Johnson City, TN, Tennessee: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+48%. Republican peak: R+66 in 1928.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+48MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 210,7292024 5-year
- Median household income
- $58,5062024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 89.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 2.8%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 4.4%2024 5-year
- Peak Republican margin
- R+66 in 1928MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Johnson City, 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 | 24,163 | 69,342 | 94,651 | ||
| R | 24,782 | 66,627 | 93,002 | ||
| R | 17,739 | 56,821 | 78,029 | ||
| R | 21,027 | 53,343 | 75,735 | ||
| R | 23,635 | 53,204 | 77,974 | ||
| R | 23,713 | 50,533 | 74,782 | ||
| R | 24,059 | 38,470 | 63,473 | ||
| R | 21,608 | 32,622 | 58,877 | ||
| R | 21,948 | 32,262 | 61,120 | ||
| R | 16,515 | 35,315 | 52,151 | ||
| R | 15,790 | 39,164 | 55,280 | ||
| R | 19,485 | 32,933 | 54,170 | ||
| R | 23,920 | 26,915 | 51,324 | ||
| R | 8,297 | 32,322 | 41,468 | ||
| R | 8,000 | 25,676 | 42,453 | ||
| R | 17,579 | 21,815 | 39,394 | ||
| R | 11,017 | 31,069 | 42,370 | ||
| R | 9,358 | 28,667 | 38,267 | ||
| R | 9,115 | 24,495 | 33,807 | ||
| R | 6,676 | 13,926 | 21,388 | ||
| R | 6,501 | 13,350 | 19,929 | ||
| R | 6,721 | 10,820 | 17,688 | ||
| R | 7,164 | 11,496 | 18,772 | ||
| R | 5,769 | 10,462 | 16,333 | ||
| R | 2,430 | 11,864 | 14,313 | ||
| R | 2,771 | 8,281 | 11,294 | ||
| R | 3,481 | 13,501 | 16,990 | ||
| R | 2,555 | 6,645 | 9,208 | ||
| O | 2,179 | 2,657 | 9,139 | ||
| R | 2,100 | 6,266 | 8,377 | ||
| R | 1,721 | 5,480 | 7,280 | ||
| R | 1,980 | 6,073 | 8,170 | ||
| R | 2,195 | 6,311 | 8,641 | ||
| R | 2,287 | 4,433 | 7,019 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
18.9%
English
17.0%
German
10.7%
Irish
10.3%
Scottish
2.7%
Italian
2.1%
French
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: 42.3 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
$58,506
Johnson City, TN ranks near the middle of US counties.
Johnson City, TN$58,506
Tennessee$69,595
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
15.8%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1819.0%
Working age (18–64)15.5%
Seniors (65+)11.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
95.9%
speak English only
Spanish2.7%
Other Indo-European0.5%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.5%
Other languages0.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 50.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Johnson City's Ballad Health campus and East Tennessee State University give the metro an unusually large healthcare and higher-education workforce, moderating the deep-red baseline typical of surrounding Sullivan and Washington counties.
The Democratic margin in Johnson City, TN peaked at an earlier high. The 2024 margin was forty-eight points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $58,506 sits well below state and national norms, and 16% 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.
Johnson City, TN, Tennessee — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/27740/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Johnson City, TN, Tennessee vote in 2024?
In 2024, Johnson City, TN, Tennessee voted Republican by 47.7 points (R+48), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 94,651 votes cast, 24,163 went Democratic and 69,342 went Republican.
What is Johnson City, TN, Tennessee's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Johnson City, 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 0 times, Republican 33 times, and other 1 times.
How many people live in Johnson City, TN, Tennessee?
Johnson City, TN, Tennessee has a population of 210,729 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Johnson City, TN, Tennessee?
Median household income in Johnson City, TN, Tennessee is $58,506 — below the national median of $80,734. The Tennessee state median is $69,595.
What is the political history of Johnson City, TN, Tennessee?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Johnson City, TN, Tennessee from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 0 went Democratic and 33 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.