Hughes County, South Dakota: Stable Rural Right county. In 2024, voted R+30%. Republican peak: R+52 in 1952.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+30MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Stable Rural RightAkashic typology
- Population
- 17,6642024 5-year
- Median household income
- $81,3952024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 80.7%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.1%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.3%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+51 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+52 in 1952MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Davie County, NC · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
Precinct
Margin—
Turnout—
Harris +50Trump +50
Hover precincts for detail. Real precinct boundaries forthcoming.
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 | −48.9% |
| 1896 | −17.0% |
| 1900 | −32.4% |
| 1904 | −46.2% |
| 1908 | −37.4% |
| 1912 | +50.5% |
| 1916 | +6.3% |
| 1920 | −45.8% |
| 1924 | −39.5% |
| 1928 | −23.9% |
| 1932 | +14.6% |
| 1936 | +3.5% |
| 1940 | −18.5% |
| 1944 | −28.2% |
| 1948 | −23.3% |
| 1952 | −51.7% |
| 1956 | −26.8% |
| 1960 | −24.0% |
| 1964 | −2.4% |
| 1968 | −29.5% |
| 1972 | −34.9% |
| 1976 | −22.8% |
| 1980 | −41.2% |
| 1984 | −41.1% |
| 1988 | −22.7% |
| 1992 | −21.5% |
| 1996 | −21.4% |
| 2000 | +39.5% |
| 2004 | −37.6% |
| 2008 | −26.7% |
| 2012 | −29.8% |
| 2016 | −33.3% |
| 2020 | −29.5% |
| 2024 | −30.1% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 2,838 | 5,379 | 8,435 | ||
| R | 2,953 | 5,522 | 8,723 | ||
| R | 2,450 | 5,174 | 8,175 | ||
| R | 2,786 | 5,219 | 8,155 | ||
| R | 3,037 | 5,298 | 8,468 | ||
| R | 2,697 | 6,017 | 8,835 | ||
| D | 5,188 | 2,212 | 7,534 | ||
| R | 2,788 | 4,469 | 7,868 | ||
| R | 2,578 | 4,325 | 8,121 | ||
| R | 2,853 | 4,545 | 7,442 | ||
| R | 2,072 | 4,985 | 7,089 | ||
| R | 1,751 | 4,652 | 7,048 | ||
| R | 2,506 | 3,997 | 6,536 | ||
| R | 2,037 | 4,231 | 6,282 | ||
| R | 1,666 | 3,204 | 5,213 | ||
| R | 2,606 | 2,732 | 5,338 | ||
| R | 2,036 | 3,320 | 5,356 | ||
| R | 1,687 | 2,923 | 4,610 | ||
| R | 933 | 2,932 | 3,865 | ||
| R | 1,080 | 1,739 | 2,831 | ||
| R | 938 | 1,676 | 2,614 | ||
| R | 1,362 | 1,982 | 3,344 | ||
| D | 1,662 | 1,547 | 3,312 | ||
| D | 1,852 | 1,374 | 3,270 | ||
| R | 1,171 | 1,912 | 3,106 | ||
| R | 325 | 1,260 | 2,368 | ||
| R | 433 | 1,313 | 1,922 | ||
| D | 611 | 536 | 1,195 | ||
| D | 544 | 0 | 1,077 | ||
| R | 349 | 795 | 1,193 | ||
| R | 335 | 929 | 1,287 | ||
| R | 272 | 537 | 818 | ||
| R | 327 | 462 | 794 | ||
| R | 102 | 459 | 730 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
35.5%
Irish
12.5%
English
10.4%
American
4.6%
Polish
2.2%
French
1.1%
Italian
1.0%
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
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: 39.5 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
$81,395
Hughes County ranks in the top 25% of US counties.
Hughes County$81,395
South Dakota$75,081
United States$80,734
Hughes County ranks in the top 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
9.2%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 188.1%
Working age (18–64)9.1%
Seniors (65+)13.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
95.9%
speak English only
Spanish1.7%
Other languages1.0%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.7%
Other Indo-European0.6%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 35.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Hughes County anchors South Dakota's government sector around Pierre, but the presence of the state capital hasn't shifted its presidential margins — Republicans carried it by nearly 30 points in 2020.
The Republican margin here reached fifty-two points in 1952. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved one point toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was thirty points.
A population of 17,664, a 81% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $81,395 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Davie County and Union 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.
Hughes County, South Dakota. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/46065/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in South Dakota
More stable rural right counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Hughes County, South Dakota vote in 2024?
In 2024, Hughes County, South Dakota voted Republican by 30.1 points (R+30), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 8,435 votes cast, 2,838 went Democratic and 5,379 went Republican.
What is Hughes County, South Dakota's political typology?
Akashic places Hughes County, South Dakota in the "Stable Rural Right" typology — Mountain, Plains, and rural Republican counties already near their ceiling, with little further room to swing. 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 5 times, Republican 29 times, and other 0 times.
When did Hughes County, South Dakota last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Hughes County, South Dakota voted Democratic was 2000.
How many people live in Hughes County, South Dakota?
Hughes County, South Dakota has a population of 17,664 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Hughes County, South Dakota?
Median household income in Hughes County, South Dakota is $81,395 — above the national median of $80,734. The South Dakota state median is $75,081.
What is the political history of Hughes County, South Dakota?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Hughes County, South Dakota from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 5 went Democratic and 29 went Republican. The county's typology — "Stable Rural Right" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.