Sullivan County, Tennessee: Stable Rural Right county. In 2024, voted R+55%. Republican peak: R+55 in 2016.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+55MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Stable Rural RightAkashic typology
- Population
- 160,6242024 5-year
- Median household income
- $58,8072024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 92.4%2024 5-year
- Black
- 2.1%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+44 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+55 in 2016MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Morgan County, AL · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Sullivan CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Sullivan 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 | +24.9% |
| 1896 | +13.3% |
| 1900 | +16.2% |
| 1904 | +16.6% |
| 1908 | +13.1% |
| 1912 | +44.3% |
| 1916 | +18.8% |
| 1920 | +9.3% |
| 1924 | +19.0% |
| 1928 | −12.7% |
| 1932 | +27.5% |
| 1936 | +28.4% |
| 1940 | +27.0% |
| 1944 | +9.2% |
| 1948 | +4.2% |
| 1952 | −13.6% |
| 1956 | −14.3% |
| 1960 | −20.3% |
| 1964 | +4.8% |
| 1968 | −26.2% |
| 1972 | −45.7% |
| 1976 | +2.7% |
| 1980 | −7.2% |
| 1984 | −36.4% |
| 1988 | −30.6% |
| 1992 | −13.8% |
| 1996 | −16.2% |
| 2000 | −21.8% |
| 2004 | −36.6% |
| 2008 | −41.3% |
| 2012 | −47.2% |
| 2016 | −55.2% |
| 2020 | −51.9% |
| 2024 | −55.0% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 16,624 | 58,154 | 75,541 | ||
| R | 17,272 | 55,860 | 74,357 | ||
| R | 12,578 | 46,979 | 62,278 | ||
| R | 15,321 | 43,562 | 59,887 | ||
| R | 18,354 | 44,808 | 63,997 | ||
| R | 19,637 | 42,555 | 62,639 | ||
| R | 21,354 | 33,482 | 55,727 | ||
| R | 20,571 | 29,296 | 53,837 | ||
| R | 20,935 | 28,801 | 56,980 | ||
| R | 17,396 | 32,996 | 50,977 | ||
| R | 16,925 | 36,516 | 53,835 | ||
| R | 22,341 | 25,963 | 50,470 | ||
| D | 23,353 | 22,087 | 46,762 | ||
| R | 10,007 | 27,593 | 38,517 | ||
| R | 9,783 | 20,251 | 40,025 | ||
| D | 19,496 | 17,703 | 37,199 | ||
| R | 14,731 | 22,354 | 37,598 | ||
| R | 14,106 | 18,903 | 33,506 | ||
| R | 11,849 | 15,596 | 27,563 | ||
| D | 7,626 | 6,984 | 15,120 | ||
| D | 6,290 | 5,223 | 11,544 | ||
| D | 7,234 | 4,153 | 11,421 | ||
| D | 6,269 | 3,492 | 9,795 | ||
| D | 5,322 | 2,999 | 8,442 | ||
| R | 3,216 | 4,149 | 7,365 | ||
| D | 3,313 | 2,247 | 5,625 | ||
| D | 4,327 | 3,593 | 7,920 | ||
| D | 2,601 | 1,776 | 4,384 | ||
| D | 2,413 | 538 | 4,228 | ||
| D | 2,393 | 1,836 | 4,261 | ||
| D | 2,116 | 1,506 | 3,668 | ||
| D | 2,421 | 1,739 | 4,216 | ||
| D | 2,512 | 1,914 | 4,482 | ||
| D | 2,281 | 1,304 | 3,921 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
20.7%
American
13.4%
Irish
12.5%
German
12.1%
Scottish
3.3%
Italian
1.9%
French
1.2%
African American
1.7%
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: 45.0 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
$58,807
Sullivan County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Sullivan County$58,807
Tennessee$69,595
United States$80,734
Sullivan 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
15.4%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1826.0%
Working age (18–64)13.1%
Seniors (65+)12.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.4%
speak English only
Spanish1.5%
Other Indo-European0.5%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.4%
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 37.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Sullivan County anchors the Tri-Cities region of northeast Tennessee, where a blue-collar manufacturing and healthcare workforce has moved steadily toward Republican dominance over the past two decades, producing some of the widest presidential margins in the state.
The Republican margin here reached fifty-five points in 2016. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved three points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was fifty-five points.
A population of 160,624, a 92% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $58,807 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Morgan County and Jefferson 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.
Sullivan County, Tennessee. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/47163/. 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 Sullivan County, Tennessee vote in 2024?
In 2024, Sullivan County, Tennessee voted Republican by 55.0 points (R+55), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 75,541 votes cast, 16,624 went Democratic and 58,154 went Republican.
What is Sullivan County, Tennessee's political typology?
Akashic places Sullivan County, Tennessee 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 16 times, Republican 18 times, and other 0 times.
When did Sullivan County, Tennessee last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Sullivan County, Tennessee voted Democratic was 1976.
How many people live in Sullivan County, Tennessee?
Sullivan County, Tennessee has a population of 160,624 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Sullivan County, Tennessee?
Median household income in Sullivan County, Tennessee is $58,807 — below the national median of $80,734. The Tennessee state median is $69,595.
What is the political history of Sullivan County, Tennessee?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Sullivan County, Tennessee from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 16 went Democratic and 18 went Republican. The county's typology — "Stable Rural Right" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.