Lake County, Tennessee: Appalachian Realigners county. In 2024, voted R+55%. Democratic peak: D+94 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+55MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Appalachian RealignersAkashic typology
- Population
- 6,5792024 5-year
- Median household income
- $28,8142024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 65.1%2024 5-year
- Black
- 22.5%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+94 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+55 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Humphreys County, TN · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Lake CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Lake 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 | +89.2% |
| 1896 | +71.8% |
| 1900 | +47.0% |
| 1904 | +45.8% |
| 1908 | +43.9% |
| 1912 | +56.7% |
| 1916 | +68.7% |
| 1920 | +54.1% |
| 1924 | +80.0% |
| 1928 | +70.5% |
| 1932 | +91.8% |
| 1936 | +93.8% |
| 1940 | +86.3% |
| 1944 | +81.1% |
| 1948 | +43.5% |
| 1952 | +50.0% |
| 1956 | +51.7% |
| 1960 | +28.5% |
| 1964 | +38.7% |
| 1968 | +13.6% |
| 1972 | −35.0% |
| 1976 | +52.6% |
| 1980 | +34.9% |
| 1984 | +15.0% |
| 1988 | +7.4% |
| 1992 | +33.3% |
| 1996 | +34.5% |
| 2000 | +28.7% |
| 2004 | +11.7% |
| 2008 | −6.7% |
| 2012 | −13.4% |
| 2016 | −39.6% |
| 2020 | −47.5% |
| 2024 | −54.9% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 429 | 1,493 | 1,939 | ||
| R | 526 | 1,492 | 2,034 | ||
| R | 577 | 1,357 | 1,970 | ||
| R | 884 | 1,163 | 2,087 | ||
| R | 1,024 | 1,175 | 2,238 | ||
| D | 1,317 | 1,039 | 2,370 | ||
| D | 1,419 | 781 | 2,224 | ||
| D | 1,273 | 589 | 1,982 | ||
| D | 1,449 | 680 | 2,306 | ||
| D | 935 | 806 | 1,750 | ||
| D | 1,191 | 878 | 2,092 | ||
| D | 1,718 | 823 | 2,563 | ||
| D | 1,933 | 591 | 2,549 | ||
| R | 536 | 1,147 | 1,746 | ||
| O | 737 | 409 | 2,408 | ||
| D | 1,667 | 736 | 2,403 | ||
| D | 1,346 | 732 | 2,151 | ||
| D | 1,673 | 512 | 2,246 | ||
| D | 1,475 | 487 | 1,975 | ||
| D | 833 | 179 | 1,502 | ||
| D | 1,440 | 150 | 1,590 | ||
| D | 2,962 | 213 | 3,187 | ||
| D | 3,604 | 113 | 3,720 | ||
| D | 1,824 | 78 | 1,902 | ||
| D | 960 | 166 | 1,126 | ||
| D | 817 | 87 | 913 | ||
| D | 1,192 | 352 | 1,552 | ||
| D | 727 | 130 | 869 | ||
| D | 499 | 122 | 665 | ||
| D | 464 | 178 | 651 | ||
| D | 469 | 174 | 644 | ||
| D | 558 | 201 | 759 | ||
| D | 811 | 126 | 954 | ||
| D | 468 | 6 | 518 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
12.3%
Irish
12.2%
German
7.0%
English
7.0%
Italian
1.2%
Polish
1.0%
Scottish
0.8%
African American
18.0%
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: 42.8 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
$28,814
Lake County ranks in the bottom 5% of US counties.
Lake County$28,814
Tennessee$69,595
United States$80,734
Lake 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
32.2%
Nearly half of children live in poverty.
Children under 1849.7%
Working age (18–64)27.7%
Seniors (65+)24.5%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.2%
speak English only
Spanish2.7%
Other Indo-European0.5%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.4%
Other languages0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 42.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Lake County, hugging the Mississippi River in the state's northwest corner, recorded an R+54.9 margin in 2024 despite a population under 8,000 — making it a study in how rural river-bottom communities vote at near-uniform rates.
The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin peaked at ninety-four points in 1936 and narrowed across the late twentieth century. The 2008 election carried the county to the Republican party for the first time in many years, by seven points. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved seven points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was fifty-five points.
The economic context is severe: a median household income of $28,814 — among the lowest at this geographic scale — and a 32% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Humphreys County and Trousdale 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.
Lake County, Tennessee. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/47095/. 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 Lake County, Tennessee vote in 2024?
In 2024, Lake County, Tennessee voted Republican by 54.9 points (R+55), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 1,939 votes cast, 429 went Democratic and 1,493 went Republican.
What is Lake County, Tennessee's political typology?
Akashic places Lake 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 27 times, Republican 6 times, and other 1 times.
When did Lake County, Tennessee last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Lake County, Tennessee voted Democratic was 2004.
How many people live in Lake County, Tennessee?
Lake County, Tennessee has a population of 6,579 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Lake County, Tennessee?
Median household income in Lake County, Tennessee is $28,814 — below the national median of $80,734. The Tennessee state median is $69,595.
What is the political history of Lake County, Tennessee?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Lake County, Tennessee from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 27 went Democratic and 6 went Republican. The county's typology — "Appalachian Realigners" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.