Richmond County, North Carolina: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted R+21%. Democratic peak: D+83 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+21MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 42,3442024 5-year
- Median household income
- $44,8832024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 56.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 31.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 7.8%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+83 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+23 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Gates County, NC · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Richmond CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Richmond 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 | +17.6% |
| 1896 | −7.6% |
| 1900 | +42.9% |
| 1904 | +50.4% |
| 1908 | +38.0% |
| 1912 | +78.0% |
| 1916 | +41.0% |
| 1920 | +49.7% |
| 1924 | +58.0% |
| 1928 | +18.5% |
| 1932 | +74.6% |
| 1936 | +83.4% |
| 1940 | +78.7% |
| 1944 | +70.4% |
| 1948 | +57.7% |
| 1952 | +37.2% |
| 1956 | +38.8% |
| 1960 | +43.3% |
| 1964 | +46.3% |
| 1968 | +11.1% |
| 1972 | −23.3% |
| 1976 | +51.0% |
| 1980 | +30.2% |
| 1984 | +4.8% |
| 1988 | +17.0% |
| 1992 | +30.9% |
| 1996 | +28.1% |
| 2000 | −11.7% |
| 2004 | +4.2% |
| 2008 | +1.5% |
| 2012 | +2.9% |
| 2016 | −9.7% |
| 2020 | −14.8% |
| 2024 | −20.9% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 7,787 | 11,931 | 19,873 | ||
| R | 8,754 | 11,830 | 20,763 | ||
| R | 8,501 | 10,383 | 19,328 | ||
| D | 9,904 | 9,332 | 19,417 | ||
| D | 9,713 | 9,424 | 19,327 | ||
| D | 8,383 | 7,709 | 16,145 | ||
| R | 6,263 | 7,935 | 14,269 | ||
| D | 7,564 | 3,973 | 12,801 | ||
| D | 9,163 | 4,356 | 15,553 | ||
| D | 7,151 | 5,073 | 12,257 | ||
| D | 7,494 | 6,807 | 14,330 | ||
| D | 7,416 | 3,911 | 11,609 | ||
| D | 8,793 | 2,848 | 11,664 | ||
| R | 3,508 | 5,692 | 9,356 | ||
| O | 4,257 | 2,865 | 12,579 | ||
| D | 8,516 | 3,123 | 11,639 | ||
| D | 8,293 | 3,285 | 11,578 | ||
| D | 6,592 | 2,907 | 9,499 | ||
| D | 7,340 | 3,361 | 10,701 | ||
| D | 4,376 | 866 | 6,082 | ||
| D | 5,394 | 938 | 6,332 | ||
| D | 6,530 | 779 | 7,309 | ||
| D | 6,709 | 607 | 7,316 | ||
| D | 4,862 | 693 | 5,591 | ||
| D | 2,975 | 2,045 | 5,020 | ||
| D | 2,475 | 599 | 3,237 | ||
| D | 3,341 | 1,124 | 4,465 | ||
| D | 1,553 | 650 | 2,203 | ||
| D | 1,319 | 82 | 1,586 | ||
| D | 1,029 | 462 | 1,491 | ||
| D | 927 | 306 | 1,233 | ||
| D | 1,264 | 504 | 1,773 | ||
| R | 2,172 | 2,529 | 4,714 | ||
| D | 1,700 | 1,122 | 3,285 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
8.5%
English
7.4%
Irish
4.6%
German
3.6%
Scottish
2.0%
Italian
1.7%
French
0.6%
African American
25.1%
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: 40.5 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
$44,883
Richmond County ranks in the bottom 10% of US counties.
Richmond County$44,883
North Carolina$72,388
United States$80,734
Richmond 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
25.2%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1839.1%
Working age (18–64)21.0%
Seniors (65+)20.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
91.9%
speak English only
Spanish6.7%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.8%
Other Indo-European0.6%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 31.3% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Richmond County sits at the edge of North Carolina's Sandhills region, where a manufacturing-dependent economy and a majority-minority population coexist with a voting pattern that has shifted sharply toward Republican presidential candidates over the past decade.
The Democratic margin here reached eighty-three points in 1936. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved six points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was twenty-one 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 $44,883 and a 25% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Gates County and Bladen 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.
Richmond County, North Carolina. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/37153/. 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 Richmond County, North Carolina vote in 2024?
In 2024, Richmond County, North Carolina voted Republican by 20.9 points (R+21), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 19,873 votes cast, 7,787 went Democratic and 11,931 went Republican.
What is Richmond County, North Carolina's political typology?
Akashic places Richmond 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 27 times, Republican 6 times, and other 1 times.
When did Richmond County, North Carolina last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Richmond County, North Carolina voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Richmond County, North Carolina?
Richmond County, North Carolina has a population of 42,344 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Richmond County, North Carolina?
Median household income in Richmond County, North Carolina is $44,883 — below the national median of $80,734. The North Carolina state median is $72,388.
What is the political history of Richmond County, North Carolina?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Richmond County, North Carolina from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 27 went Democratic and 6 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.