Clarendon County, South Carolina: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted R+12%. Democratic peak: D+100 in 1920.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+12MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 30,9862024 5-year
- Median household income
- $52,4012024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 50.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 44.2%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+100 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+56 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Jasper County, SC · similarity 0.97
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Clarendon CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Clarendon 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 | +71.5% |
| 1896 | +75.0% |
| 1900 | +86.3% |
| 1904 | +86.3% |
| 1908 | +89.2% |
| 1912 | +96.7% |
| 1916 | +96.1% |
| 1920 | +100.0% |
| 1924 | +93.6% |
| 1928 | +97.4% |
| 1932 | +97.5% |
| 1936 | +98.7% |
| 1940 | +91.1% |
| 1944 | +79.6% |
| 1948 | +5.7% |
| 1952 | −37.0% |
| 1956 | +16.4% |
| 1960 | −12.1% |
| 1964 | −56.1% |
| 1968 | +17.8% |
| 1972 | −9.4% |
| 1976 | +28.6% |
| 1980 | +17.9% |
| 1984 | +4.6% |
| 1988 | +7.4% |
| 1992 | +17.2% |
| 1996 | +20.5% |
| 2000 | +7.2% |
| 2004 | +7.8% |
| 2008 | +12.3% |
| 2012 | +12.4% |
| 2016 | +2.2% |
| 2020 | −0.7% |
| 2024 | −12.3% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 7,064 | 9,065 | 16,320 | ||
| R | 8,250 | 8,361 | 16,733 | ||
| D | 7,732 | 7,386 | 15,395 | ||
| D | 9,091 | 7,071 | 16,292 | ||
| D | 8,673 | 6,758 | 15,552 | ||
| D | 7,087 | 6,061 | 13,200 | ||
| D | 5,999 | 5,186 | 11,290 | ||
| D | 5,930 | 3,841 | 10,198 | ||
| D | 6,033 | 4,147 | 10,945 | ||
| D | 5,030 | 4,337 | 9,397 | ||
| D | 5,591 | 5,102 | 10,746 | ||
| D | 5,979 | 4,158 | 10,194 | ||
| D | 5,489 | 3,040 | 8,559 | ||
| R | 3,276 | 3,958 | 7,284 | ||
| D | 3,606 | 2,201 | 7,904 | ||
| R | 832 | 2,960 | 3,792 | ||
| R | 1,134 | 1,445 | 2,579 | ||
| O | 661 | 224 | 2,672 | ||
| R | 953 | 2,073 | 3,026 | ||
| O | 107 | 16 | 1,590 | ||
| D | 1,053 | 27 | 1,289 | ||
| D | 1,154 | 54 | 1,208 | ||
| D | 1,260 | 0 | 1,277 | ||
| D | 962 | 0 | 987 | ||
| D | 762 | 10 | 772 | ||
| D | 615 | 20 | 636 | ||
| D | 902 | 0 | 902 | ||
| D | 894 | 18 | 912 | ||
| D | 932 | 0 | 964 | ||
| D | 1,091 | 62 | 1,153 | ||
| D | 1,170 | 86 | 1,256 | ||
| D | 1,130 | 83 | 1,213 | ||
| D | 1,450 | 207 | 1,657 | ||
| D | 2,192 | 364 | 2,556 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
7.9%
American
7.4%
German
5.8%
Irish
5.2%
Scottish
1.5%
Italian
1.4%
French
1.0%
African American
35.4%
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: 45.9 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
$52,401
Clarendon County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Clarendon County$52,401
South Carolina$69,324
United States$80,734
Clarendon 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
15.4%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1819.0%
Working age (18–64)14.6%
Seniors (65+)14.6%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.7%
speak English only
Spanish2.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.8%
Other Indo-European0.2%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 47.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Clarendon County's population is roughly 55% Black, yet it has shifted toward Republican presidential margins in recent cycles—a pattern that reflects broader rural South Carolina trends and makes it a useful case study for demographers tracking partisan realignment.
The Democratic margin here reached 100 points in 1920. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved twelve points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was twelve 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 $52,401 and a 15% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Jasper County and Knox 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.
Clarendon County, South Carolina. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/45027/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in South Carolina
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Frequently asked questions
How did Clarendon County, South Carolina vote in 2024?
In 2024, Clarendon County, South Carolina voted Republican by 12.3 points (R+12), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 16,320 votes cast, 7,064 went Democratic and 9,065 went Republican.
What is Clarendon County, South Carolina's political typology?
Akashic places Clarendon County, South 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 26 times, Republican 6 times, and other 2 times.
When did Clarendon County, South Carolina last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Clarendon County, South Carolina voted Democratic was 2016.
How many people live in Clarendon County, South Carolina?
Clarendon County, South Carolina has a population of 30,986 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Clarendon County, South Carolina?
Median household income in Clarendon County, South Carolina is $52,401 — below the national median of $80,734. The South Carolina state median is $69,324.
What is the political history of Clarendon County, South Carolina?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Clarendon County, South Carolina from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 26 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.