Polk County, North Carolina: Stable Rural Right county. In 2024, voted R+25%. Democratic peak: D+39 in 1912.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+25MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Stable Rural RightAkashic typology
- Population
- 19,8912024 5-year
- Median household income
- $67,7582024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 87.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 4.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 5.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+39 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+37 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Campbell County, SD · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Polk CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Polk 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 | −5.1% |
| 1896 | −21.6% |
| 1900 | −14.7% |
| 1904 | −5.9% |
| 1908 | −9.7% |
| 1912 | +39.2% |
| 1916 | −5.0% |
| 1920 | +1.3% |
| 1924 | +5.5% |
| 1928 | −7.4% |
| 1932 | +25.5% |
| 1936 | +16.8% |
| 1940 | +23.3% |
| 1944 | +16.5% |
| 1948 | +11.1% |
| 1952 | +3.4% |
| 1956 | −5.5% |
| 1960 | −1.7% |
| 1964 | +4.4% |
| 1968 | −18.5% |
| 1972 | −36.8% |
| 1976 | +9.5% |
| 1980 | −11.5% |
| 1984 | −30.0% |
| 1988 | −20.9% |
| 1992 | −6.8% |
| 1996 | −12.0% |
| 2000 | +23.6% |
| 2004 | −15.0% |
| 2008 | −15.1% |
| 2012 | −21.4% |
| 2016 | −27.7% |
| 2020 | −25.7% |
| 2024 | −25.1% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 4,827 | 8,107 | 13,068 | ||
| R | 4,518 | 7,689 | 12,358 | ||
| R | 3,735 | 6,768 | 10,934 | ||
| R | 4,013 | 6,236 | 10,389 | ||
| R | 4,396 | 5,990 | 10,562 | ||
| R | 3,787 | 5,140 | 9,021 | ||
| D | 5,074 | 3,114 | 8,303 | ||
| R | 2,704 | 3,516 | 6,756 | ||
| R | 2,939 | 3,448 | 7,533 | ||
| R | 2,534 | 3,874 | 6,423 | ||
| R | 2,169 | 4,046 | 6,251 | ||
| R | 2,375 | 3,021 | 5,609 | ||
| D | 3,155 | 2,605 | 5,812 | ||
| R | 1,416 | 3,121 | 4,637 | ||
| R | 1,523 | 2,550 | 5,557 | ||
| D | 3,017 | 2,765 | 5,782 | ||
| R | 2,762 | 2,856 | 5,618 | ||
| R | 2,527 | 2,823 | 5,350 | ||
| D | 2,741 | 2,561 | 5,302 | ||
| D | 2,078 | 1,636 | 3,991 | ||
| D | 2,340 | 1,678 | 4,018 | ||
| D | 2,454 | 1,528 | 3,982 | ||
| D | 2,521 | 1,794 | 4,315 | ||
| D | 2,401 | 1,421 | 3,843 | ||
| R | 1,616 | 1,873 | 3,489 | ||
| D | 1,613 | 1,445 | 3,071 | ||
| D | 1,361 | 1,326 | 2,687 | ||
| R | 679 | 750 | 1,430 | ||
| D | 675 | 153 | 1,330 | ||
| R | 511 | 621 | 1,132 | ||
| R | 497 | 559 | 1,056 | ||
| R | 484 | 652 | 1,143 | ||
| R | 469 | 731 | 1,213 | ||
| R | 511 | 566 | 1,077 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
19.6%
Irish
12.8%
German
11.5%
American
10.9%
Scottish
4.1%
Italian
3.1%
French
2.9%
African American
3.5%
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: 54.9 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
$67,758
Polk County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Polk County$67,758
North Carolina$72,388
United States$80,734
Polk 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
14.0%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1819.9%
Working age (18–64)13.1%
Seniors (65+)12.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
94.5%
speak English only
Spanish4.5%
Other Indo-European0.8%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 49.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Polk County's 18,000 residents sit along the South Carolina border in North Carolina's southern mountains, where the 2024 presidential contest broke roughly 62–37 in favor of the Republican nominee — a margin consistent with its decade-long rightward drift.
The Republican margin here reached thirty-seven points in 1972. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved one point toward the Democratic candidate; the 2024 margin was twenty-five points.
A population of 19,891, a 87% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $67,758 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Campbell County and McPherson 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.
Polk County, North Carolina. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/37149/. 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 Polk County, North Carolina vote in 2024?
In 2024, Polk County, North Carolina voted Republican by 25.1 points (R+25), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 13,068 votes cast, 4,827 went Democratic and 8,107 went Republican.
What is Polk County, North Carolina's political typology?
Akashic places Polk County, North Carolina in the "Stable Rural Right" typology — Mountain, Plains, and rural Republican counties already near their ceiling, with little further room to swing. 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 12 times, Republican 22 times, and other 0 times.
When did Polk County, North Carolina last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Polk County, North Carolina voted Democratic was 2000.
How many people live in Polk County, North Carolina?
Polk County, North Carolina has a population of 19,891 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Polk County, North Carolina?
Median household income in Polk County, North Carolina is $67,758 — below the national median of $80,734. The North Carolina state median is $72,388.
What is the political history of Polk County, North Carolina?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Polk County, North Carolina from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 12 went Democratic and 22 went Republican. The county's typology — "Stable Rural Right" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.