McDowell County, West Virginia: Appalachian Realigners county. In 2024, voted R+60%. Democratic peak: D+66 in 1964.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+60MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Appalachian RealignersAkashic typology
- Population
- 17,9432024 5-year
- Median household income
- $31,5592024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 88.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 9.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.1%2024 5-year
- County seat
- Welch
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+66 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+60 in 2024MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Boone County, WV · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of McDowell CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for McDowell 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 | −35.1% |
| 1896 | −45.5% |
| 1900 | +51.0% |
| 1904 | −51.2% |
| 1908 | −52.4% |
| 1912 | −19.8% |
| 1916 | −31.4% |
| 1920 | −41.3% |
| 1924 | −34.8% |
| 1928 | −28.2% |
| 1932 | −13.0% |
| 1936 | +43.7% |
| 1940 | +27.5% |
| 1944 | +27.3% |
| 1948 | +37.7% |
| 1952 | +39.6% |
| 1956 | +20.5% |
| 1960 | +49.7% |
| 1964 | +66.1% |
| 1968 | +46.6% |
| 1972 | −13.5% |
| 1976 | +44.0% |
| 1980 | +42.7% |
| 1984 | +33.1% |
| 1988 | +48.8% |
| 1992 | +51.9% |
| 1996 | +54.1% |
| 2000 | +34.2% |
| 2004 | +23.8% |
| 2008 | +8.5% |
| 2012 | −29.9% |
| 2016 | −51.1% |
| 2020 | −58.4% |
| 2024 | −60.4% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 1,036 | 4,310 | 5,425 | ||
| R | 1,333 | 5,148 | 6,527 | ||
| R | 1,438 | 4,629 | 6,246 | ||
| R | 2,109 | 3,959 | 6,188 | ||
| D | 3,430 | 2,882 | 6,430 | ||
| D | 4,501 | 2,762 | 7,299 | ||
| D | 4,845 | 2,348 | 7,303 | ||
| D | 5,989 | 1,550 | 8,208 | ||
| D | 7,019 | 1,941 | 9,781 | ||
| D | 7,204 | 2,463 | 9,714 | ||
| D | 8,546 | 4,284 | 12,883 | ||
| D | 9,822 | 3,862 | 13,943 | ||
| D | 10,557 | 4,107 | 14,664 | ||
| R | 6,811 | 8,942 | 15,753 | ||
| D | 12,842 | 4,020 | 18,937 | ||
| D | 18,046 | 3,684 | 21,730 | ||
| D | 19,501 | 6,555 | 26,056 | ||
| D | 16,865 | 11,138 | 28,003 | ||
| D | 24,657 | 10,663 | 35,320 | ||
| D | 21,545 | 9,687 | 31,472 | ||
| D | 19,300 | 11,023 | 30,323 | ||
| D | 24,449 | 13,906 | 38,355 | ||
| D | 25,471 | 9,975 | 35,481 | ||
| R | 12,365 | 16,069 | 28,514 | ||
| R | 8,294 | 14,810 | 23,135 | ||
| R | 5,561 | 12,422 | 19,732 | ||
| R | 5,068 | 12,198 | 17,282 | ||
| R | 3,692 | 7,086 | 10,798 | ||
| R | 2,497 | 4,341 | 9,327 | ||
| R | 1,916 | 6,176 | 8,137 | ||
| R | 1,676 | 5,225 | 6,937 | ||
| D | 3,761 | 1,218 | 4,990 | ||
| R | 986 | 2,635 | 3,627 | ||
| R | 607 | 1,265 | 1,872 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
13.6%
German
7.6%
Irish
7.6%
American
6.1%
Italian
1.8%
Scottish
1.2%
African American
7.2%
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: 43.7 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
$31,559
McDowell County ranks in the bottom 5% of US counties.
McDowell County$31,559
West Virginia$59,608
United States$80,734
McDowell County ranks in the bottom 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
34.2%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1835.3%
Working age (18–64)35.3%
Seniors (65+)22.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.6%
speak English only
Spanish1.7%
Other Indo-European0.5%
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 78.1% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
McDowell's shift from a Democratic bedrock of Appalachian labor politics to an R+60 county tracks the broader collapse of the coal economy and the cultural realignment that followed across southern West Virginia.
The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin peaked at sixty-six points in 1964 and narrowed across the late twentieth century. The 2012 election carried the county to the Republican party for the first time in many years, by thirty points. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved two points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was sixty points.
The economic context is severe: a median household income of $31,559 — among the lowest at this geographic scale — and a 34% poverty rate. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Boone County and Floyd County.
Most similar counties
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Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
McDowell County, West Virginia. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/54047/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in West Virginia
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Frequently asked questions
How did McDowell County, West Virginia vote in 2024?
In 2024, McDowell County, West Virginia voted Republican by 60.4 points (R+60), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 5,425 votes cast, 1,036 went Democratic and 4,310 went Republican.
What is McDowell County, West Virginia's political typology?
Akashic places McDowell County, West 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 McDowell County, West Virginia last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which McDowell County, West Virginia voted Democratic was 2008.
How many people live in McDowell County, West Virginia?
McDowell County, West Virginia has a population of 17,943 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in McDowell County, West Virginia?
Median household income in McDowell County, West Virginia is $31,559 — below the national median of $80,734. The West Virginia state median is $59,608.
What is the political history of McDowell County, West Virginia?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in McDowell County, West 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.