Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts: Populist metro. In 2024, voted D+42%. Republican peak: R+57 in 1896.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+42MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 162,0282024 5-year
- Median household income
- $87,0012024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 82.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 2.6%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 7.4%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+47 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+57 in 1896MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, MAOne cell per constituent county, colored by 2024 presidential margin from deep red (Republican) through neutral to deep blue (Democratic), ordered bluest first.
R+60D+60
One cell per constituent county. Ordered by 2024 D-vs-R margin (bluest first). Hover for county-level numbers.
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 58,617 | 23,256 | 84,720 | ||
| D | 63,362 | 22,281 | 88,332 | ||
| D | 55,367 | 21,790 | 85,624 | ||
| D | 57,359 | 21,480 | 81,621 | ||
| D | 56,869 | 20,618 | 79,570 | ||
| D | 51,680 | 21,315 | 74,422 | ||
| D | 38,543 | 19,202 | 68,626 | ||
| D | 41,844 | 14,787 | 65,309 | ||
| D | 37,879 | 15,694 | 70,071 | ||
| D | 39,834 | 24,331 | 64,915 | ||
| D | 35,597 | 28,111 | 63,942 | ||
| D | 27,611 | 21,117 | 60,355 | ||
| D | 34,947 | 22,219 | 60,075 | ||
| D | 28,572 | 24,529 | 53,654 | ||
| D | 26,666 | 16,270 | 45,412 | ||
| D | 32,058 | 11,385 | 43,645 | ||
| D | 25,667 | 19,346 | 45,096 | ||
| R | 16,119 | 26,361 | 42,564 | ||
| R | 17,247 | 24,141 | 41,486 | ||
| D | 18,012 | 17,331 | 35,833 | ||
| D | 17,676 | 14,907 | 32,680 | ||
| D | 17,823 | 15,651 | 33,715 | ||
| D | 15,412 | 14,012 | 30,906 | ||
| R | 12,332 | 13,241 | 26,869 | ||
| R | 12,695 | 14,101 | 27,051 | ||
| R | 5,037 | 13,918 | 21,014 | ||
| R | 5,305 | 13,174 | 18,793 | ||
| R | 4,202 | 5,748 | 10,236 | ||
| R | 3,088 | 4,512 | 9,632 | ||
| R | 2,612 | 5,362 | 8,795 | ||
| R | 2,292 | 5,892 | 8,633 | ||
| R | 2,392 | 5,550 | 8,319 | ||
| R | 1,608 | 6,434 | 8,423 | ||
| R | 3,678 | 4,887 | 8,949 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
Irish
17.9%
English
12.3%
Polish
9.7%
German
8.9%
Italian
8.7%
French
8.0%
American
4.8%
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.
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 37.4 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.
Median household income
2024 inflation-adjusted dollars
$87,001
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA ranks near the middle of US counties.
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA$87,001
Massachusetts$103,960
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
11.3%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1811.5%
Working age (18–64)11.9%
Seniors (65+)6.2%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
87.1%
speak English only
Other Indo-European4.6%
Spanish4.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander3.2%
Other languages0.7%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 76.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Home to UMass Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Amherst, and Hampshire colleges, this Pioneer Valley metro posts some of the highest educational attainment rates in the country, shaping a consistently high-turnout electorate concentrated around academic employment and student populations.
The Democratic margin in Amherst Town-Northampton, MA peaked at forty-seven points in 1964. By 1960 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was forty-two points, the most Democratic-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $87,001 sits well below state and national norms, and 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The shift here is part of a broader realignment of working-class places across the country.
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/11200/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts vote in 2024?
In 2024, Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts voted Democratic by 41.7 points (D+42), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 84,720 votes cast, 58,617 went Democratic and 23,256 went Republican.
What is Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 21 times, Republican 13 times, and other 0 times.
When did Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts voted Republican was 1956.
How many people live in Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts?
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts has a population of 162,028 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts?
Median household income in Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts is $87,001 — above the national median of $80,734. The Massachusetts state median is $103,960.
What is the political history of Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, Massachusetts from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 21 went Democratic and 13 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.