Polk County, Texas: Sunbelt Conservative county. In 2024, voted R+59%. Democratic peak: D+90 in 1932.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+59MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Sunbelt ConservativeAkashic typology
- Population
- 52,8002024 5-year
- Median household income
- $62,2592024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 74.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 7.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 15.3%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+90 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+59 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Grimes County, TX · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Polk CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Polk 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 | +73.5% |
| 1916 | +71.2% |
| 1920 | +43.2% |
| 1924 | +73.2% |
| 1928 | +32.3% |
| 1932 | +90.0% |
| 1936 | +83.9% |
| 1940 | +80.8% |
| 1944 | +73.8% |
| 1948 | +48.7% |
| 1952 | +21.2% |
| 1956 | −6.3% |
| 1960 | +22.9% |
| 1964 | +34.9% |
| 1968 | +18.1% |
| 1972 | −26.7% |
| 1976 | +26.6% |
| 1980 | +5.5% |
| 1984 | −21.1% |
| 1988 | +0.9% |
| 1992 | +3.9% |
| 1996 | −0.8% |
| 2000 | −25.6% |
| 2004 | −32.7% |
| 2008 | −37.2% |
| 2012 | −48.1% |
| 2016 | −55.4% |
| 2020 | −54.5% |
| 2024 | −58.9% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 4,910 | 19,216 | 24,291 | ||
| R | 5,387 | 18,573 | 24,186 | ||
| R | 4,187 | 15,176 | 19,852 | ||
| R | 4,859 | 14,071 | 19,134 | ||
| R | 6,230 | 13,731 | 20,149 | ||
| R | 6,964 | 13,778 | 20,846 | ||
| R | 6,877 | 11,746 | 18,994 | ||
| R | 6,360 | 6,473 | 14,244 | ||
| D | 5,942 | 5,390 | 14,254 | ||
| D | 5,943 | 5,831 | 11,929 | ||
| R | 3,898 | 5,987 | 9,918 | ||
| D | 4,213 | 3,771 | 8,108 | ||
| D | 4,384 | 2,529 | 6,967 | ||
| R | 1,760 | 3,048 | 4,828 | ||
| D | 1,841 | 1,013 | 4,567 | ||
| D | 2,492 | 1,199 | 3,700 | ||
| D | 2,037 | 1,268 | 3,360 | ||
| R | 1,465 | 1,663 | 3,144 | ||
| D | 2,238 | 1,454 | 3,694 | ||
| D | 1,422 | 317 | 2,270 | ||
| D | 1,817 | 154 | 2,254 | ||
| D | 2,642 | 280 | 2,922 | ||
| D | 1,618 | 141 | 1,760 | ||
| D | 2,117 | 110 | 2,229 | ||
| D | 994 | 508 | 1,506 | ||
| D | 1,839 | 272 | 2,142 | ||
| D | 810 | 255 | 1,285 | ||
| D | 918 | 107 | 1,139 | ||
| D | 615 | 41 | 781 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
10.7%
English
10.1%
American
9.9%
Irish
7.9%
French
2.2%
Italian
1.9%
Scottish
1.1%
African American
6.2%
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: 44.0 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
$62,259
Polk County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Polk County$62,259
Texas$78,476
United States$80,734
Polk 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
17.5%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1827.9%
Working age (18–64)14.8%
Seniors (65+)12.5%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
88.3%
speak English only
Spanish10.1%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.6%
Other languages0.6%
Other Indo-European0.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 65.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Polk County sits in East Texas's timber belt, where a rural, majority-white electorate has delivered Republican presidential candidates some of the widest margins in the state for over a decade.
The Republican margin here reached fifty-nine points in 2024. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved four points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was fifty-nine points.
A median household income of $62,259, a 75% non-Hispanic-white share, and a population of 52,800 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Grimes County and Lamar 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.
Polk County, Texas. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/48373/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in Texas
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Frequently asked questions
How did Polk County, Texas vote in 2024?
In 2024, Polk County, Texas voted Republican by 58.9 points (R+59), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 24,291 votes cast, 4,910 went Democratic and 19,216 went Republican.
What is Polk County, Texas's political typology?
Akashic places Polk County, Texas 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 18 times, Republican 11 times, and other 0 times.
When did Polk County, Texas last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Polk County, Texas voted Democratic was 1992.
How many people live in Polk County, Texas?
Polk County, Texas has a population of 52,800 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Polk County, Texas?
Median household income in Polk County, Texas is $62,259 — below the national median of $80,734. The Texas state median is $78,476.
What is the political history of Polk County, Texas?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Polk County, Texas from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 18 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.