Bledsoe County, Tennessee: Appalachian Realigners county. In 2024, voted R+70%. Republican peak: R+70 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+70MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Appalachian RealignersAkashic typology
- Population
- 15,0322024 5-year
- Median household income
- $54,7202024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 87.9%2024 5-year
- Black
- 6.1%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+7 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+70 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Union County, TN · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Bledsoe CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Bledsoe 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 | −17.4% |
| 1896 | −24.1% |
| 1900 | −19.1% |
| 1904 | −14.7% |
| 1908 | −18.0% |
| 1912 | +6.8% |
| 1916 | −23.4% |
| 1920 | −42.6% |
| 1924 | −17.3% |
| 1928 | −20.2% |
| 1932 | +3.7% |
| 1936 | +1.7% |
| 1940 | +7.4% |
| 1944 | −19.8% |
| 1948 | −0.5% |
| 1952 | −2.9% |
| 1956 | −13.9% |
| 1960 | −18.7% |
| 1964 | −0.7% |
| 1968 | −16.4% |
| 1972 | −35.6% |
| 1976 | +4.0% |
| 1980 | −10.7% |
| 1984 | −19.3% |
| 1988 | −18.6% |
| 1992 | +2.7% |
| 1996 | −0.1% |
| 2000 | −14.9% |
| 2004 | −19.2% |
| 2008 | −34.5% |
| 2012 | −40.3% |
| 2016 | −58.4% |
| 2020 | −65.2% |
| 2024 | −70.5% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 891 | 5,254 | 6,191 | ||
| R | 971 | 4,725 | 5,758 | ||
| R | 897 | 3,622 | 4,664 | ||
| R | 1,267 | 3,022 | 4,359 | ||
| R | 1,517 | 3,166 | 4,784 | ||
| R | 1,927 | 2,849 | 4,809 | ||
| R | 1,756 | 2,380 | 4,196 | ||
| R | 1,621 | 1,626 | 3,532 | ||
| D | 1,884 | 1,776 | 4,018 | ||
| R | 1,274 | 1,858 | 3,147 | ||
| R | 1,316 | 1,950 | 3,286 | ||
| R | 1,585 | 1,970 | 3,586 | ||
| D | 1,757 | 1,620 | 3,401 | ||
| R | 899 | 1,952 | 2,962 | ||
| R | 957 | 1,477 | 3,166 | ||
| R | 1,412 | 1,431 | 2,843 | ||
| R | 981 | 1,439 | 2,452 | ||
| R | 1,079 | 1,429 | 2,526 | ||
| R | 1,158 | 1,229 | 2,417 | ||
| R | 1,092 | 1,103 | 2,248 | ||
| R | 795 | 1,187 | 1,982 | ||
| D | 1,527 | 1,317 | 2,844 | ||
| D | 1,218 | 1,178 | 2,419 | ||
| D | 1,034 | 960 | 1,994 | ||
| R | 598 | 901 | 1,499 | ||
| R | 485 | 690 | 1,184 | ||
| R | 482 | 1,198 | 1,680 | ||
| R | 423 | 681 | 1,104 | ||
| D | 464 | 379 | 1,254 | ||
| R | 295 | 425 | 724 | ||
| R | 534 | 718 | 1,252 | ||
| R | 498 | 734 | 1,235 | ||
| R | 478 | 785 | 1,275 | ||
| R | 505 | 720 | 1,239 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
18.8%
English
11.2%
German
7.9%
Irish
7.9%
French
1.2%
Italian
1.1%
Scottish
0.9%
African American
4.9%
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: 45.5 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
$54,720
Bledsoe County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Bledsoe County$54,720
Tennessee$69,595
United States$80,734
Bledsoe 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
20.7%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1832.0%
Working age (18–64)18.5%
Seniors (65+)18.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.9%
speak English only
Spanish1.8%
Other Indo-European1.2%
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 79.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Bledsoe County, a rural Appalachian enclave on the Cumberland Plateau, recorded a 70-point Republican presidential margin in 2024 — among the widest gaps in a state already dominated by one-party outcomes at the county level.
The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin peaked at seven points in 1940 and narrowed across the late twentieth century. The 1996 election carried the county to the Republican party for the first time in many years, by zero points. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved five points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was seventy points.
The economic context is severe: a median household income of $54,720 — among the lowest at this geographic scale — and a 21% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Union County and McNairy 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.
Bledsoe County, Tennessee. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/47007/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in Tennessee
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Frequently asked questions
How did Bledsoe County, Tennessee vote in 2024?
In 2024, Bledsoe County, Tennessee voted Republican by 70.5 points (R+70), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 6,191 votes cast, 891 went Democratic and 5,254 went Republican.
What is Bledsoe County, Tennessee's political typology?
Akashic places Bledsoe County, Tennessee in the "Appalachian Realigners" typology — Lower-income counties of Greater Appalachia — a long, deep arc from Democratic to Republican. 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 6 times, Republican 28 times, and other 0 times.
When did Bledsoe County, Tennessee last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Bledsoe County, Tennessee voted Democratic was 1992.
How many people live in Bledsoe County, Tennessee?
Bledsoe County, Tennessee has a population of 15,032 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Bledsoe County, Tennessee?
Median household income in Bledsoe County, Tennessee is $54,720 — below the national median of $80,734. The Tennessee state median is $69,595.
What is the political history of Bledsoe County, Tennessee?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Bledsoe County, Tennessee from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 6 went Democratic and 28 went Republican. The county's typology — "Appalachian Realigners" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.