1,510 | ||
| R | 1,102 | 1,192 | 2,314 | ||
| D | 1,665 | 1,256 | 2,924 | ||
| D | 1,228 | 1,205 | 2,754 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
21.6%
English
6.7%
Irish
3.6%
Scottish
2.5%
German
1.9%
French
0.9%
Italian
0.5%
African American
25.9%
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: 44.7 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
$42,422
Bladen County ranks in the bottom 10% of US counties.
Bladen County$42,422
North Carolina$72,388
United States$80,734
Bladen County ranks in the bottom 10% 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
22.0%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1836.7%
Working age (18–64)18.6%
Seniors (65+)15.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
93.1%
speak English only
Spanish6.6%
Other Indo-European0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 30.6% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Bladen County, once a swing battleground, recorded an R+20.4 margin in 2024 — a stark reversal from its Obama-era competitiveness. Its economy still leans on agriculture, hog farming, and forestry in the Cape Fear River lowlands.
The Democratic margin here reached seventy-two points in 1936. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved seven points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was twenty points. The recent movement, modest against a deep Democratic baseline, mirrors a broader rightward drift across the Black Belt.
The economic context is part of the story: a median household income of $42,422 and a 22% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Richmond County and Gates 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.
Bladen County, North Carolina. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/37017/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in North Carolina
More black belt counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Bladen County, North Carolina vote in 2024?
In 2024, Bladen County, North Carolina voted Republican by 20.4 points (R+20), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 16,764 votes cast, 6,620 went Democratic and 10,035 went Republican.
What is Bladen County, North Carolina's political typology?
Akashic places Bladen County, North Carolina in the "Black Belt" typology — Black-majority counties of the rural South — long the most Democratic ground in the region, now trending Republican at the margins. 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 25 times, Republican 8 times, and other 1 times.
When did Bladen County, North Carolina last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Bladen County, North Carolina voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Bladen County, North Carolina?
Bladen County, North Carolina has a population of 29,566 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Bladen County, North Carolina?
Median household income in Bladen County, North Carolina is $42,422 — below the national median of $80,734. The North Carolina state median is $72,388.
What is the political history of Bladen County, North Carolina?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Bladen County, North Carolina from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 25 went Democratic and 8 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.