Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+51%. Republican peak: R+53 in 2016.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+51MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 203,6262024 5-year
- Median household income
- $62,0652024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 83.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 8.3%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+21 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+53 in 2016MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Joplin, MO-KS, MOOne 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 | 21,780 | 68,591 | 91,878 | ||
| R | 21,561 | 66,614 | 90,121 | ||
| R | 17,567 | 61,805 | 83,851 | ||
| R | 22,164 | 54,986 | 78,982 | ||
| R | 26,774 | 55,190 | 83,096 | ||
| R | 23,292 | 55,116 | 78,887 | ||
| R | 21,967 | 44,145 | 67,773 | ||
| R | 21,073 | 32,566 | 60,889 | ||
| R | 21,797 | 29,985 | 64,108 | ||
| R | 21,026 | 34,832 | 56,086 | ||
| R | 17,545 | 40,576 | 58,210 | ||
| R | 21,543 | 37,475 | 60,990 | ||
| R | 27,109 | 28,185 | 55,668 | ||
| R | 14,749 | 39,202 | 54,106 | ||
| R | 19,648 | 28,348 | 53,722 | ||
| D | 31,904 | 25,871 | 57,822 | ||
| R | 25,006 | 36,567 | 61,646 | ||
| R | 23,045 | 34,030 | 57,114 | ||
| R | 24,332 | 37,903 | 62,403 | ||
| D | 25,856 | 25,029 | 51,184 | ||
| R | 22,725 | 29,744 | 52,617 | ||
| R | 31,175 | 33,419 | 64,871 | ||
| D | 34,645 | 26,322 | 61,441 | ||
| D | 32,015 | 20,639 | 53,693 | ||
| R | 15,003 | 35,119 | 50,763 | ||
| R | 16,217 | 23,730 | 44,149 | ||
| R | 18,916 | 28,081 | 48,927 | ||
| D | 19,859 | 16,637 | 39,031 | ||
| D | 11,851 | 8,035 | 29,616 | ||
| R | 14,674 | 15,656 | 33,270 | ||
| R | 10,555 | 15,084 | 29,201 | ||
| D | 17,837 | 15,898 | 34,732 | ||
| D | 15,163 | 10,514 | 25,959 | ||
| R | 6,783 | 11,003 | 23,338 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
16.7%
English
13.3%
Irish
11.9%
American
7.5%
Scottish
2.2%
Italian
1.8%
French
1.3%
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: 38.3 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
$62,065
Joplin, MO-KS ranks near the middle of US counties.
Joplin, MO-KS$62,065
Missouri$70,702
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
15.7%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1820.3%
Working age (18–64)14.5%
Seniors (65+)10.8%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
93.6%
speak English only
Spanish4.6%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.1%
Other Indo-European0.7%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 51.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Straddling the Missouri-Kansas line, the Joplin metro delivers some of the most consistent Republican vote shares in either state, anchored by a white working-class majority and an economy built around manufacturing, health care, and regional retail.
The Democratic margin in Joplin, MO-KS peaked at twenty-one points in 1932. By 1968 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was fifty-one points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $62,065 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.
Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/27900/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri vote in 2024?
In 2024, Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri voted Republican by 50.9 points (R+51), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 91,878 votes cast, 21,780 went Democratic and 68,591 went Republican.
What is Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 8 times, Republican 26 times, and other 0 times.
When did Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri?
Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri has a population of 203,626 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri?
Median household income in Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri is $62,065 — below the national median of $80,734. The Missouri state median is $70,702.
What is the political history of Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Joplin, MO-KS, Missouri from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 8 went Democratic and 26 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.