Zavala County, Texas: New American county. In 2024, voted D+14%. Democratic peak: D+69 in 2008.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+14MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 9,4122024 5-year
- Median household income
- $36,7492024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 22.1%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.8%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 92.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+69 in 2008MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+43 in 1928MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Dimmit County, TX · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Zavala CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Zavala 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 | +47.9% |
| 1916 | +63.9% |
| 1920 | +41.3% |
| 1924 | +51.0% |
| 1928 | −42.8% |
| 1932 | +64.7% |
| 1936 | +57.8% |
| 1940 | +48.1% |
| 1944 | +31.4% |
| 1948 | +31.6% |
| 1952 | −21.2% |
| 1956 | −25.8% |
| 1960 | −3.7% |
| 1964 | +49.7% |
| 1968 | +27.7% |
| 1972 | −6.8% |
| 1976 | +42.2% |
| 1980 | +50.6% |
| 1984 | +52.0% |
| 1988 | +68.2% |
| 1992 | +64.3% |
| 1996 | +67.8% |
| 2000 | +55.0% |
| 2004 | +49.9% |
| 2008 | +68.8% |
| 2012 | +67.6% |
| 2016 | +57.2% |
| 2020 | +31.4% |
| 2024 | +14.4% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 1,984 | 1,482 | 3,492 | ||
| D | 2,864 | 1,490 | 4,382 | ||
| D | 2,636 | 694 | 3,396 | ||
| D | 3,042 | 574 | 3,653 | ||
| D | 3,263 | 596 | 3,876 | ||
| D | 2,332 | 777 | 3,118 | ||
| D | 2,616 | 751 | 3,391 | ||
| D | 2,629 | 463 | 3,193 | ||
| D | 3,058 | 571 | 3,868 | ||
| D | 3,338 | 628 | 3,973 | ||
| D | 2,937 | 924 | 3,868 | ||
| D | 2,621 | 831 | 3,538 | ||
| D | 1,822 | 735 | 2,578 | ||
| R | 1,122 | 1,288 | 2,432 | ||
| D | 1,307 | 693 | 2,215 | ||
| D | 1,784 | 598 | 2,385 | ||
| R | 706 | 761 | 1,475 | ||
| R | 528 | 896 | 1,427 | ||
| R | 677 | 1,043 | 1,723 | ||
| D | 618 | 306 | 986 | ||
| D | 696 | 342 | 1,129 | ||
| D | 739 | 259 | 998 | ||
| D | 788 | 209 | 1,002 | ||
| D | 783 | 166 | 953 | ||
| R | 229 | 571 | 800 | ||
| D | 326 | 95 | 453 | ||
| D | 264 | 101 | 395 | ||
| D | 229 | 43 | 291 | ||
| D | 242 | 44 | 413 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
1.4%
Irish
1.0%
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: 30.8 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
$36,749
Zavala County ranks in the bottom 5% of US counties.
Zavala County$36,749
Texas$78,476
United States$80,734
Zavala County ranks in the bottom 5% 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
33.9%
Nearly half of children live in poverty.
Children under 1850.1%
Working age (18–64)27.5%
Seniors (65+)23.7%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
32.3%
speak English only
Spanish67.5%
Other Indo-European0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 3.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Zavala County, anchored by Crystal City, runs heavily Democratic in statewide contests, though its D+14.4 margin in 2024 reflects a notable rightward shift from the double-digit Democratic leads that once exceeded 40 points in this predominantly Hispanic, rural border region.
Zavala County has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of sixty-nine points in 2008. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved seventeen 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 22% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $36,749, and a population of 9,412. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Dimmit County and Charles City 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.
Zavala County, Texas. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/48507/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Zavala County, Texas vote in 2024?
In 2024, Zavala County, Texas voted Democratic by 14.4 points (D+14), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 3,492 votes cast, 1,984 went Democratic and 1,482 went Republican.
What is Zavala County, Texas's political typology?
Akashic places Zavala 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 24 times, Republican 5 times, and other 0 times.
When did Zavala County, Texas last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Zavala County, Texas voted Republican was 1972.
How many people live in Zavala County, Texas?
Zavala County, Texas has a population of 9,412 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Zavala County, Texas?
Median household income in Zavala County, Texas is $36,749 — below the national median of $80,734. The Texas state median is $78,476.
What is the political history of Zavala County, Texas?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Zavala County, Texas from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 24 went Democratic and 5 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.