Union County, South Carolina: Black Belt county. In 2024, voted R+33%. Democratic peak: D+100 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+33MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Black BeltAkashic typology
- Population
- 26,8852024 5-year
- Median household income
- $41,6212024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 64.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 27.8%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+100 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+51 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Piscataquis County, ME · similarity 0.98
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Union CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Union 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 | +56.1% |
| 1896 | +79.3% |
| 1900 | +85.7% |
| 1904 | +93.0% |
| 1908 | +93.2% |
| 1912 | +95.5% |
| 1916 | +99.1% |
| 1920 | +98.5% |
| 1924 | +96.8% |
| 1928 | +94.1% |
| 1932 | +99.5% |
| 1936 | +99.7% |
| 1940 | +98.4% |
| 1944 | +95.4% |
| 1948 | +36.2% |
| 1952 | +47.7% |
| 1956 | +44.1% |
| 1960 | +45.1% |
| 1964 | +1.0% |
| 1968 | −7.5% |
| 1972 | −51.2% |
| 1976 | +29.4% |
| 1980 | +21.4% |
| 1984 | −17.7% |
| 1988 | −15.3% |
| 1992 | −0.0% |
| 1996 | +15.4% |
| 2000 | −10.4% |
| 2004 | −11.4% |
| 2008 | −11.2% |
| 2012 | −6.3% |
| 2016 | −19.3% |
| 2020 | −24.5% |
| 2024 | −32.7% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 4,084 | 8,102 | 12,289 | ||
| R | 4,935 | 8,183 | 13,257 | ||
| R | 4,729 | 7,061 | 12,092 | ||
| R | 5,796 | 6,584 | 12,541 | ||
| R | 5,935 | 7,449 | 13,551 | ||
| R | 5,236 | 6,592 | 11,934 | ||
| R | 4,662 | 5,768 | 10,589 | ||
| D | 5,407 | 3,855 | 10,055 | ||
| R | 4,644 | 4,647 | 10,680 | ||
| R | 4,420 | 6,019 | 10,465 | ||
| R | 4,424 | 6,331 | 10,796 | ||
| D | 6,274 | 4,035 | 10,456 | ||
| D | 6,363 | 3,463 | 9,863 | ||
| R | 2,676 | 8,337 | 11,065 | ||
| O | 2,271 | 3,011 | 9,872 | ||
| D | 3,892 | 3,815 | 7,707 | ||
| D | 5,229 | 1,980 | 7,209 | ||
| D | 3,760 | 1,252 | 5,688 | ||
| D | 5,921 | 2,094 | 8,015 | ||
| O | 1,283 | 46 | 3,419 | ||
| D | 3,041 | 33 | 3,152 | ||
| D | 3,662 | 29 | 3,691 | ||
| D | 3,458 | 0 | 3,467 | ||
| D | 3,131 | 0 | 3,147 | ||
| D | 2,460 | 74 | 2,535 | ||
| D | 1,862 | 27 | 1,896 | ||
| D | 2,162 | 16 | 2,178 | ||
| D | 1,476 | 0 | 1,489 | ||
| D | 1,609 | 0 | 1,685 | ||
| D | 1,389 | 49 | 1,438 | ||
| D | 1,593 | 58 | 1,651 | ||
| D | 1,182 | 91 | 1,273 | ||
| D | 1,379 | 158 | 1,539 | ||
| D | 1,339 | 356 | 1,751 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
10.9%
English
8.9%
Irish
7.9%
German
5.3%
Italian
1.7%
Scottish
1.0%
French
0.7%
African American
22.2%
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: 44.5 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
$41,621
Union County ranks in the bottom 10% of US counties.
Union County$41,621
South Carolina$69,324
United States$80,734
Union 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
22.6%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1836.1%
Working age (18–64)19.8%
Seniors (65+)13.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.6%
speak English only
Spanish1.8%
Other Indo-European0.4%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 21.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Union County's mill towns anchored its economy for generations, but deindustrialization reshaped both its workforce and its politics. In 2024 the county delivered a 32-point Republican presidential margin, continuing a decade-long rightward drift.
The Democratic margin here reached 100 points in 1936. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved eight points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was thirty-three 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 $41,621 and a 23% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Piscataquis County and Jefferson 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.
Union County, South Carolina. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/45087/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in South Carolina
More black belt counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Union County, South Carolina vote in 2024?
In 2024, Union County, South Carolina voted Republican by 32.7 points (R+33), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 12,289 votes cast, 4,084 went Democratic and 8,102 went Republican.
What is Union County, South Carolina's political typology?
Akashic places Union 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 21 times, Republican 11 times, and other 2 times.
When did Union County, South Carolina last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Union County, South Carolina voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Union County, South Carolina?
Union County, South Carolina has a population of 26,885 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Union County, South Carolina?
Median household income in Union County, South Carolina is $41,621 — below the national median of $80,734. The South Carolina state median is $69,324.
What is the political history of Union County, South Carolina?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Union County, South Carolina from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 21 went Democratic and 11 went Republican. The county's typology — "Black Belt" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.