Buncombe County, North Carolina: Realigning Affluent Suburb county. In 2024, voted D+25%. Democratic peak: D+50 in 1912.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+25MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Realigning Affluent SuburbAkashic typology
- Population
- 274,3602024 5-year
- Median household income
- $74,4362024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 82.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 4.8%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 8.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+50 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+43 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Wake County, NC · similarity 0.98
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Buncombe CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Buncombe 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 | +6.5% |
| 1896 | −5.9% |
| 1900 | −5.3% |
| 1904 | +10.2% |
| 1908 | −0.9% |
| 1912 | +50.4% |
| 1916 | +5.0% |
| 1920 | +11.8% |
| 1924 | +22.6% |
| 1928 | −14.4% |
| 1932 | +34.7% |
| 1936 | +42.8% |
| 1940 | +48.1% |
| 1944 | +37.9% |
| 1948 | +18.2% |
| 1952 | −4.3% |
| 1956 | −8.7% |
| 1960 | −9.2% |
| 1964 | +24.0% |
| 1968 | −13.5% |
| 1972 | −42.7% |
| 1976 | +8.4% |
| 1980 | −2.4% |
| 1984 | −23.5% |
| 1988 | −15.4% |
| 1992 | +2.7% |
| 1996 | +1.7% |
| 2000 | +8.8% |
| 2004 | −0.6% |
| 2008 | +13.9% |
| 2012 | +12.5% |
| 2016 | +14.2% |
| 2020 | +21.1% |
| 2024 | +24.7% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 98,662 | 59,016 | 160,510 | ||
| D | 96,515 | 62,412 | 161,569 | ||
| D | 75,452 | 55,716 | 138,947 | ||
| D | 70,625 | 54,701 | 127,696 | ||
| D | 69,716 | 52,494 | 123,795 | ||
| R | 51,868 | 52,491 | 105,013 | ||
| D | 46,101 | 38,545 | 85,476 | ||
| D | 31,658 | 30,518 | 69,067 | ||
| D | 32,955 | 30,892 | 75,492 | ||
| R | 26,964 | 36,828 | 63,992 | ||
| R | 23,337 | 37,698 | 61,183 | ||
| R | 24,837 | 26,124 | 53,530 | ||
| D | 26,633 | 22,461 | 49,379 | ||
| R | 12,626 | 32,091 | 45,594 | ||
| R | 14,624 | 21,031 | 47,544 | ||
| D | 31,623 | 19,372 | 50,995 | ||
| R | 23,303 | 28,040 | 51,343 | ||
| R | 19,044 | 22,655 | 41,699 | ||
| R | 22,425 | 24,444 | 46,869 | ||
| D | 17,072 | 11,460 | 30,851 | ||
| D | 20,878 | 9,398 | 30,276 | ||
| D | 24,878 | 8,723 | 33,601 | ||
| D | 23,646 | 9,470 | 33,116 | ||
| D | 18,241 | 8,745 | 27,353 | ||
| R | 12,405 | 16,590 | 28,995 | ||
| D | 10,098 | 6,285 | 16,850 | ||
| D | 10,167 | 8,017 | 18,184 | ||
| D | 4,229 | 3,830 | 8,059 | ||
| D | 3,716 | 426 | 6,528 | ||
| R | 3,506 | 3,572 | 7,140 | ||
| D | 3,181 | 2,591 | 5,796 | ||
| R | 3,724 | 4,140 | 7,899 | ||
| R | 4,098 | 4,611 | 8,733 | ||
| D | 3,588 | 3,125 | 7,073 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
26.9%
German
12.3%
Irish
10.3%
American
6.1%
Italian
4.0%
Scottish
3.9%
French
2.6%
African American
3.8%
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: 42.6 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
$74,436
Buncombe County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Buncombe County$74,436
North Carolina$72,388
United States$80,734
Buncombe 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
11.8%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1814.7%
Working age (18–64)11.3%
Seniors (65+)10.4%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
90.6%
speak English only
Spanish6.4%
Other Indo-European2.1%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.6%
Other languages0.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 47.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Buncombe's D+24.7 margin in 2024 stands out sharply against the surrounding mountain counties, driven by Asheville's urban core and an influx of college-educated migrants that has steadily widened the Democratic advantage over the past decade.
Once reliably Republican — a margin of forty-three points in 1972 at its widest — Buncombe County has trended Democratic. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved four points toward the Democratic candidate; the 2024 margin was twenty-five points.
A median household income of $74,436 — among the higher at this geographic scale — and a population of 274,360 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Wake County and Baltimore 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.
Buncombe County, North Carolina. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/37021/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in North Carolina
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Frequently asked questions
How did Buncombe County, North Carolina vote in 2024?
In 2024, Buncombe County, North Carolina voted Democratic by 24.7 points (D+25), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 160,510 votes cast, 98,662 went Democratic and 59,016 went Republican.
What is Buncombe County, North Carolina's political typology?
Akashic places Buncombe County, North Carolina 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 21 times, Republican 13 times, and other 0 times.
When did Buncombe County, North Carolina last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Buncombe County, North Carolina voted Republican was 2004.
How many people live in Buncombe County, North Carolina?
Buncombe County, North Carolina has a population of 274,360 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Buncombe County, North Carolina?
Median household income in Buncombe County, North Carolina is $74,436 — below the national median of $80,734. The North Carolina state median is $72,388.
What is the political history of Buncombe County, North Carolina?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Buncombe County, North Carolina from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 21 went Democratic and 13 went Republican. The county's typology — "Realigning Affluent Suburb" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.