Wharton County, Texas: New American county. In 2024, voted R+52%. Democratic peak: D+81 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+52MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 41,7942024 5-year
- Median household income
- $66,9242024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 57.4%2024 5-year
- Black
- 11.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 42.0%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+81 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+52 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Cherokee County, TX · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Wharton CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Wharton 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 | +55.2% |
| 1916 | +42.6% |
| 1920 | −0.7% |
| 1924 | +38.9% |
| 1928 | +14.6% |
| 1932 | +77.8% |
| 1936 | +81.3% |
| 1940 | +67.8% |
| 1944 | +64.0% |
| 1948 | +31.1% |
| 1952 | −13.1% |
| 1956 | −15.5% |
| 1960 | +19.1% |
| 1964 | +38.3% |
| 1968 | +5.3% |
| 1972 | −28.6% |
| 1976 | +11.6% |
| 1980 | −12.2% |
| 1984 | −25.2% |
| 1988 | −8.0% |
| 1992 | −6.7% |
| 1996 | −8.1% |
| 2000 | −26.9% |
| 2004 | −32.7% |
| 2008 | −31.2% |
| 2012 | −39.1% |
| 2016 | −40.1% |
| 2020 | −43.1% |
| 2024 | −51.8% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 3,910 | 12,439 | 16,471 | ||
| R | 4,694 | 11,926 | 16,776 | ||
| R | 4,238 | 10,149 | 14,732 | ||
| R | 4,235 | 9,750 | 14,087 | ||
| R | 4,937 | 9,431 | 14,418 | ||
| R | 4,702 | 9,288 | 14,039 | ||
| R | 4,838 | 8,455 | 13,426 | ||
| R | 5,176 | 6,163 | 12,234 | ||
| R | 4,643 | 5,503 | 12,797 | ||
| R | 5,935 | 6,978 | 12,991 | ||
| R | 5,072 | 8,495 | 13,584 | ||
| R | 5,138 | 6,598 | 11,958 | ||
| D | 5,914 | 4,682 | 10,644 | ||
| R | 3,481 | 6,271 | 9,757 | ||
| D | 4,304 | 3,773 | 9,959 | ||
| D | 6,234 | 2,775 | 9,020 | ||
| D | 5,004 | 3,387 | 8,458 | ||
| R | 3,439 | 4,714 | 8,203 | ||
| R | 4,022 | 5,232 | 9,259 | ||
| D | 2,811 | 1,354 | 4,685 | ||
| D | 3,754 | 529 | 5,042 | ||
| D | 3,976 | 760 | 4,740 | ||
| D | 3,034 | 307 | 3,355 | ||
| D | 3,357 | 405 | 3,792 | ||
| D | 1,545 | 1,151 | 2,696 | ||
| D | 2,020 | 858 | 2,989 | ||
| R | 836 | 852 | 2,363 | ||
| D | 948 | 351 | 1,401 | ||
| D | 793 | 109 | 1,240 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
9.5%
English
6.6%
American
5.1%
Irish
4.2%
Italian
1.4%
Polish
0.9%
French
0.8%
African American
9.1%
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: 38.1 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
$66,924
Wharton County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Wharton County$66,924
Texas$78,476
United States$80,734
Wharton 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
13.6%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1816.9%
Working age (18–64)12.1%
Seniors (65+)15.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
72.8%
speak English only
Spanish26.4%
Other Indo-European0.4%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.2%
Other languages0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 26.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Wharton County's flat coastal-plain landscape anchors a cattle and rice economy that has trended heavily toward Republican presidential candidates for decades, with the 2024 margin of R+51.8 reflecting consistent double-digit registration advantages.
Wharton County has leaned Republican in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of eighty-one points in 1936. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved nine 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 57% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $66,924, and a population of 41,794. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Cherokee County and Jackson 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.
Wharton County, Texas. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/48481/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Wharton County, Texas vote in 2024?
In 2024, Wharton County, Texas voted Republican by 51.8 points (R+52), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 16,471 votes cast, 3,910 went Democratic and 12,439 went Republican.
What is Wharton County, Texas's political typology?
Akashic places Wharton 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 13 times, Republican 16 times, and other 0 times.
When did Wharton County, Texas last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Wharton County, Texas voted Democratic was 1976.
How many people live in Wharton County, Texas?
Wharton County, Texas has a population of 41,794 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Wharton County, Texas?
Median household income in Wharton County, Texas is $66,924 — below the national median of $80,734. The Texas state median is $78,476.
What is the political history of Wharton County, Texas?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Wharton County, Texas from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 13 went Democratic and 16 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.