Willacy County, Texas: New American county. In 2024, voted R+3%. Democratic peak: D+91 in 1912.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+3MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 20,1392024 5-year
- Median household income
- $54,1802024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 39.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.5%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 87.3%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+91 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+26 in 1952MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Hidalgo County, TX · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Willacy CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Willacy 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 | +90.7% |
| 1916 | +83.3% |
| 1920 | +71.0% |
| 1924 | +45.4% |
| 1928 | +0.9% |
| 1932 | +60.1% |
| 1936 | +44.7% |
| 1940 | +22.6% |
| 1944 | +5.3% |
| 1948 | +24.1% |
| 1952 | −25.7% |
| 1956 | −13.4% |
| 1960 | +21.3% |
| 1964 | +27.2% |
| 1968 | +18.9% |
| 1972 | −25.0% |
| 1976 | +31.6% |
| 1980 | +20.6% |
| 1984 | +12.9% |
| 1988 | +28.6% |
| 1992 | +33.9% |
| 1996 | +45.4% |
| 2000 | +28.2% |
| 2004 | +10.6% |
| 2008 | +39.8% |
| 2012 | +43.1% |
| 2016 | +36.8% |
| 2020 | +11.9% |
| 2024 | −3.3% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 2,673 | 2,856 | 5,563 | ||
| D | 3,108 | 2,441 | 5,590 | ||
| D | 3,422 | 1,547 | 5,095 | ||
| D | 3,600 | 1,416 | 5,064 | ||
| D | 3,409 | 1,456 | 4,903 | ||
| D | 2,734 | 2,209 | 4,962 | ||
| D | 3,218 | 1,789 | 5,062 | ||
| D | 3,789 | 1,332 | 5,411 | ||
| D | 3,359 | 1,490 | 5,510 | ||
| D | 3,165 | 1,750 | 4,940 | ||
| D | 3,037 | 2,340 | 5,391 | ||
| D | 3,047 | 1,995 | 5,108 | ||
| D | 2,984 | 1,542 | 4,557 | ||
| R | 1,384 | 2,317 | 3,730 | ||
| D | 1,930 | 1,243 | 3,638 | ||
| D | 2,152 | 1,230 | 3,388 | ||
| D | 2,109 | 1,367 | 3,487 | ||
| R | 1,261 | 1,656 | 2,948 | ||
| R | 1,324 | 2,244 | 3,574 | ||
| D | 1,139 | 676 | 1,924 | ||
| D | 846 | 754 | 1,737 | ||
| D | 1,173 | 740 | 1,920 | ||
| D | 1,002 | 376 | 1,399 | ||
| D | 1,042 | 259 | 1,302 | ||
| D | 396 | 389 | 785 | ||
| D | 307 | 110 | 434 | ||
| D | 53 | 9 | 62 | ||
| D | 110 | 10 | 120 | ||
| D | 102 | 5 | 107 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
Irish
2.4%
German
2.1%
American
1.7%
English
0.9%
African American
1.2%
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: 34.3 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
$54,180
Willacy County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Willacy County$54,180
Texas$78,476
United States$80,734
Willacy County ranks in the bottom 25% 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
24.0%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1825.7%
Working age (18–64)22.8%
Seniors (65+)29.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
39.4%
speak English only
Spanish60.5%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 76.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Willacy County, anchored by Raymondville and sitting along the Gulf coastal plain, backed Democratic presidential candidates by double digits as recently as 2016 before narrowing to R+3.3 in 2024—one of the starkest swings among majority-Hispanic counties in the Rio Grande Valley.
Willacy County has leaned Republican in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of ninety-one points in 1912. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved fifteen 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 40% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $54,180, and a population of 20,139. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Hidalgo County and Maverick 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.
Willacy County, Texas. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/48489/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Willacy County, Texas vote in 2024?
In 2024, Willacy County, Texas voted Republican by 3.3 points (R+3), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 5,563 votes cast, 2,673 went Democratic and 2,856 went Republican.
What is Willacy County, Texas's political typology?
Akashic places Willacy 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 25 times, Republican 4 times, and other 0 times.
When did Willacy County, Texas last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Willacy County, Texas voted Democratic was 2020.
How many people live in Willacy County, Texas?
Willacy County, Texas has a population of 20,139 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Willacy County, Texas?
Median household income in Willacy County, Texas is $54,180 — below the national median of $80,734. The Texas state median is $78,476.
What is the political history of Willacy County, Texas?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Willacy County, Texas from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 25 went Democratic and 4 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.