akashic
1876–2024
Kalamazoo-Portage, MI·Michigan

Kalamazoo-Portage, MI has voted Democratic in nine straight presidential cycles.

A college-anchored metro that shifted markedly rightward by 2024

1876 — 2024·38 elections
MI
Latest
D+18
in 2024
Archetype
Democratic loyalist
since the recent cycles
Population
262,375
2024 ACS

Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan: Democratic loyalist metro. In 2024, voted D+18%. Republican peak: R+61 in 1924.

Key facts

2024 presidential margin
D+18MIT Election Lab
Political archetype
Democratic loyalistAkashic typology
Population
262,3752024 5-year
Median household income
$72,5322024 5-year
White (non-Hispanic)
75.9%2024 5-year
Black
11.0%2024 5-year
Hispanic / Latino
5.9%2024 5-year
Peak Democratic margin
D+20 in 1964MIT Election Lab
Peak Republican margin
R+61 in 1924MIT Election Lab
2024 results by constituent county
1 counties · 1 D · 0 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
D
+17.7%
84,50158,671146,119
D
+18.7%
83,68656,823143,414
D
+12.8%
67,14851,034126,299
D
+13.3%
69,05152,662123,690
D
+19.5%
77,05151,554130,781
D
+3.6%
61,46257,147119,783
D
+0.5%
48,80748,254100,656
D
+5.3%
45,64440,70393,135
D
+5.3%
43,56838,035103,858
R
−11.9%
39,45750,20590,235
R
−28.3%
32,46058,32791,388
R
−14.8%
34,52848,66995,617
R
−20.7%
33,41151,46287,085
R
−19.9%
33,32450,40585,770
R
−18.1%
26,43739,79673,832
D
+20.1%
40,78927,10068,104
R
−27.5%
24,28642,80067,434
R
−41.5%
17,80843,30561,433
R
−34.2%
18,96738,84758,185
R
−17.8%
16,39323,79941,517
R
−21.0%
16,22324,97441,654
R
−18.0%
17,73325,59643,622
D
+0.1%
17,87017,82437,380
R
−13.6%
13,97418,58433,785
R
−59.3%
5,94623,62629,830
R
−60.7%
3,58718,45124,500
R
−41.7%
5,27113,76520,384
D
+8.6%
7,1645,95114,173
O
+8.3%
3,6602,64212,308
R
−17.1%
4,4776,51111,918
R
−33.9%
3,2647,16311,491
R
−11.6%
4,7076,01011,209
R
−4.0%
5,4345,89111,515
R
−9.7%
4,0184,9689,825
—
No data
———
—
No data
———
—
No data
———
—
No data
———

Demographics

Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
18.2%
English
13.1%
Irish
10.5%
American
5.8%
Polish
4.5%
Italian
2.9%
French
2.2%
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: 35.0 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
0.6%
85+
1.2%
2.0%
75–84
2.6%
4.5%
65–74
5.2%
5.3%
55–64
5.7%
5.3%
45–54
5.4%
6.1%
35–44
6.1%
6.8%
25–34
6.8%
7.3%
18–24
7.6%
8.1%
5–17
7.7%
2.8%
<5
2.7%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Median household income
2024 inflation-adjusted dollars
$72,532
Kalamazoo-Portage, MI ranks near the middle of US counties.
Kalamazoo-Portage, MI$72,532
Michigan$72,875
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
12.7%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1811.5%
Working age (18–64)13.4%
Seniors (65+)8.2%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
92.1%
speak English only
Spanish3.0%
Other Indo-European2.4%
Other languages1.4%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Catholic & Orthodox
12.1%
Other Christian
11.4%
Mainline Protestant
6.8%
Methodist
2.5%
Baptist
2.3%
Non-Christian
2.2%
Pentecostal & Holiness
1.7%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 61.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Home to Western Michigan University and a legacy brewing and manufacturing economy, the Kalamazoo-Portage metro recorded an R+6.8 margin in 2024—a notable swing for a mid-sized Michigan city with a significant student and healthcare workforce population.

The Democratic margin in Kalamazoo-Portage, MI reached its widest at twenty points in 1964. The margin in 2024 was eighteen points — still decisive.

Its loyalty is rooted in its place. Median household income of $72,532, a 76% non-Hispanic-white share, and a population of 262,375 together describe a metro whose political habits are deeply settled.

Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/28020/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0

Frequently asked questions

How did Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan vote in 2024?
In 2024, Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan voted Democratic by 17.7 points (D+18), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 146,119 votes cast, 84,501 went Democratic and 58,671 went Republican.
What is Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan as a "Democratic loyalist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 12 times, Republican 21 times, and other 1 times.
When did Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan voted Republican was 1988.
How many people live in Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan?
Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan has a population of 262,375 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan?
Median household income in Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan is $72,532 — below the national median of $80,734. The Michigan state median is $72,875.
What is the political history of Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Kalamazoo-Portage, MI, Michigan from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 12 went Democratic and 21 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Democratic loyalist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.