Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina: Urban anchor metro. In 2024, voted D+46%. Democratic peak: D+63 in 1940.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+46MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- Urban anchorAkashic typology
- Population
- 601,7242024 5-year
- Median household income
- $84,5982024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 54.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 23.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 13.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+63 in 1940MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+21 in 1928MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, NCOne 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 | 247,203 | 89,675 | 343,056 | ||
| D | 243,534 | 87,005 | 335,404 | ||
| D | 210,071 | 75,197 | 297,938 | ||
| D | 191,904 | 82,469 | 278,032 | ||
| D | 183,570 | 77,317 | 263,319 | ||
| D | 136,529 | 77,250 | 214,940 | ||
| R | 65,050 | 100,331 | 166,712 | ||
| D | 91,753 | 55,492 | 156,101 | ||
| D | 89,769 | 51,618 | 158,789 | ||
| D | 69,144 | 56,262 | 126,217 | ||
| D | 63,794 | 59,219 | 123,357 | ||
| D | 51,450 | 37,232 | 97,229 | ||
| D | 48,554 | 35,564 | 84,517 | ||
| R | 34,070 | 49,324 | 84,280 | ||
| D | 31,105 | 24,785 | 80,581 | ||
| D | 42,115 | 27,322 | 69,437 | ||
| D | 35,466 | 25,787 | 61,253 | ||
| D | 26,162 | 23,091 | 49,253 | ||
| D | 32,622 | 20,094 | 52,716 | ||
| D | 21,536 | 8,832 | 33,003 | ||
| D | 22,400 | 8,195 | 30,595 | ||
| D | 25,747 | 5,852 | 31,599 | ||
| D | 23,935 | 6,201 | 30,136 | ||
| D | 17,118 | 7,134 | 24,844 | ||
| R | 10,196 | 15,728 | 25,924 | ||
| D | 11,738 | 7,938 | 19,981 | ||
| D | 11,471 | 9,759 | 21,230 | ||
| D | 6,485 | 5,413 | 11,912 | ||
| D | 5,666 | 1,150 | 10,375 | ||
| R | 5,147 | 5,359 | 10,519 | ||
| D | 4,996 | 3,588 | 8,629 | ||
| R | 6,603 | 6,820 | 13,485 | ||
| D | 8,740 | 6,080 | 14,901 | ||
| D | 5,435 | 4,327 | 13,750 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
13.0%
German
9.3%
Irish
8.5%
American
4.7%
Italian
3.9%
Scottish
2.6%
Polish
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: 38.2 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
$84,598
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC ranks near the middle of US counties.
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC$84,598
North Carolina$72,388
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
12.1%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1815.7%
Working age (18–64)11.3%
Seniors (65+)8.8%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
81.7%
speak English only
Spanish11.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander3.2%
Other Indo-European2.5%
Other languages1.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 54.2% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Home to Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and NC Central, Durham-Chapel Hill posts some of North Carolina's widest Democratic margins—Biden carried the metro by roughly 40 points in 2020—driven by a dense concentration of university employees, graduate students, and a historically Black urban core.
The Democratic margin in Durham-Chapel Hill, NC has been steady. It reached its modern peak at sixty-three points in 1940; the 2024 margin was forty-six points, still in line with the metro's long pattern.
Its political identity is inseparable from its demographic profile: a 55% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $84,598, and the full diversity of a major metropolitan center.
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/20500/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina vote in 2024?
In 2024, Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina voted Democratic by 45.9 points (D+46), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 343,056 votes cast, 247,203 went Democratic and 89,675 went Republican.
What is Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina as a "Urban anchor" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 29 times, Republican 5 times, and other 0 times.
When did Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina voted Republican was 2000.
How many people live in Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina?
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina has a population of 601,724 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina?
Median household income in Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina is $84,598 — above the national median of $80,734. The North Carolina state median is $72,388.
What is the political history of Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, North Carolina from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 29 went Democratic and 5 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Urban anchor" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.