Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+63%. Republican peak: R+63 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+63MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 98,1872024 5-year
- Median household income
- $50,8302024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 90.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 3.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 1.3%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+32 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+63 in 2024MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Bluefield, WV-VA, VAOne 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 7,881 | 35,083 | 43,490 | ||
| R | 8,761 | 35,968 | 45,269 | ||
| R | 7,599 | 32,572 | 41,763 | ||
| R | 9,093 | 29,293 | 39,045 | ||
| R | 13,046 | 24,447 | 38,083 | ||
| R | 16,362 | 23,096 | 39,859 | ||
| R | 15,574 | 18,861 | 35,219 | ||
| D | 16,221 | 13,899 | 34,140 | ||
| D | 18,097 | 14,263 | 37,346 | ||
| D | 18,250 | 17,386 | 35,883 | ||
| R | 17,178 | 23,555 | 41,051 | ||
| R | 18,807 | 19,294 | 39,166 | ||
| D | 22,326 | 16,356 | 38,991 | ||
| R | 8,814 | 18,913 | 27,789 | ||
| D | 17,473 | 14,419 | 37,425 | ||
| D | 19,429 | 9,909 | 29,343 | ||
| D | 21,705 | 14,858 | 36,582 | ||
| R | 16,731 | 18,608 | 35,419 | ||
| D | 19,221 | 17,499 | 36,750 | ||
| D | 17,459 | 12,343 | 30,054 | ||
| D | 17,693 | 12,305 | 30,023 | ||
| D | 21,271 | 13,751 | 35,030 | ||
| D | 21,383 | 12,743 | 34,178 | ||
| D | 18,613 | 13,093 | 31,855 | ||
| R | 12,252 | 15,959 | 28,261 | ||
| D | 12,626 | 11,790 | 26,847 | ||
| R | 9,751 | 11,021 | 20,837 | ||
| R | 5,944 | 6,379 | 12,399 | ||
| D | 4,476 | 2,093 | 10,582 | ||
| R | 3,815 | 5,627 | 9,520 | ||
| R | 3,130 | 5,102 | 8,325 | ||
| R | 4,011 | 4,775 | 8,825 | ||
| R | 3,705 | 4,913 | 8,652 | ||
| R | 3,400 | 3,435 | 7,002 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
17.0%
English
13.5%
Irish
10.8%
German
8.8%
Italian
2.0%
Scottish
1.4%
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: 44.1 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
$50,830
Bluefield, WV-VA ranks near the middle of US counties.
Bluefield, WV-VA$50,830
Virginia$93,170
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
17.3%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1823.1%
Working age (18–64)16.2%
Seniors (65+)12.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.9%
speak English only
Spanish1.2%
Other Indo-European0.7%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.2%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 56.6% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Straddling the West Virginia–Virginia border in the heart of Appalachian coal country, the Bluefield metro has moved toward lopsided Republican margins over the past two decades as energy-sector employment declined and cultural realignment accelerated.
The Democratic margin in Bluefield, WV-VA peaked at thirty-two points in 1964. By 2000 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was sixty-three points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $50,830 sits well below state and national norms, and 17% 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.
Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/14140/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia vote in 2024?
In 2024, Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia voted Republican by 62.5 points (R+63), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 43,490 votes cast, 7,881 went Democratic and 35,083 went Republican.
What is Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 15 times, Republican 19 times, and other 0 times.
When did Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia?
Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia has a population of 98,187 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia?
Median household income in Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia is $50,830 — below the national median of $80,734. The Virginia state median is $93,170.
What is the political history of Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Bluefield, WV-VA, Virginia from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 15 went Democratic and 19 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.