Thurston County, Washington: Realigning Affluent Suburb county. In 2024, voted D+20%. Republican peak: R+47 in 1924.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+20MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Realigning Affluent SuburbAkashic typology
- Population
- 299,0672024 5-year
- Median household income
- $96,5632024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 72.1%2024 5-year
- Black
- 3.3%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 10.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+39 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+47 in 1904MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Portsmouth city, VA · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Thurston CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Thurston 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 | −9.3% |
| 1896 | +14.6% |
| 1900 | −13.5% |
| 1904 | −46.9% |
| 1908 | −28.8% |
| 1912 | −7.6% |
| 1916 | −8.4% |
| 1920 | −34.3% |
| 1924 | −47.1% |
| 1928 | −40.5% |
| 1932 | +15.1% |
| 1936 | +39.4% |
| 1940 | +20.6% |
| 1944 | +10.2% |
| 1948 | +4.6% |
| 1952 | −17.4% |
| 1956 | −17.5% |
| 1960 | −9.0% |
| 1964 | +30.4% |
| 1968 | +1.6% |
| 1972 | −19.9% |
| 1976 | +0.6% |
| 1980 | −10.7% |
| 1984 | −12.3% |
| 1988 | +2.8% |
| 1992 | +15.0% |
| 1996 | +18.0% |
| 2000 | +10.8% |
| 2004 | +13.0% |
| 2008 | +21.7% |
| 2012 | +19.4% |
| 2016 | +15.0% |
| 2020 | +18.6% |
| 2024 | +20.3% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 95,663 | 62,282 | 164,537 | ||
| D | 96,608 | 65,277 | 168,134 | ||
| D | 68,798 | 48,624 | 134,191 | ||
| D | 74,037 | 49,287 | 127,740 | ||
| D | 75,882 | 48,366 | 126,709 | ||
| D | 62,650 | 47,992 | 112,789 | ||
| D | 50,467 | 39,924 | 97,422 | ||
| D | 45,522 | 29,835 | 87,280 | ||
| D | 38,293 | 25,643 | 84,569 | ||
| D | 33,860 | 31,980 | 66,930 | ||
| R | 26,840 | 34,442 | 62,045 | ||
| R | 20,508 | 26,369 | 54,823 | ||
| D | 21,247 | 21,000 | 44,056 | ||
| R | 14,596 | 22,297 | 38,792 | ||
| D | 14,228 | 13,742 | 30,499 | ||
| D | 17,578 | 9,351 | 27,021 | ||
| R | 11,620 | 13,921 | 25,606 | ||
| R | 9,897 | 14,093 | 24,009 | ||
| R | 9,764 | 13,904 | 23,840 | ||
| D | 10,461 | 9,511 | 20,804 | ||
| D | 9,708 | 7,900 | 17,766 | ||
| D | 11,092 | 7,275 | 18,573 | ||
| D | 10,647 | 4,425 | 15,775 | ||
| D | 6,308 | 4,241 | 13,722 | ||
| R | 3,013 | 7,203 | 10,351 | ||
| R | 943 | 5,125 | 8,871 | ||
| R | 1,367 | 3,899 | 7,388 | ||
| R | 2,658 | 3,223 | 6,748 | ||
| O | 1,456 | 1,937 | 6,311 | ||
| R | 964 | 1,940 | 3,387 | ||
| R | 668 | 2,121 | 3,096 | ||
| R | 978 | 1,298 | 2,379 | ||
| D | 1,415 | 1,052 | 2,489 | ||
| R | 810 | 1,043 | 2,501 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
16.3%
English
13.0%
Irish
11.7%
American
3.9%
Italian
3.3%
Scottish
3.0%
French
2.4%
African American
2.6%
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: 40.0 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
$96,563
Thurston County ranks in the top 5% of US counties.
Thurston County$96,563
Washington$98,141
United States$80,734
Thurston County ranks in the top 5% 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
9.5%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1811.2%
Working age (18–64)9.2%
Seniors (65+)8.8%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
88.2%
speak English only
Asian & Pacific Islander4.6%
Spanish4.5%
Other Indo-European2.2%
Other languages0.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 63.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Thurston County's identity is shaped by its role as Washington's seat of government — public-sector employment keeps the electorate college-educated and Democratic-leaning, with Biden and Harris each carrying it by roughly 20 points.
Once reliably Republican — a margin of forty-seven points in 1924 at its widest — Thurston County has trended Democratic. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved two points toward the Democratic candidate; the 2024 margin was twenty points.
A median household income of $96,563 — among the higher at this geographic scale — and a population of 299,067 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Portsmouth city and Grand Isle 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.
Thurston County, Washington. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/53067/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Thurston County, Washington vote in 2024?
In 2024, Thurston County, Washington voted Democratic by 20.3 points (D+20), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 164,537 votes cast, 95,663 went Democratic and 62,282 went Republican.
What is Thurston County, Washington's political typology?
Akashic places Thurston County, Washington in the "Realigning Affluent Suburb" typology — College-educated, affluent suburbs — the one bloc moving toward the Democratic Party. 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 14 times, and other 1 times.
When did Thurston County, Washington last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Thurston County, Washington voted Republican was 1984.
How many people live in Thurston County, Washington?
Thurston County, Washington has a population of 299,067 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Thurston County, Washington?
Median household income in Thurston County, Washington is $96,563 — above the national median of $80,734. The Washington state median is $98,141.
What is the political history of Thurston County, Washington?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Thurston County, Washington from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 19 went Democratic and 14 went Republican. The county's typology — "Realigning Affluent Suburb" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.