Hays County, Texas: New American county. In 2024, voted D+6%. Democratic peak: D+83 in 1912.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+6MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 268,6382024 5-year
- Median household income
- $89,0972024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 60.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 4.1%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 39.4%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+83 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+30 in 1984MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Deschutes County, OR · similarity 0.93
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Hays CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Hays 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 | No data |
| 1896 | No data |
| 1900 | No data |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | +82.5% |
| 1916 | +77.0% |
| 1920 | +50.3% |
| 1924 | +58.5% |
| 1928 | −27.4% |
| 1932 | +78.1% |
| 1936 | +74.3% |
| 1940 | +67.8% |
| 1944 | +49.2% |
| 1948 | +56.4% |
| 1952 | −1.5% |
| 1956 | +3.7% |
| 1960 | +28.9% |
| 1964 | +49.4% |
| 1968 | +25.1% |
| 1972 | −14.1% |
| 1976 | +10.0% |
| 1980 | −3.8% |
| 1984 | −30.2% |
| 1988 | −2.3% |
| 1992 | +3.1% |
| 1996 | −4.8% |
| 2000 | −25.6% |
| 2004 | −14.5% |
| 2008 | −2.0% |
| 2012 | −10.4% |
| 2016 | −0.8% |
| 2020 | +10.8% |
| 2024 | +5.6% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 65,528 | 58,438 | 125,827 | ||
| D | 59,524 | 47,680 | 109,395 | ||
| R | 33,224 | 33,826 | 72,164 | ||
| R | 25,537 | 31,661 | 59,011 | ||
| R | 28,431 | 29,638 | 59,052 | ||
| R | 20,110 | 27,021 | 47,823 | ||
| R | 11,387 | 20,170 | 34,317 | ||
| R | 11,580 | 12,865 | 26,840 | ||
| D | 10,842 | 10,008 | 27,267 | ||
| R | 11,187 | 11,716 | 23,264 | ||
| R | 6,663 | 12,467 | 19,187 | ||
| R | 6,013 | 6,517 | 13,289 | ||
| D | 7,005 | 5,714 | 12,875 | ||
| R | 4,068 | 5,406 | 9,519 | ||
| D | 3,546 | 1,993 | 6,183 | ||
| D | 3,780 | 1,279 | 5,064 | ||
| D | 2,916 | 1,606 | 4,529 | ||
| D | 2,017 | 1,873 | 3,904 | ||
| R | 2,070 | 2,135 | 4,208 | ||
| D | 2,239 | 555 | 2,987 | ||
| D | 1,690 | 495 | 2,428 | ||
| D | 2,371 | 453 | 2,828 | ||
| D | 1,964 | 286 | 2,259 | ||
| D | 1,822 | 220 | 2,050 | ||
| R | 620 | 1,088 | 1,708 | ||
| D | 1,616 | 394 | 2,089 | ||
| D | 1,075 | 242 | 1,656 | ||
| D | 995 | 123 | 1,133 | ||
| D | 939 | 60 | 1,065 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
13.1%
English
11.1%
Irish
8.8%
American
3.2%
Italian
3.0%
Scottish
2.3%
French
2.1%
African American
3.3%
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: 34.1 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
$89,097
Hays County ranks in the top 10% of US counties.
Hays County$89,097
Texas$78,476
United States$80,734
Hays County ranks in the top 10% 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
12.1%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 188.8%
Working age (18–64)13.5%
Seniors (65+)7.4%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
75.3%
speak English only
Spanish21.7%
Other Indo-European1.8%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.9%
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 60.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Hays County has nearly doubled in population since 2010 as Austin's sprawl pushes south, and that demographic churn pushed the 2024 presidential margin to D+5.6 — a notable shift in a county that leaned Republican as recently as 2016.
Hays County has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of eighty-three points in 1912. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved five points toward the Republican candidate — part of the sharpest rightward shift recorded among any group of places in the country.
Its demographics describe the shift: a 61% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $89,097, and a population of 268,638. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Deschutes County and Haines Borough.
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.
Hays County, Texas. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/48209/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Hays County, Texas vote in 2024?
In 2024, Hays County, Texas voted Democratic by 5.6 points (D+6), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 125,827 votes cast, 65,528 went Democratic and 58,438 went Republican.
What is Hays County, Texas's political typology?
Akashic places Hays County, Texas in the "New American" typology — Communities where a large share of households speak a language other than English — multilingual, Democratic-leaning overall, yet the hardest-swinging bloc toward the Republican Party in 2024. 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 17 times, Republican 12 times, and other 0 times.
When did Hays County, Texas last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Hays County, Texas voted Republican was 2016.
How many people live in Hays County, Texas?
Hays County, Texas has a population of 268,638 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Hays County, Texas?
Median household income in Hays County, Texas is $89,097 — above the national median of $80,734. The Texas state median is $78,476.
What is the political history of Hays County, Texas?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Hays County, Texas from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 17 went Democratic and 12 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.