akashic
1876–2024
Cookeville, TN·Tennessee

For one hundred eight years, Cookeville, TN voted Democratic. Then it stopped.

Upper Cumberland hub where Tennessee Tech anchors a fast-growing workforce

1876 — 2024·38 elections
TN
Latest
R+55
in 2024
Archetype
Realigner
since the recent cycles
Population
145,812
2024 ACS

Cookeville, TN, Tennessee: Realigner metro. In 2024, voted R+55%. Republican peak: R+55 in 2024.

Key facts

2024 presidential margin
R+55MIT Election Lab
Political archetype
RealignerAkashic typology
Population
145,8122024 5-year
Median household income
$55,1352024 5-year
White (non-Hispanic)
89.7%2024 5-year
Black
1.8%2024 5-year
Hispanic / Latino
6.0%2024 5-year
Peak Democratic margin
D+54 in 1932MIT Election Lab
Peak Republican margin
R+55 in 2024MIT Election Lab
2024 results by constituent county
4 counties · 0 D · 4 R
R+60
D+60
One cell per constituent county. Ordered by 2024 D-vs-R margin (bluest first). Hover for county-level numbers.
38 presidential elections
Source · MIT Election Lab · ICPSR · VEST (precinct-level 2024).
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
R
−55.3%
14,06749,89964,794
R
−50.8%
14,49645,40160,848
R
−48.7%
11,77035,96849,732
R
−33.3%
15,14130,60946,488
R
−22.5%
18,75429,88649,556
R
−9.4%
22,22926,87349,503
D
+8.7%
22,73119,03242,463
D
+16.0%
20,32814,29137,716
D
+25.8%
22,65712,48139,465
R
−5.5%
13,64115,23429,075
D
+2.0%
16,11915,49231,815
D
+21.0%
17,32211,19929,168
D
+45.2%
19,2157,16726,638
R
−17.6%
7,78811,19319,399
D
+3.6%
7,8397,04721,793
D
+43.1%
14,8455,89820,743
D
+8.8%
10,5788,84519,601
D
+20.5%
10,9877,22718,345
D
+18.1%
10,3107,14817,501
D
+31.7%
8,1903,96713,338
D
+26.3%
6,9834,06811,072
D
+40.1%
8,9833,82612,865
D
+36.1%
6,7433,1629,930
D
+54.3%
8,8062,58811,446
D
+9.6%
5,0954,1979,314
D
+31.8%
6,2423,1959,589
D
+9.2%
8,0736,71414,804
D
+28.3%
6,7253,74010,550
D
+32.5%
5,9642,7399,928
D
+17.2%
6,0094,22810,330
D
+20.9%
5,3393,4818,879
D
+27.6%
6,0323,4139,479
D
+35.7%
6,8363,22910,110
D
+32.5%
5,0312,2648,501
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Demographics

Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
18.6%
English
16.1%
German
9.5%
Irish
9.1%
Scottish
2.7%
Italian
2.0%
French
2.0%
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: 39.6 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
0.7%
85+
0.8%
2.4%
75–84
3.3%
5.3%
65–74
6.0%
6.4%
55–64
6.6%
5.8%
45–54
6.3%
5.7%
35–44
5.5%
6.8%
25–34
6.2%
6.2%
18–24
5.1%
7.7%
5–17
7.7%
2.8%
<5
2.5%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Median household income
2024 inflation-adjusted dollars
$55,135
Cookeville, TN ranks near the middle of US counties.
Cookeville, TN$55,135
Tennessee$69,595
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
17.2%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1822.5%
Working age (18–64)16.0%
Seniors (65+)13.6%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
94.5%
speak English only
Spanish3.7%
Other Indo-European0.8%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.6%
Other languages0.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Baptist
16.1%
Other Christian
13.9%
Methodist
3.9%
Pentecostal & Holiness
2.8%
Catholic & Orthodox
2.4%
Mainline Protestant
2.1%
Non-Christian
0.4%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 58.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Cookeville's Putnam County metro has posted some of Tennessee's steeper population growth rates over the past decade, driven partly by manufacturing relocation and university employment that skew its voter pool younger and more blue-collar than Nashville's suburbs.

The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin in Cookeville, TN peaked at fifty-four points in 1932; it narrowed steadily over the late twentieth century. The 2004 election delivered the metro to the Republican party for the first time in many years, by a margin of nine points. By 2024, the margin had widened further.

The economic and demographic context is severe. The median household income of $55,135 is among the lowest at this geographic scale; 17% of residents live below the federal poverty line.

Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Cookeville, TN, Tennessee — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/18260/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0

Frequently asked questions

How did Cookeville, TN, Tennessee vote in 2024?
In 2024, Cookeville, TN, Tennessee voted Republican by 55.3 points (R+55), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 64,794 votes cast, 14,067 went Democratic and 49,899 went Republican.
What is Cookeville, TN, Tennessee's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Cookeville, TN, Tennessee as a "Realigner" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 26 times, Republican 8 times, and other 0 times.
When did Cookeville, TN, Tennessee last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Cookeville, TN, Tennessee voted Democratic was 2000.
How many people live in Cookeville, TN, Tennessee?
Cookeville, TN, Tennessee has a population of 145,812 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Cookeville, TN, Tennessee?
Median household income in Cookeville, TN, Tennessee is $55,135 — below the national median of $80,734. The Tennessee state median is $69,595.
What is the political history of Cookeville, TN, Tennessee?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Cookeville, TN, Tennessee from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 26 went Democratic and 8 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Realigner" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.