Dickenson County, Virginia: Appalachian Realigners county. In 2024, voted R+62%. Republican peak: R+62 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+62MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Appalachian RealignersAkashic typology
- Population
- 13,7332024 5-year
- Median household income
- $47,2542024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 97.7%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 0.7%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+40 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+62 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Buchanan County, VA · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Dickenson CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Dickenson 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 | +18.5% |
| 1896 | +1.2% |
| 1900 | +3.1% |
| 1904 | −8.5% |
| 1908 | −9.8% |
| 1912 | +12.0% |
| 1916 | −7.2% |
| 1920 | −8.2% |
| 1924 | +10.6% |
| 1928 | +0.3% |
| 1932 | +36.3% |
| 1936 | +40.1% |
| 1940 | +17.6% |
| 1944 | +22.5% |
| 1948 | +14.5% |
| 1952 | +4.8% |
| 1956 | +3.5% |
| 1960 | +11.1% |
| 1964 | +23.8% |
| 1968 | −0.8% |
| 1972 | −14.3% |
| 1976 | +13.5% |
| 1980 | +6.1% |
| 1984 | +10.5% |
| 1988 | +18.0% |
| 1992 | +27.8% |
| 1996 | +24.5% |
| 2000 | +11.5% |
| 2004 | +2.3% |
| 2008 | −0.7% |
| 2012 | −26.1% |
| 2016 | −55.9% |
| 2020 | −58.1% |
| 2024 | −62.1% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 1,316 | 5,701 | 7,060 | ||
| R | 1,503 | 5,748 | 7,303 | ||
| R | 1,335 | 4,932 | 6,440 | ||
| R | 2,473 | 4,274 | 6,904 | ||
| R | 3,278 | 3,324 | 6,753 | ||
| D | 3,761 | 3,591 | 7,406 | ||
| D | 3,951 | 3,122 | 7,226 | ||
| D | 3,913 | 2,229 | 6,868 | ||
| D | 4,839 | 2,574 | 8,143 | ||
| D | 4,461 | 3,091 | 7,604 | ||
| D | 4,848 | 3,921 | 8,844 | ||
| D | 4,177 | 3,687 | 7,995 | ||
| D | 4,583 | 3,471 | 8,209 | ||
| R | 2,711 | 3,633 | 6,462 | ||
| R | 3,355 | 3,412 | 7,415 | ||
| D | 3,485 | 2,143 | 5,639 | ||
| D | 2,756 | 2,203 | 4,960 | ||
| D | 3,695 | 3,444 | 7,153 | ||
| D | 3,210 | 2,913 | 6,144 | ||
| D | 2,945 | 2,197 | 5,172 | ||
| D | 2,786 | 1,762 | 4,554 | ||
| D | 2,551 | 1,785 | 4,343 | ||
| D | 2,683 | 1,146 | 3,830 | ||
| D | 2,635 | 1,228 | 3,878 | ||
| D | 1,879 | 1,868 | 3,747 | ||
| D | 1,618 | 1,294 | 3,047 | ||
| R | 903 | 1,067 | 1,990 | ||
| R | 650 | 753 | 1,431 | ||
| D | 529 | 398 | 1,089 | ||
| R | 551 | 671 | 1,228 | ||
| R | 577 | 684 | 1,265 | ||
| D | 727 | 683 | 1,410 | ||
| D | 547 | 534 | 1,092 | ||
| D | 439 | 295 | 779 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
49.9%
English
12.2%
Irish
7.2%
German
3.6%
Scottish
1.1%
Italian
0.6%
African American
0.8%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
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: 46.1 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
$47,254
Dickenson County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Dickenson County$47,254
Virginia$93,170
United States$80,734
Dickenson 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
17.3%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1824.4%
Working age (18–64)15.9%
Seniors (65+)13.6%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
99.2%
speak English only
Spanish0.4%
Other Indo-European0.2%
Other languages0.2%
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 82.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Nestled in Virginia's southwestern coalfields, Dickenson County delivered a 62-point Republican margin in 2024, reflecting a dramatic shift from the Democratic-leaning mining communities it once was just two decades ago.
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 one point. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved four points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was sixty-two points.
The economic context is severe: a median household income of $47,254 — among the lowest at this geographic scale — and a 17% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Buchanan County and Muhlenberg 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.
Dickenson County, Virginia. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/51051/. 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 Dickenson County, Virginia vote in 2024?
In 2024, Dickenson County, Virginia voted Republican by 62.1 points (R+62), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 7,060 votes cast, 1,316 went Democratic and 5,701 went Republican.
What is Dickenson County, Virginia's political typology?
Akashic places Dickenson 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 23 times, Republican 11 times, and other 0 times.
When did Dickenson County, Virginia last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Dickenson County, Virginia voted Democratic was 2004.
How many people live in Dickenson County, Virginia?
Dickenson County, Virginia has a population of 13,733 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Dickenson County, Virginia?
Median household income in Dickenson County, Virginia is $47,254 — below the national median of $80,734. The Virginia state median is $93,170.
What is the political history of Dickenson County, Virginia?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Dickenson County, Virginia from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 23 went Democratic and 11 went Republican. The county's typology — "Appalachian Realigners" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.