Buchanan County, Virginia: Appalachian Realigners county. In 2024, voted R+71%. Republican peak: R+71 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+71MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Appalachian RealignersAkashic typology
- Population
- 19,4152024 5-year
- Median household income
- $42,8862024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 93.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 3.9%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 1.1%2024 5-year
- County seat
- Grundy
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+40 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+71 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Dickenson County, VA · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Buchanan CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Buchanan 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 | +11.5% |
| 1896 | −15.4% |
| 1900 | −8.4% |
| 1904 | −29.3% |
| 1908 | −23.3% |
| 1912 | +26.4% |
| 1916 | −6.9% |
| 1920 | −23.0% |
| 1924 | −10.7% |
| 1928 | +1.2% |
| 1932 | +30.7% |
| 1936 | +39.9% |
| 1940 | +32.8% |
| 1944 | +17.8% |
| 1948 | +20.5% |
| 1952 | +21.3% |
| 1956 | +6.2% |
| 1960 | +21.9% |
| 1964 | +33.8% |
| 1968 | +13.3% |
| 1972 | −14.4% |
| 1976 | +18.1% |
| 1980 | +11.4% |
| 1984 | +21.3% |
| 1988 | +27.6% |
| 1992 | +35.1% |
| 1996 | +36.4% |
| 2000 | +19.1% |
| 2004 | +7.8% |
| 2008 | −5.5% |
| 2012 | −34.6% |
| 2016 | −60.3% |
| 2020 | −67.6% |
| 2024 | −70.5% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 1,355 | 7,939 | 9,337 | ||
| R | 1,587 | 8,311 | 9,953 | ||
| R | 1,721 | 7,296 | 9,247 | ||
| R | 3,094 | 6,436 | 9,646 | ||
| R | 4,063 | 4,541 | 8,734 | ||
| D | 5,275 | 4,507 | 9,829 | ||
| D | 5,745 | 3,867 | 9,856 | ||
| D | 6,551 | 2,785 | 10,332 | ||
| D | 7,405 | 3,297 | 11,704 | ||
| D | 6,935 | 3,912 | 10,965 | ||
| D | 7,828 | 5,053 | 13,053 | ||
| D | 5,768 | 4,554 | 10,629 | ||
| D | 5,791 | 3,850 | 10,728 | ||
| R | 3,566 | 4,801 | 8,554 | ||
| D | 5,003 | 3,699 | 9,816 | ||
| D | 4,756 | 2,349 | 7,124 | ||
| D | 3,706 | 2,370 | 6,099 | ||
| D | 3,616 | 3,191 | 6,831 | ||
| D | 3,613 | 2,330 | 6,029 | ||
| D | 3,174 | 2,085 | 5,325 | ||
| D | 2,826 | 1,971 | 4,805 | ||
| D | 2,554 | 1,291 | 3,848 | ||
| D | 1,886 | 808 | 2,699 | ||
| D | 1,372 | 727 | 2,103 | ||
| D | 1,365 | 1,333 | 2,698 | ||
| R | 870 | 1,080 | 1,966 | ||
| R | 675 | 1,078 | 1,755 | ||
| R | 720 | 827 | 1,554 | ||
| D | 524 | 223 | 1,138 | ||
| R | 395 | 635 | 1,030 | ||
| R | 307 | 561 | 868 | ||
| R | 587 | 694 | 1,281 | ||
| R | 509 | 695 | 1,204 | ||
| D | 472 | 367 | 910 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
59.7%
English
7.8%
German
3.3%
Irish
3.0%
Italian
1.1%
French
0.5%
African American
3.1%
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: 47.8 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
$42,886
Buchanan County ranks in the bottom 10% of US counties.
Buchanan County$42,886
Virginia$93,170
United States$80,734
Buchanan County ranks in the bottom 10% 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
25.2%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1831.8%
Working age (18–64)24.8%
Seniors (65+)17.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.1%
speak English only
Spanish1.4%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.8%
Other languages0.4%
Other Indo-European0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 74.6% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
A former coal-mining stronghold in Virginia's southwestern coalfields, Buchanan County delivered a 70-point Republican presidential margin in 2024, making it among the most one-sided counties in the state.
The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin peaked at forty points in 1936 and narrowed across the late twentieth century. The 2008 election carried the county to the Republican party for the first time in many years, by five points. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved three points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was seventy-one points.
The economic context is severe: a median household income of $42,886 — among the lowest at this geographic scale — and a 25% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Dickenson County and Mingo 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.
Buchanan County, Virginia. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/51027/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in Virginia
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Frequently asked questions
How did Buchanan County, Virginia vote in 2024?
In 2024, Buchanan County, Virginia voted Republican by 70.5 points (R+71), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 9,337 votes cast, 1,355 went Democratic and 7,939 went Republican.
What is Buchanan County, Virginia's political typology?
Akashic places Buchanan County, Virginia in the "Appalachian Realigners" typology — Lower-income counties of Greater Appalachia — a long, deep arc from Democratic to 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 21 times, Republican 13 times, and other 0 times.
When did Buchanan County, Virginia last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Buchanan County, Virginia voted Democratic was 2004.
How many people live in Buchanan County, Virginia?
Buchanan County, Virginia has a population of 19,415 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Buchanan County, Virginia?
Median household income in Buchanan County, Virginia is $42,886 — below the national median of $80,734. The Virginia state median is $93,170.
What is the political history of Buchanan County, Virginia?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Buchanan County, Virginia from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 21 went Democratic and 13 went Republican. The county's typology — "Appalachian Realigners" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.