Vance County, North Carolina: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted D+13%. Democratic peak: D+87 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+13MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 42,3222024 5-year
- Median household income
- $50,4652024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 38.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 47.3%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 9.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+87 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+35 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Halifax County, NC · similarity 0.98
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Vance CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Vance 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 | −14.1% |
| 1896 | −8.7% |
| 1900 | +16.3% |
| 1904 | +39.2% |
| 1908 | +27.2% |
| 1912 | +64.5% |
| 1916 | +44.4% |
| 1920 | +50.2% |
| 1924 | +61.6% |
| 1928 | +24.6% |
| 1932 | +84.4% |
| 1936 | +87.0% |
| 1940 | +83.6% |
| 1944 | +77.2% |
| 1948 | +67.6% |
| 1952 | +53.6% |
| 1956 | +43.1% |
| 1960 | +47.8% |
| 1964 | +20.1% |
| 1968 | +14.1% |
| 1972 | −34.7% |
| 1976 | +19.1% |
| 1980 | +12.3% |
| 1984 | −7.5% |
| 1988 | +0.1% |
| 1992 | +14.5% |
| 1996 | +14.9% |
| 2000 | −12.0% |
| 2004 | +12.0% |
| 2008 | +26.6% |
| 2012 | +28.3% |
| 2016 | +24.5% |
| 2020 | +19.2% |
| 2024 | +13.3% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 11,292 | 8,614 | 20,092 | ||
| D | 12,431 | 8,391 | 20,999 | ||
| D | 12,229 | 7,332 | 19,977 | ||
| D | 13,323 | 7,429 | 20,854 | ||
| D | 13,166 | 7,606 | 20,871 | ||
| D | 8,762 | 6,884 | 15,677 | ||
| R | 5,564 | 7,092 | 12,701 | ||
| D | 6,385 | 4,651 | 11,635 | ||
| D | 6,598 | 4,747 | 12,800 | ||
| D | 5,631 | 5,625 | 11,276 | ||
| R | 5,880 | 6,836 | 12,734 | ||
| D | 5,415 | 4,217 | 9,774 | ||
| D | 5,620 | 3,813 | 9,461 | ||
| R | 3,117 | 6,491 | 9,710 | ||
| O | 3,852 | 2,252 | 11,348 | ||
| D | 5,186 | 3,452 | 8,638 | ||
| D | 5,694 | 2,012 | 7,706 | ||
| D | 4,922 | 1,955 | 6,877 | ||
| D | 5,697 | 1,721 | 7,418 | ||
| D | 3,679 | 549 | 4,627 | ||
| D | 4,110 | 528 | 4,638 | ||
| D | 4,252 | 380 | 4,632 | ||
| D | 4,536 | 315 | 4,851 | ||
| D | 3,833 | 318 | 4,165 | ||
| D | 2,395 | 1,449 | 3,844 | ||
| D | 2,013 | 470 | 2,504 | ||
| D | 2,461 | 816 | 3,277 | ||
| D | 1,451 | 558 | 2,009 | ||
| D | 1,204 | 168 | 1,606 | ||
| D | 1,121 | 641 | 1,762 | ||
| D | 1,019 | 443 | 1,468 | ||
| D | 1,233 | 881 | 2,164 | ||
| R | 1,465 | 1,745 | 3,215 | ||
| R | 908 | 1,340 | 3,062 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
8.7%
American
8.7%
Irish
4.7%
German
3.1%
Italian
0.8%
Scottish
0.7%
African American
37.8%
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: 39.9 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
$50,465
Vance County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Vance County$50,465
North Carolina$72,388
United States$80,734
Vance County ranks in the bottom 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
19.8%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1828.9%
Working age (18–64)17.3%
Seniors (65+)13.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
90.9%
speak English only
Spanish6.7%
Other languages1.6%
Other Indo-European0.5%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 46.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Vance County, anchored by Henderson, has a population that is roughly 40% Black and has voted Democratic in presidential races by consistent double-digit margins, even as rural North Carolina has trended sharply Republican over the past decade.
The Democratic margin here reached eighty-seven points in 1936. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved six points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was thirteen 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 $50,465 and a 20% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Halifax County and Edgecombe 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.
Vance County, North Carolina. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/37181/. 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 Vance County, North Carolina vote in 2024?
In 2024, Vance County, North Carolina voted Democratic by 13.3 points (D+13), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 20,092 votes cast, 11,292 went Democratic and 8,614 went Republican.
What is Vance County, North Carolina's political typology?
Akashic places Vance 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 28 times, Republican 5 times, and other 1 times.
When did Vance County, North Carolina last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Vance County, North Carolina voted Republican was 2000.
How many people live in Vance County, North Carolina?
Vance County, North Carolina has a population of 42,322 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Vance County, North Carolina?
Median household income in Vance County, North Carolina is $50,465 — below the national median of $80,734. The North Carolina state median is $72,388.
What is the political history of Vance County, North Carolina?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Vance County, North Carolina from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 28 went Democratic and 5 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.