A mid-size Rust Belt metro where manufacturing's decline reshaped the ballot
Altoona anchors Blair County, one of Pennsylvania's most reliably Republican mid-size metros, where deindustrialization accelerated a political realignment that has only deepened since 2000.
| Group | Altoona, PA | National |
|---|---|---|
▶White (Non-Hispanic)(13) | 95.1% | 57.4% |
Multiracial / Other | 1.7% | 4.0% |
▶Black / African American(6) | 1.6% | 12.2% |
▶Hispanic / Latino(12) | 1.0% | 19.3% |
▶Asian(6) | 0.6% | 6.0% |
▶Middle Eastern / North African(3) | 0.2% | 0.9% |
Catholic-Evangelical edge: -11.8pp (vs national 4.5pp). A strongly Evangelical-leaning religious profile, which nationally correlates with Republican-leaning rural and exurban communities.
| Tradition | % Pop | % Adherents | US Pop | US Adherents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15.5% | 36.3% | — | — | |
| 12.9% | 30.1% | — | — | |
| 12.4% | 29.0% | — | — | |
| 1.5% | 3.5% | — | — | |
LDS (Mormon) | 0.4% | 1.0% | — | — |
| 0.2% | 0.6% | — | — | |
| 0.2% | 0.5% | — | — | |
Non-religiousPopulation | 57.2% | — | — | — |
Who lives in the Altoona, PA metro area? 502,322 residents across 4 counties.
19% of adults hold a bachelor's degree — 14pp below the national average. Places with similar education levels vote R+15 on average nationally.
Scale, voting-age share, and this geography's footprint inside the national electorate.
Income, attainment, and ownership indicators that often shape coalition structure and turnout behavior.
Age structure, language use, and nativity signals that explain how this geography differs from state and nation.
| Offices | Margin A | Margin B | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| President vs Senate | R+43.5 | R+40.6 | 2.8pp |