Marion County, South Carolina: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted D+11%. Democratic peak: D+100 in 1920.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+11MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 28,6642024 5-year
- Median household income
- $36,3012024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 39.2%2024 5-year
- Black
- 54.9%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.8%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+100 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+30 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Bamberg County, SC · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Marion CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Marion 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 | +53.8% |
| 1896 | +71.8% |
| 1900 | +83.2% |
| 1904 | +93.7% |
| 1908 | +91.3% |
| 1912 | +98.1% |
| 1916 | +98.8% |
| 1920 | +99.8% |
| 1924 | +99.4% |
| 1928 | +86.1% |
| 1932 | +98.8% |
| 1936 | +99.6% |
| 1940 | +95.1% |
| 1944 | +91.9% |
| 1948 | +18.7% |
| 1952 | −17.9% |
| 1956 | +30.8% |
| 1960 | +18.6% |
| 1964 | −22.0% |
| 1968 | +4.5% |
| 1972 | −29.8% |
| 1976 | +31.6% |
| 1980 | +23.4% |
| 1984 | +3.5% |
| 1988 | +6.4% |
| 1992 | +21.2% |
| 1996 | +26.4% |
| 2000 | +22.0% |
| 2004 | +16.1% |
| 2008 | +27.6% |
| 2012 | +30.2% |
| 2016 | +21.9% |
| 2020 | +21.5% |
| 2024 | +10.5% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 7,316 | 5,906 | 13,388 | ||
| D | 8,872 | 5,711 | 14,704 | ||
| D | 8,569 | 5,444 | 14,276 | ||
| D | 9,688 | 5,164 | 14,986 | ||
| D | 9,608 | 5,416 | 15,174 | ||
| D | 7,767 | 5,589 | 13,507 | ||
| D | 7,358 | 4,687 | 12,149 | ||
| D | 6,359 | 3,595 | 10,451 | ||
| D | 5,843 | 3,647 | 10,376 | ||
| D | 5,008 | 4,403 | 9,486 | ||
| D | 5,043 | 4,698 | 9,773 | ||
| D | 5,379 | 3,321 | 8,801 | ||
| D | 5,927 | 3,076 | 9,016 | ||
| R | 2,545 | 4,719 | 7,298 | ||
| D | 2,821 | 2,512 | 6,817 | ||
| R | 2,046 | 3,197 | 5,243 | ||
| D | 2,397 | 1,646 | 4,043 | ||
| D | 1,390 | 417 | 3,160 | ||
| R | 1,610 | 2,313 | 3,923 | ||
| O | 301 | 14 | 1,534 | ||
| D | 858 | 9 | 924 | ||
| D | 716 | 18 | 734 | ||
| D | 1,219 | 0 | 1,224 | ||
| D | 948 | 0 | 960 | ||
| D | 682 | 51 | 733 | ||
| D | 616 | 2 | 618 | ||
| D | 808 | 1 | 809 | ||
| D | 1,019 | 3 | 1,028 | ||
| D | 710 | 0 | 724 | ||
| D | 2,007 | 91 | 2,098 | ||
| D | 1,507 | 49 | 1,556 | ||
| D | 1,296 | 119 | 1,415 | ||
| D | 1,936 | 313 | 2,260 | ||
| D | 1,737 | 466 | 2,361 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
15.0%
American
14.2%
Irish
2.6%
German
1.6%
Italian
1.0%
French
0.5%
African American
43.9%
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: 42.6 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
$36,301
Marion County ranks in the bottom 5% of US counties.
Marion County$36,301
South Carolina$69,324
United States$80,734
Marion County ranks in the bottom 5% 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
30.0%
Nearly half of children live in poverty.
Children under 1844.2%
Working age (18–64)26.3%
Seniors (65+)23.2%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.0%
speak English only
Spanish3.1%
Other Indo-European0.8%
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 35.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Marion County's majority-Black population anchors consistent Democratic margins in a state that otherwise leans heavily Republican. Tobacco and timber shaped its economy for generations, leaving median incomes well below the state average.
The Democratic margin here reached 100 points in 1920. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved eleven points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was eleven 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 $36,301 and a 30% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Bamberg County and Bolivar 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.
Marion County, South Carolina. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/45067/. 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 Marion County, South Carolina vote in 2024?
In 2024, Marion County, South Carolina voted Democratic by 10.5 points (D+11), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 13,388 votes cast, 7,316 went Democratic and 5,906 went Republican.
What is Marion County, South Carolina's political typology?
Akashic places Marion 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 30 times, Republican 3 times, and other 1 times.
When did Marion County, South Carolina last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Marion County, South Carolina voted Republican was 1972.
How many people live in Marion County, South Carolina?
Marion County, South Carolina has a population of 28,664 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Marion County, South Carolina?
Median household income in Marion County, South Carolina is $36,301 — below the national median of $80,734. The South Carolina state median is $69,324.
What is the political history of Marion County, South Carolina?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Marion County, South Carolina from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 30 went Democratic and 3 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.