Buena Vista city, Virginia: Appalachian Realigners county. In 2024, voted R+44%. Democratic peak: D+60 in 1892.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+44MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Appalachian RealignersAkashic typology
- Population
- 6,5932024 5-year
- Median household income
- $57,8332024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 84.7%2024 5-year
- Black
- 2.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 0.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+60 in 1892MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+44 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Putnam County, FL · similarity 0.98
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Buena Vista cityPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Buena Vista city, 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 | +59.7% |
| 1896 | +8.6% |
| 1900 | +2.6% |
| 1904 | +21.9% |
| 1908 | +26.0% |
| 1912 | +43.6% |
| 1916 | +26.2% |
| 1920 | +25.9% |
| 1924 | +21.9% |
| 1928 | −21.6% |
| 1932 | +23.7% |
| 1936 | +34.4% |
| 1940 | +42.3% |
| 1944 | +38.3% |
| 1948 | +11.2% |
| 1952 | −13.4% |
| 1956 | −24.4% |
| 1960 | −6.5% |
| 1964 | +31.2% |
| 1968 | −25.7% |
| 1972 | −13.3% |
| 1976 | +12.0% |
| 1980 | +4.3% |
| 1984 | −29.5% |
| 1988 | −14.7% |
| 1992 | +7.9% |
| 1996 | +18.3% |
| 2000 | −2.0% |
| 2004 | −20.1% |
| 2008 | −7.2% |
| 2012 | −25.5% |
| 2016 | −30.6% |
| 2020 | −37.4% |
| 2024 | −44.2% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 767 | 2,035 | 2,867 | ||
| R | 825 | 1,863 | 2,776 | ||
| R | 693 | 1,430 | 2,407 | ||
| R | 919 | 1,564 | 2,526 | ||
| R | 1,108 | 1,282 | 2,423 | ||
| R | 936 | 1,417 | 2,389 | ||
| R | 941 | 980 | 1,975 | ||
| D | 1,090 | 713 | 2,057 | ||
| D | 1,023 | 849 | 2,200 | ||
| R | 828 | 1,121 | 1,999 | ||
| R | 724 | 1,335 | 2,073 | ||
| D | 1,031 | 942 | 2,089 | ||
| D | 993 | 771 | 1,853 | ||
| R | 15,409 | 20,235 | 36,169 | ||
| R | 387 | 814 | 1,660 | ||
| D | 16,828 | 8,825 | 25,683 | ||
| R | 427 | 487 | 918 | ||
| R | 326 | 545 | 897 | ||
| R | 392 | 513 | 906 | ||
| D | 297 | 234 | 563 | ||
| D | 402 | 179 | 582 | ||
| D | 280 | 113 | 395 | ||
| D | 363 | 177 | 540 | ||
| D | 258 | 154 | 438 | ||
| R | 172 | 267 | 439 | ||
| D | 235 | 149 | 392 | ||
| D | 262 | 154 | 417 | ||
| D | 158 | 92 | 252 | ||
| D | 155 | 43 | 257 | ||
| D | 137 | 80 | 219 | ||
| D | 125 | 79 | 210 | ||
| D | 215 | 204 | 426 | ||
| D | 219 | 184 | 407 | ||
| D | 341 | 86 | 427 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
18.7%
English
12.7%
German
7.4%
Irish
6.4%
French
2.4%
Scottish
2.3%
Italian
1.7%
African American
1.6%
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: 35.9 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
$57,833
Buena Vista city ranks near the middle of US counties.
Buena Vista city$57,833
Virginia$93,170
United States$80,734
Buena Vista city ranks near the middle 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
18.8%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1826.0%
Working age (18–64)16.5%
Seniors (65+)17.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
98.9%
speak English only
Other Indo-European0.7%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 17.8% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Buena Vista, a small independent city in the Shenandoah Valley foothills, has delivered lopsided Republican margins for over a decade, reflecting the region's working-class, rural-leaning electorate despite its technical classification as an urban jurisdiction.
The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin peaked at sixty 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 two points. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved seven points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was forty-four points.
The economic context is severe: a median household income of $57,833 — among the lowest at this geographic scale — and a 19% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Putnam County and Perquimans 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.
Buena Vista city, Virginia. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/51530/. 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 Buena Vista city, Virginia vote in 2024?
In 2024, Buena Vista city, Virginia voted Republican by 44.2 points (R+44), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 2,867 votes cast, 767 went Democratic and 2,035 went Republican.
What is Buena Vista city, Virginia's political typology?
Akashic places Buena Vista city, 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 19 times, Republican 15 times, and other 0 times.
When did Buena Vista city, Virginia last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Buena Vista city, Virginia voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Buena Vista city, Virginia?
Buena Vista city, Virginia has a population of 6,593 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Buena Vista city, Virginia?
Median household income in Buena Vista city, Virginia is $57,833 — below the national median of $80,734. The Virginia state median is $93,170.
What is the political history of Buena Vista city, Virginia?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Buena Vista city, Virginia from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 19 went Democratic and 15 went Republican. The county's typology — "Appalachian Realigners" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.