Smyth County, Virginia: Appalachian Realigners county. In 2024, voted R+60%. Republican peak: R+60 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+60MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Appalachian RealignersAkashic typology
- Population
- 29,4202024 5-year
- Median household income
- $49,8832024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 94.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 2.1%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+22 in 1892MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+60 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Pulaski County, VA · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Smyth CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Smyth 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 | +22.0% |
| 1896 | −4.7% |
| 1900 | −17.7% |
| 1904 | −21.4% |
| 1908 | −19.6% |
| 1912 | +18.6% |
| 1916 | −7.6% |
| 1920 | −10.7% |
| 1924 | −7.8% |
| 1928 | −17.4% |
| 1932 | +10.6% |
| 1936 | +6.1% |
| 1940 | +6.3% |
| 1944 | −9.2% |
| 1948 | −23.8% |
| 1952 | −30.3% |
| 1956 | −33.3% |
| 1960 | −19.5% |
| 1964 | +2.0% |
| 1968 | −27.3% |
| 1972 | −34.2% |
| 1976 | +2.0% |
| 1980 | −5.9% |
| 1984 | −35.1% |
| 1988 | −29.5% |
| 1992 | −9.3% |
| 1996 | +0.2% |
| 2000 | −14.9% |
| 2004 | −30.5% |
| 2008 | −29.1% |
| 2012 | −32.9% |
| 2016 | −55.0% |
| 2020 | −56.3% |
| 2024 | −60.2% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 2,805 | 11,521 | 14,468 | ||
| R | 3,008 | 10,963 | 14,136 | ||
| R | 2,665 | 9,750 | 12,890 | ||
| R | 4,171 | 8,379 | 12,777 | ||
| R | 4,239 | 7,817 | 12,302 | ||
| R | 4,143 | 7,906 | 12,319 | ||
| R | 4,836 | 6,580 | 11,740 | ||
| D | 4,990 | 4,966 | 11,619 | ||
| R | 4,924 | 6,128 | 12,931 | ||
| R | 3,989 | 7,446 | 11,727 | ||
| R | 4,102 | 8,593 | 12,811 | ||
| R | 5,335 | 6,033 | 11,861 | ||
| D | 5,246 | 5,032 | 10,641 | ||
| R | 2,474 | 5,125 | 7,744 | ||
| R | 2,631 | 5,297 | 9,751 | ||
| D | 4,720 | 4,533 | 9,269 | ||
| R | 2,864 | 4,256 | 7,138 | ||
| R | 2,374 | 4,771 | 7,204 | ||
| R | 1,972 | 3,694 | 5,685 | ||
| R | 1,750 | 2,897 | 4,822 | ||
| R | 2,266 | 2,726 | 4,999 | ||
| D | 2,420 | 2,134 | 4,570 | ||
| D | 2,337 | 2,067 | 4,421 | ||
| D | 2,287 | 1,843 | 4,196 | ||
| R | 1,937 | 2,751 | 4,688 | ||
| R | 1,907 | 2,232 | 4,172 | ||
| R | 1,516 | 1,883 | 3,414 | ||
| R | 1,134 | 1,321 | 2,463 | ||
| D | 1,022 | 609 | 2,218 | ||
| R | 906 | 1,350 | 2,261 | ||
| R | 848 | 1,312 | 2,173 | ||
| R | 1,252 | 1,794 | 3,058 | ||
| R | 1,407 | 1,546 | 2,968 | ||
| D | 1,352 | 841 | 2,322 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
27.2%
English
13.4%
German
8.4%
Irish
8.0%
Scottish
1.8%
Italian
1.2%
Polish
0.9%
African American
1.7%
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: 46.4 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
$49,883
Smyth County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Smyth County$49,883
Virginia$93,170
United States$80,734
Smyth 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
16.8%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1819.0%
Working age (18–64)16.8%
Seniors (65+)12.7%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.8%
speak English only
Spanish1.6%
Other Indo-European0.6%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 64.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Nestled in the Blue Ridge Highlands, Smyth County delivered a 60-point Republican margin in 2024, reflecting the deep partisan shift that has reshaped southwest Virginia's rural, post-coal economy over the past two decades.
The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin peaked at twenty-two points in 1892 and narrowed across the late twentieth century. The 2000 election carried the county to the Republican party for the first time in many years, by fifteen points. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved four points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was sixty points.
The economic context is severe: a median household income of $49,883 — 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 Pulaski County and Monroe 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.
Smyth County, Virginia. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/51173/. 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 Smyth County, Virginia vote in 2024?
In 2024, Smyth County, Virginia voted Republican by 60.2 points (R+60), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 14,468 votes cast, 2,805 went Democratic and 11,521 went Republican.
What is Smyth County, Virginia's political typology?
Akashic places Smyth 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 8 times, Republican 26 times, and other 0 times.
When did Smyth County, Virginia last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Smyth County, Virginia voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Smyth County, Virginia?
Smyth County, Virginia has a population of 29,420 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Smyth County, Virginia?
Median household income in Smyth County, Virginia is $49,883 — below the national median of $80,734. The Virginia state median is $93,170.
What is the political history of Smyth County, Virginia?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Smyth County, Virginia from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 8 went Democratic and 26 went Republican. The county's typology — "Appalachian Realigners" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.