Covington city, Virginia: Appalachian Realigners county. In 2024, voted R+33%. Republican peak: R+40 in 1972.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+33MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Appalachian RealignersAkashic typology
- Population
- 5,6802024 5-year
- Median household income
- $41,9442024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 79.7%2024 5-year
- Black
- 12.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+26 in 1996MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+40 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Mercer County, IL · similarity 0.98
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Covington cityPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Covington 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 | No data |
| 1896 | No data |
| 1900 | No data |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | No data |
| 1916 | No data |
| 1920 | No data |
| 1924 | No data |
| 1928 | No data |
| 1932 | No data |
| 1936 | No data |
| 1940 | No data |
| 1944 | No data |
| 1948 | No data |
| 1952 | No data |
| 1956 | No data |
| 1960 | +4.1% |
| 1964 | +2.7% |
| 1968 | −9.9% |
| 1972 | −40.0% |
| 1976 | +20.4% |
| 1980 | +19.9% |
| 1984 | −10.5% |
| 1988 | +10.1% |
| 1992 | +15.6% |
| 1996 | +25.7% |
| 2000 | +9.1% |
| 2004 | +3.3% |
| 2008 | +12.1% |
| 2012 | +14.8% |
| 2016 | −18.3% |
| 2020 | −23.7% |
| 2024 | −33.2% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 818 | 1,642 | 2,480 | ||
| R | 964 | 1,580 | 2,603 | ||
| R | 914 | 1,349 | 2,382 | ||
| D | 1,319 | 975 | 2,330 | ||
| D | 1,304 | 1,020 | 2,354 | ||
| D | 1,179 | 1,104 | 2,301 | ||
| D | 1,168 | 966 | 2,214 | ||
| D | 1,394 | 763 | 2,453 | ||
| D | 1,442 | 995 | 2,869 | ||
| D | 1,567 | 1,274 | 2,915 | ||
| R | 1,391 | 1,722 | 3,162 | ||
| D | 1,813 | 1,187 | 3,150 | ||
| D | 1,820 | 1,173 | 3,165 | ||
| R | 7,289 | 17,722 | 26,080 | ||
| R | 1,195 | 1,551 | 3,595 | ||
| D | 9,532 | 9,038 | 18,621 | ||
| D | 1,558 | 1,436 | 3,001 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
15.4%
Irish
11.0%
German
9.1%
English
8.3%
Italian
1.5%
French
0.8%
Scottish
0.8%
African American
10.2%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
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: 38.0 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
$41,944
Covington city ranks in the bottom 10% of US counties.
Covington city$41,944
Virginia$93,170
United States$80,734
Covington city 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
25.7%
Nearly half of children live in poverty.
Children under 1842.3%
Working age (18–64)21.5%
Seniors (65+)12.8%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
93.8%
speak English only
Spanish3.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.4%
Other languages0.8%
Other Indo-European0.7%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 18.2% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Covington, one of Virginia's smallest independent cities, sits in the Allegheny Highlands and has voted Republican by double-digit margins in every recent presidential cycle, reaching R+33.3 in 2024.
The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin peaked at twenty-six points in 1996 and narrowed across the late twentieth century. The 2016 election carried the county to the Republican party for the first time in many years, by eighteen points. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved ten points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was thirty-three points.
The economic context is severe: a median household income of $41,944 — among the lowest at this geographic scale — and a 26% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Mercer County and Ashtabula 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.
Covington city, Virginia. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/51580/. 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 Covington city, Virginia vote in 2024?
In 2024, Covington city, Virginia voted Republican by 33.2 points (R+33), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 2,480 votes cast, 818 went Democratic and 1,642 went Republican.
What is Covington city, Virginia's political typology?
Akashic places Covington 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 11 times, Republican 6 times, and other 0 times.
When did Covington city, Virginia last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Covington city, Virginia voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Covington city, Virginia?
Covington city, Virginia has a population of 5,680 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Covington city, Virginia?
Median household income in Covington city, Virginia is $41,944 — below the national median of $80,734. The Virginia state median is $93,170.
What is the political history of Covington city, Virginia?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Covington city, Virginia from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 11 went Democratic and 6 went Republican. The county's typology — "Appalachian Realigners" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.