Fort Payne, AL, Alabama: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+74%. Republican peak: R+74 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+74MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 72,2692024 5-year
- Median household income
- $51,2042024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 79.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.3%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 17.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+61 in 1892MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+74 in 2024MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Fort Payne, AL, ALOne 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 | 3,758 | 25,633 | 29,660 | ||
| R | 4,281 | 24,767 | 29,356 | ||
| R | 3,622 | 21,405 | 25,485 | ||
| R | 5,239 | 18,331 | 23,863 | ||
| R | 5,658 | 17,957 | 24,015 | ||
| R | 7,092 | 16,904 | 24,169 | ||
| R | 7,056 | 12,827 | 20,285 | ||
| R | 6,544 | 9,823 | 18,143 | ||
| R | 8,245 | 10,519 | 21,585 | ||
| R | 7,333 | 11,478 | 18,940 | ||
| R | 7,212 | 12,098 | 19,349 | ||
| R | 8,820 | 9,673 | 18,690 | ||
| D | 9,759 | 6,597 | 16,437 | ||
| R | 3,759 | 9,434 | 13,237 | ||
| O | 1,274 | 5,314 | 14,859 | ||
| R | 0 | 6,746 | 11,694 | ||
| D | 5,844 | 5,585 | 11,441 | ||
| D | 5,768 | 5,684 | 11,468 | ||
| D | 5,209 | 3,997 | 9,217 | ||
| O | 0 | 2,743 | 6,333 | ||
| D | 4,366 | 2,627 | 7,002 | ||
| D | 5,432 | 2,810 | 8,259 | ||
| D | 6,122 | 4,617 | 10,762 | ||
| D | 4,217 | 3,496 | 7,790 | ||
| R | 3,957 | 5,761 | 9,720 | ||
| R | 3,003 | 3,434 | 6,437 | ||
| R | 3,894 | 4,852 | 8,795 | ||
| D | 1,787 | 1,190 | 3,024 | ||
| D | 1,379 | 492 | 2,525 | ||
| D | 1,395 | 1,103 | 2,556 | ||
| D | 1,716 | 1,237 | 3,069 | ||
| D | 1,873 | 1,735 | 3,707 | ||
| D | 1,586 | 1,446 | 3,106 | ||
| D | 1,868 | 5 | 3,062 | ||
| D | 1,326 | 593 | 1,936 | ||
| D | 1,077 | 465 | 1,542 | ||
| D | 759 | 252 | 1,011 | ||
| D | 987 | 447 | 1,434 |
Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
13.4%
English
12.8%
Irish
9.0%
German
5.8%
Scottish
2.2%
French
1.2%
Italian
1.0%
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: 39.5 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
$51,204
Fort Payne, AL ranks near the middle of US counties.
Fort Payne, AL$51,204
Alabama$63,999
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
22.4%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1833.0%
Working age (18–64)19.5%
Seniors (65+)14.7%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
85.1%
speak English only
Spanish13.9%
Other languages0.5%
Other Indo-European0.4%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 36.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Fort Payne built its identity around textile production and sits in a stretch of northeast Alabama where Republican presidential margins have exceeded 40 points in recent cycles, reflecting the region's rural, working-class evangelical composition.
The Democratic margin in Fort Payne, AL peaked at sixty-one points in 1892. By 1980 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was seventy-four points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $51,204 sits well below state and national norms, and 22% 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.
Fort Payne, AL, Alabama — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/22840/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Fort Payne, AL, Alabama vote in 2024?
In 2024, Fort Payne, AL, Alabama voted Republican by 73.8 points (R+74), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 29,660 votes cast, 3,758 went Democratic and 25,633 went Republican.
What is Fort Payne, AL, Alabama's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Fort Payne, AL, Alabama as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 19 times, Republican 17 times, and other 2 times.
When did Fort Payne, AL, Alabama last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Fort Payne, AL, Alabama voted Democratic was 1976.
How many people live in Fort Payne, AL, Alabama?
Fort Payne, AL, Alabama has a population of 72,269 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Fort Payne, AL, Alabama?
Median household income in Fort Payne, AL, Alabama is $51,204 — below the national median of $80,734. The Alabama state median is $63,999.
What is the political history of Fort Payne, AL, Alabama?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Fort Payne, AL, Alabama from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 19 went Democratic and 17 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.