Carter County, Tennessee: Evangelical Deep South county. In 2024, voted R+63%. Republican peak: R+81 in 1928.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+63MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Evangelical Deep SouthAkashic typology
- Population
- 56,7122024 5-year
- Median household income
- $50,1352024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 93.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.9%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Republican margin
- R+81 in 1928MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Johnson County, TN · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Carter CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Carter County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
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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 | −57.2% |
| 1896 | −70.3% |
| 1900 | −73.4% |
| 1904 | −73.9% |
| 1908 | −74.5% |
| 1912 | −21.0% |
| 1916 | −71.2% |
| 1920 | −80.0% |
| 1924 | −73.3% |
| 1928 | −81.0% |
| 1932 | −52.5% |
| 1936 | −44.9% |
| 1940 | −31.9% |
| 1944 | −49.0% |
| 1948 | −45.0% |
| 1952 | −53.3% |
| 1956 | −58.2% |
| 1960 | −55.7% |
| 1964 | −22.8% |
| 1968 | −49.9% |
| 1972 | −65.9% |
| 1976 | −9.0% |
| 1980 | −31.2% |
| 1984 | −47.5% |
| 1988 | −44.1% |
| 1992 | −21.9% |
| 1996 | −23.6% |
| 2000 | −28.2% |
| 2004 | −42.0% |
| 2008 | −47.2% |
| 2012 | −52.0% |
| 2016 | −63.8% |
| 2020 | −61.5% |
| 2024 | −63.2% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 4,454 | 20,167 | 24,852 | ||
| R | 4,529 | 19,584 | 24,492 | ||
| R | 3,453 | 16,898 | 21,084 | ||
| R | 4,789 | 15,503 | 20,617 | ||
| R | 5,587 | 15,852 | 21,769 | ||
| R | 6,395 | 15,768 | 22,313 | ||
| R | 6,724 | 12,111 | 19,102 | ||
| R | 6,218 | 10,540 | 18,282 | ||
| R | 6,502 | 10,712 | 19,190 | ||
| R | 4,634 | 12,036 | 16,778 | ||
| R | 4,642 | 13,153 | 17,933 | ||
| R | 6,006 | 11,648 | 18,077 | ||
| R | 7,443 | 8,934 | 16,510 | ||
| R | 2,191 | 11,102 | 13,514 | ||
| R | 2,160 | 9,467 | 14,636 | ||
| R | 5,326 | 8,472 | 13,798 | ||
| R | 3,412 | 12,214 | 15,798 | ||
| R | 2,933 | 11,218 | 14,236 | ||
| R | 2,707 | 9,019 | 11,844 | ||
| R | 1,809 | 4,943 | 6,968 | ||
| R | 1,662 | 4,873 | 6,556 | ||
| R | 2,171 | 4,238 | 6,480 | ||
| R | 1,837 | 4,858 | 6,722 | ||
| R | 1,574 | 5,055 | 6,629 | ||
| R | 512 | 4,934 | 5,458 | ||
| R | 551 | 3,657 | 4,236 | ||
| R | 674 | 6,059 | 6,733 | ||
| R | 498 | 2,961 | 3,459 | ||
| O | 478 | 1,243 | 3,647 | ||
| R | 459 | 3,152 | 3,615 | ||
| R | 379 | 2,584 | 2,984 | ||
| R | 408 | 2,763 | 3,208 | ||
| R | 445 | 2,700 | 3,209 | ||
| R | 478 | 1,877 | 2,444 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
25.4%
English
14.8%
German
10.0%
Irish
8.4%
Scottish
2.8%
Italian
1.3%
Polish
0.7%
African American
1.5%
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
$50,135
Carter County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Carter County$50,135
Tennessee$69,595
United States$80,734
Carter 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
17.1%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1822.5%
Working age (18–64)16.9%
Seniors (65+)8.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.6%
speak English only
Spanish1.5%
Other languages0.6%
Other Indo-European0.3%
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 53.8% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Anchored by Elizabethton in the upper Watauga River valley, Carter County has delivered lopsided Republican presidential margins for decades, with 2024's R+63.2 result reflecting the broader rural Appalachian realignment that accelerated through the 2010s.
The Republican margin here reached its widest at eighty-one points in 1928. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved two points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was sixty-three points.
A median household income of $50,135, a 17% poverty rate, and a 94% non-Hispanic-white share describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Johnson County and Sevier 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.
Carter County, Tennessee. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/47019/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in Tennessee
More evangelical deep south counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Carter County, Tennessee vote in 2024?
In 2024, Carter County, Tennessee voted Republican by 63.2 points (R+63), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 24,852 votes cast, 4,454 went Democratic and 20,167 went Republican.
What is Carter County, Tennessee's political typology?
Akashic places Carter County, Tennessee in the "Evangelical Deep South" typology — Deeply Republican, heavily Baptist counties of the Deep South. 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 0 times, Republican 33 times, and other 1 times.
How many people live in Carter County, Tennessee?
Carter County, Tennessee has a population of 56,712 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Carter County, Tennessee?
Median household income in Carter County, Tennessee is $50,135 — below the national median of $80,734. The Tennessee state median is $69,595.
What is the political history of Carter County, Tennessee?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Carter County, Tennessee from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 0 went Democratic and 33 went Republican. The county's typology — "Evangelical Deep South" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.