Cleveland, TN, Tennessee: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+60%. Republican peak: R+60 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+60MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 128,9632024 5-year
- Median household income
- $65,9932024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 84.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 3.9%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 7.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+34 in 1944MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+60 in 2024MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Cleveland, TN, TNOne 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 | 11,208 | 46,138 | 58,200 | ||
| R | 11,343 | 41,996 | 54,225 | ||
| R | 8,322 | 34,865 | 45,186 | ||
| R | 9,893 | 31,530 | 42,155 | ||
| R | 11,481 | 32,600 | 44,692 | ||
| R | 12,155 | 29,875 | 42,337 | ||
| R | 11,342 | 23,074 | 35,037 | ||
| R | 11,545 | 17,388 | 31,398 | ||
| R | 12,472 | 18,112 | 34,306 | ||
| R | 8,195 | 18,126 | 26,422 | ||
| R | 8,197 | 19,107 | 27,462 | ||
| R | 10,108 | 14,283 | 24,865 | ||
| D | 12,060 | 10,971 | 23,206 | ||
| R | 4,235 | 12,725 | 17,285 | ||
| R | 4,216 | 8,732 | 17,861 | ||
| R | 7,806 | 8,402 | 16,208 | ||
| R | 4,839 | 10,052 | 15,036 | ||
| R | 4,758 | 8,383 | 13,280 | ||
| R | 4,467 | 6,889 | 11,373 | ||
| R | 3,448 | 4,471 | 8,142 | ||
| D | 6,154 | 2,994 | 9,177 | ||
| D | 5,587 | 3,179 | 8,788 | ||
| D | 5,089 | 4,316 | 9,438 | ||
| D | 3,835 | 3,212 | 7,084 | ||
| R | 1,925 | 4,614 | 6,554 | ||
| R | 2,149 | 3,026 | 5,249 | ||
| R | 1,833 | 3,273 | 5,160 | ||
| R | 1,551 | 2,369 | 3,961 | ||
| D | 1,512 | 1,018 | 3,719 | ||
| R | 1,367 | 2,238 | 3,636 | ||
| R | 1,389 | 2,248 | 3,670 | ||
| R | 1,646 | 2,485 | 4,204 | ||
| R | 1,806 | 2,672 | 4,534 | ||
| R | 1,527 | 2,216 | 3,923 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
13.3%
Irish
12.2%
German
10.0%
American
8.9%
Italian
2.5%
Scottish
2.3%
French
1.9%
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: 40.5 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
$65,993
Cleveland, TN ranks near the middle of US counties.
Cleveland, TN$65,993
Tennessee$69,595
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
12.9%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1815.9%
Working age (18–64)11.9%
Seniors (65+)12.7%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
91.8%
speak English only
Spanish5.3%
Other Indo-European2.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.4%
Other languages0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 37.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Cleveland anchors Bradley County in the southeastern corner of Tennessee, where a manufacturing base and proximity to Chattanooga have drawn younger working families into a historically deep-red voting landscape that has held consistent double-digit Republican margins.
The Democratic margin in Cleveland, TN peaked at thirty-four points in 1944. By 1980 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was sixty points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $65,993 sits well below state and national norms, and 13% 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.
Cleveland, TN, Tennessee — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/17420/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Cleveland, TN, Tennessee vote in 2024?
In 2024, Cleveland, TN, Tennessee voted Republican by 60.0 points (R+60), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 58,200 votes cast, 11,208 went Democratic and 46,138 went Republican.
What is Cleveland, TN, Tennessee's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Cleveland, TN, Tennessee as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 6 times, Republican 28 times, and other 0 times.
When did Cleveland, TN, Tennessee last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Cleveland, TN, Tennessee voted Democratic was 1976.
How many people live in Cleveland, TN, Tennessee?
Cleveland, TN, Tennessee has a population of 128,963 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Cleveland, TN, Tennessee?
Median household income in Cleveland, TN, Tennessee is $65,993 — below the national median of $80,734. The Tennessee state median is $69,595.
What is the political history of Cleveland, TN, Tennessee?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Cleveland, TN, Tennessee from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 6 went Democratic and 28 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.