Sterling County, Texas: New American county. In 2024, voted R+86%. Democratic peak: D+94 in 1916.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+86MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 1,4682024 5-year
- Median household income
- $64,9542024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 72.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.1%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 35.7%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+94 in 1916MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+87 in 2012MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Bear Lake County, ID · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Sterling CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Sterling County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
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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 | +89.4% |
| 1916 | +93.9% |
| 1920 | +72.6% |
| 1924 | +81.0% |
| 1928 | +15.6% |
| 1932 | +92.9% |
| 1936 | +93.0% |
| 1940 | +92.7% |
| 1944 | +87.2% |
| 1948 | +84.7% |
| 1952 | −27.4% |
| 1956 | −19.6% |
| 1960 | +2.9% |
| 1964 | +26.8% |
| 1968 | −5.1% |
| 1972 | −50.1% |
| 1976 | −7.3% |
| 1980 | −24.9% |
| 1984 | −63.1% |
| 1988 | −42.1% |
| 1992 | −30.8% |
| 1996 | −31.1% |
| 2000 | −58.9% |
| 2004 | −76.9% |
| 2008 | −68.3% |
| 2012 | −86.6% |
| 2016 | −75.7% |
| 2020 | −83.4% |
| 2024 | −85.9% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 43 | 583 | 629 | ||
| R | 51 | 584 | 639 | ||
| R | 70 | 549 | 633 | ||
| R | 31 | 459 | 494 | ||
| R | 97 | 520 | 619 | ||
| R | 71 | 544 | 615 | ||
| R | 132 | 520 | 659 | ||
| R | 186 | 394 | 669 | ||
| R | 127 | 322 | 634 | ||
| R | 188 | 464 | 656 | ||
| R | 129 | 577 | 710 | ||
| R | 218 | 364 | 586 | ||
| R | 174 | 202 | 381 | ||
| R | 94 | 286 | 383 | ||
| R | 151 | 170 | 375 | ||
| D | 243 | 140 | 384 | ||
| D | 193 | 182 | 375 | ||
| R | 150 | 223 | 373 | ||
| R | 158 | 277 | 435 | ||
| D | 244 | 17 | 268 | ||
| D | 330 | 18 | 358 | ||
| D | 425 | 16 | 441 | ||
| D | 384 | 14 | 398 | ||
| D | 354 | 13 | 367 | ||
| D | 167 | 122 | 289 | ||
| D | 243 | 25 | 269 | ||
| D | 152 | 17 | 186 | ||
| D | 205 | 6 | 212 | ||
| D | 165 | 4 | 180 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
19.8%
Irish
18.3%
German
8.7%
American
6.0%
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
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: 32.1 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
$64,954
Sterling County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Sterling County$64,954
Texas$78,476
United States$80,734
Sterling 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
4.3%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 180.0%
Working age (18–64)7.0%
Seniors (65+)4.7%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
70.4%
speak English only
Spanish29.6%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 27.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Sterling County's 2024 presidential margin of R+85.8 ranks it among the most one-sided results in the state, a pattern consistent with rural West Texas counties where ranching economies and sparse settlement reinforce durable partisan alignment.
Sterling County has leaned Republican in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of ninety-four points in 1916. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved two 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 73% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $64,954, and a population of 1,468. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Bear Lake County and Austin 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.
Sterling County, Texas. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/48431/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Sterling County, Texas vote in 2024?
In 2024, Sterling County, Texas voted Republican by 85.9 points (R+86), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 629 votes cast, 43 went Democratic and 583 went Republican.
What is Sterling County, Texas's political typology?
Akashic places Sterling 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 12 times, Republican 17 times, and other 0 times.
When did Sterling County, Texas last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Sterling County, Texas voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Sterling County, Texas?
Sterling County, Texas has a population of 1,468 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Sterling County, Texas?
Median household income in Sterling County, Texas is $64,954 — below the national median of $80,734. The Texas state median is $78,476.
What is the political history of Sterling County, Texas?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Sterling County, Texas from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 12 went Democratic and 17 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.