Putnam County, Tennessee: Sunbelt Conservative county. In 2024, voted R+47%. Republican peak: R+47 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+47MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Sunbelt ConservativeAkashic typology
- Population
- 82,5582024 5-year
- Median household income
- $58,9122024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 86.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 2.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 8.4%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+39 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+47 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Coffee County, TN · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Putnam CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Putnam 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 | +19.8% |
| 1896 | +22.8% |
| 1900 | +15.7% |
| 1904 | +3.8% |
| 1908 | +7.0% |
| 1912 | +29.7% |
| 1916 | +24.9% |
| 1920 | +16.8% |
| 1924 | +24.5% |
| 1928 | +14.2% |
| 1932 | +38.7% |
| 1936 | +36.8% |
| 1940 | +30.5% |
| 1944 | +22.3% |
| 1948 | +22.6% |
| 1952 | +12.5% |
| 1956 | +12.4% |
| 1960 | +2.3% |
| 1964 | +35.6% |
| 1968 | −1.5% |
| 1972 | −23.0% |
| 1976 | +34.7% |
| 1980 | +12.5% |
| 1984 | −9.4% |
| 1988 | −18.1% |
| 1992 | +13.3% |
| 1996 | +4.6% |
| 2000 | −2.1% |
| 2004 | −19.2% |
| 2008 | −27.0% |
| 2012 | −37.1% |
| 2016 | −44.7% |
| 2020 | −43.4% |
| 2024 | −47.2% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 8,991 | 25,554 | 35,097 | ||
| R | 9,185 | 23,759 | 33,593 | ||
| R | 6,851 | 19,002 | 27,212 | ||
| R | 7,802 | 17,254 | 25,500 | ||
| R | 9,739 | 17,101 | 27,316 | ||
| R | 10,566 | 15,637 | 26,442 | ||
| R | 10,785 | 11,248 | 22,438 | ||
| D | 10,047 | 9,093 | 20,888 | ||
| D | 10,858 | 7,998 | 21,482 | ||
| R | 6,606 | 9,547 | 16,285 | ||
| R | 7,443 | 8,999 | 16,541 | ||
| D | 8,084 | 6,235 | 14,753 | ||
| D | 8,485 | 4,079 | 12,708 | ||
| R | 3,738 | 6,038 | 9,999 | ||
| R | 3,541 | 3,693 | 10,307 | ||
| D | 6,309 | 2,993 | 9,302 | ||
| D | 4,443 | 4,240 | 8,715 | ||
| D | 4,481 | 3,492 | 8,004 | ||
| D | 4,096 | 3,183 | 7,279 | ||
| D | 3,134 | 1,879 | 5,564 | ||
| D | 2,788 | 1,770 | 4,558 | ||
| D | 2,963 | 1,576 | 4,544 | ||
| D | 2,619 | 1,207 | 3,832 | ||
| D | 2,911 | 1,281 | 4,214 | ||
| D | 2,145 | 1,612 | 3,757 | ||
| D | 2,474 | 1,489 | 4,018 | ||
| D | 2,996 | 2,132 | 5,128 | ||
| D | 2,300 | 1,383 | 3,687 | ||
| D | 1,867 | 923 | 3,181 | ||
| D | 1,632 | 1,419 | 3,059 | ||
| D | 1,310 | 1,213 | 2,551 | ||
| D | 1,452 | 1,058 | 2,514 | ||
| D | 1,750 | 1,097 | 2,865 | ||
| D | 1,089 | 682 | 2,053 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
20.4%
English
14.6%
German
9.6%
Irish
9.1%
Scottish
2.6%
Italian
2.4%
French
2.4%
African American
1.9%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
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: 36.0 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
$58,912
Putnam County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Putnam County$58,912
Tennessee$69,595
United States$80,734
Putnam County ranks near the middle 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
18.4%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1824.7%
Working age (18–64)16.8%
Seniors (65+)15.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
92.1%
speak English only
Spanish5.4%
Other Indo-European1.0%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.9%
Other languages0.6%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 54.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Centered on Cookeville, Putnam County combines a regional university population with a predominantly rural, white working-class electorate that has delivered Republican presidential margins above 40 points in each of the last three cycles.
The Republican margin here reached forty-seven points in 2024. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved four points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was forty-seven points.
A median household income of $58,912, a 87% non-Hispanic-white share, and a population of 82,558 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Coffee County and Cheatham 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.
Putnam County, Tennessee. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/47141/. 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 Putnam County, Tennessee vote in 2024?
In 2024, Putnam County, Tennessee voted Republican by 47.2 points (R+47), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 35,097 votes cast, 8,991 went Democratic and 25,554 went Republican.
What is Putnam County, Tennessee's political typology?
Akashic places Putnam County, Tennessee in the "Sunbelt Conservative" typology — Affluent, predominantly white Sunbelt counties — reliably 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 23 times, Republican 11 times, and other 0 times.
When did Putnam County, Tennessee last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Putnam County, Tennessee voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Putnam County, Tennessee?
Putnam County, Tennessee has a population of 82,558 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Putnam County, Tennessee?
Median household income in Putnam County, Tennessee is $58,912 — below the national median of $80,734. The Tennessee state median is $69,595.
What is the political history of Putnam County, Tennessee?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Putnam County, Tennessee from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 23 went Democratic and 11 went Republican. The county's typology — "Sunbelt Conservative" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.