Watauga County, North Carolina
Precinct data
Results by precinct
20 precincts · 33,095 votes
Precinct boundaries and identifiers are cycle-specific. This table does not join rows across years without a validated crosswalk.
| Precinct -1919 | 1,433 | 1,665 | 58 | 3,156 | 45.4% | 52.8% | R+7.4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Precinct -0707 | 1,573 | 968 | 30 | 2,571 | 61.2% | 37.7% | D+23.5 |
| Precinct -0404 | 1,248 | 1,218 | 76 | 2,542 | 49.1% | 47.9% | D+1.2 |
| Precinct -1414 | 1,664 | 814 | 46 | 2,524 | 65.9% | 32.3% | D+33.7 |
| Precinct -1515 | 1,448 | 847 | 59 | 2,354 | 61.5% | 36.0% | D+25.5 |
| Precinct -0808 | 749 | 1,464 | 40 | 2,253 | 33.2% | 65.0% | R+31.7 |
| Precinct -1111 | 682 | 1,184 | 33 | 1,899 | 35.9% | 62.3% | R+26.4 |
| Precinct -1313 | 1,248 | 554 | 36 | 1,838 | 67.9% | 30.1% | D+37.8 |
| Precinct -0606 | 1,323 | 400 | 30 | 1,753 | 75.5% | 22.8% | D+52.7 |
| Precinct -0303 | 865 | 828 | 43 | 1,736 | 49.8% | 47.7% | D+2.1 |
| Precinct -1818 | 616 | 1,016 | 26 | 1,658 | 37.2% | 61.3% | R+24.1 |
| Precinct -0202 | 441 | 1,156 | 30 | 1,627 | 27.1% | 71.1% | R+43.9 |
| Precinct -1212 | 1,098 | 332 | 30 | 1,460 | 75.2% | 22.7% | D+52.5 |
| Precinct -2020 | 674 | 477 | 7 | 1,158 | 58.2% | 41.2% | D+17.0 |
| Precinct -1010 | 549 | 573 | 33 | 1,155 | 47.5% | 49.6% | R+2.1 |
| Precinct -1717 | 349 | 660 | 7 | 1,016 | 34.4% | 65.0% | R+30.6 |
| Precinct -0505 | 707 | 202 | 13 | 922 | 76.7% | 21.9% | D+54.8 |
| Precinct -0909 | 258 | 429 | 13 | 700 | 36.9% | 61.3% | R+24.4 |
| Precinct -0101 | 250 | 279 | 3 | 532 | 47.0% | 52.4% | R+5.5 |
| Precinct -1616 | 50 | 188 | 3 | 241 | 20.7% | 78.0% | R+57.3 |
Presidential margin, 1892–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
| Year | Margin (D minus R) |
|---|---|
| 1892 | +5.4% |
| 1896 | −4.6% |
| 1900 | −21.8% |
| 1904 | −19.0% |
| 1908 | −15.4% |
| 1912 | +23.6% |
| 1916 | −8.5% |
| 1920 | −20.9% |
| 1924 | −6.0% |
| 1928 | −9.9% |
| 1932 | +3.8% |
| 1936 | +6.5% |
| 1940 | −1.7% |
| 1944 | −10.3% |
| 1948 | −6.4% |
| 1952 | −11.4% |
| 1956 | −18.0% |
| 1960 | −18.7% |
| 1964 | +1.2% |
| 1968 | −23.4% |
| 1972 | −26.8% |
| 1976 | −0.4% |
| 1980 | −9.4% |
| 1984 | −28.9% |
| 1988 | −17.7% |
| 1992 | +1.9% |
| 1996 | −4.6% |
| 2000 | −13.2% |
| 2004 | −5.9% |
| 2008 | +4.3% |
| 2012 | −3.1% |
| 2016 | +1.5% |
| 2020 | +8.3% |
| 2024 | +6.0% |
U.S. Senate
| Year | Won | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | D | 51.3%11,677 | 45.9%10,455 | 22,765 |
| 2020 | D | 50.8%16,193 | 44.6%14,216 | 31,878 |
Registered voters
By party of registration, over time
Watauga County, NC registers Republican but votes Democratic — a 8.8-point gap between how voters register and how they vote, the signature of ancestral registration that trails realignment.
| Year | Total registered | Democratic | Republican | Unaffiliated | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 40,120 | 12,999 | 14,363 | 12,711 | 47 |
| 2012 | 44,838 | 13,000 | 14,929 | 16,572 | 337 |
| 2016 | 46,349 | 12,649 | 14,309 | 18,908 | 483 |
| 2020 | 45,212 | 12,029 | 13,301 | 19,356 | 526 |
| 2022 | 45,804 | 11,872 | 12,898 | 20,569 | 465 |
| 2024 | 46,601 | 11,546 | 12,863 | 21,632 | 560 |
Who moves in and out
Net migration over time, and who arrivals are — where they came from and what those places vote
−172 net domestic migration · 2025
Net +5,170 over 2011–2025 · gain loss
Arrivals reported $75,813 in average income, against $91,815 for residents who stayed — 17% lower. (IRS SOI, 2022–23)
The places arrivals came from lean R+6.3 on average — 12 points more Republican-leaning than Watauga County, NC itself (D+6.0).
Where arrivals came from lean of each source
- Wake County, NC109D+25.4
- Mecklenburg County, NC97D+32.7
- Ashe County, NC77R+44.3
- Avery County, NC69R+52.3
- Forsyth County, NC41D+13.1
- Buncombe County, NC40D+24.7
Where departures went households, 2022–23
- Ashe County, NC121
- Mecklenburg County, NC117
- Wake County, NC108
- Buncombe County, NC76
- Avery County, NC66
- Caldwell County, NC65
Migration is one input to a place’s political change, not its cause — a shift can also come from residents changing their minds, generational turnover, or turnout. These figures describe the places people moved between; they do not measure how any mover voted.
| Year | Net domestic migration |
|---|---|
| 2011 | +659 |
| 2012 | +367 |
| 2013 | +189 |
| 2014 | +51 |
| 2015 | +592 |
| 2016 | +984 |
| 2017 | +966 |
| 2018 | +796 |
| 2019 | +121 |
| 2021 | +988 |
| 2022 | +208 |
| 2023 | −2 |
| 2024 | −577 |
| 2025 | −172 |
Home to Appalachian State University, Watauga sits deep in the Blue Ridge yet voted Democratic in 2024 by six points — a margin driven largely by student enrollment in a region where most surrounding counties lean heavily Republican.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 23.6 points in 1912 and a Republican high of 28.9 points in 1984. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved 2.3 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 6.0 points.
A population of 55,123, a 89% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $51,693 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Monongalia County and Whitman County.
The counties whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Browse places by community — income, education, race & ethnicity, language — all community cuts →
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 →
Watauga County, North Carolina. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/37189/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.