Lafayette, LA, Louisiana: Realigner metro. In 2024, voted R+42%. Democratic peak: D+84 in 1932.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+42MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- RealignerAkashic typology
- Population
- 413,4282024 5-year
- Median household income
- $61,3862024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 66.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 22.8%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 5.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+84 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+42 in 2024MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Lafayette, LA, LAOne 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 | 53,786 | 132,766 | 189,241 | ||
| R | 58,576 | 135,248 | 197,308 | ||
| R | 51,487 | 126,293 | 184,374 | ||
| R | 53,470 | 119,486 | 175,897 | ||
| R | 54,858 | 113,796 | 171,438 | ||
| R | 59,553 | 100,979 | 162,529 | ||
| R | 54,639 | 84,761 | 144,544 | ||
| D | 69,905 | 59,614 | 141,792 | ||
| D | 64,435 | 54,394 | 140,200 | ||
| R | 57,971 | 64,732 | 124,863 | ||
| R | 46,149 | 81,669 | 130,029 | ||
| R | 47,145 | 60,144 | 112,075 | ||
| D | 49,970 | 39,346 | 91,630 | ||
| R | 20,224 | 47,883 | 72,033 | ||
| O | 19,208 | 18,750 | 72,279 | ||
| R | 26,881 | 37,829 | 64,710 | ||
| D | 42,335 | 11,691 | 59,426 | ||
| D | 17,450 | 16,407 | 34,745 | ||
| D | 19,579 | 16,059 | 35,638 | ||
| O | 6,282 | 4,752 | 24,362 | ||
| D | 16,308 | 2,594 | 18,902 | ||
| D | 19,602 | 5,792 | 25,396 | ||
| D | 15,853 | 1,343 | 17,211 | ||
| D | 11,967 | 1,018 | 12,987 | ||
| D | 11,302 | 2,356 | 13,658 | ||
| D | 3,518 | 1,810 | 5,781 | ||
| R | 2,749 | 4,025 | 6,781 | ||
| D | 4,542 | 389 | 6,653 | ||
| D | 2,699 | 487 | 4,019 | ||
| D | 2,940 | 537 | 3,810 | ||
| D | 2,527 | 308 | 2,920 | ||
| D | 2,436 | 1,069 | 3,505 | ||
| D | 3,288 | 673 | 4,006 | ||
| D | 1,729 | 349 | 2,078 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
French
17.2%
German
7.3%
American
5.8%
English
5.6%
Irish
4.9%
Italian
3.1%
Scottish
0.7%
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: 37.4 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
$61,386
Lafayette, LA ranks near the middle of US counties.
Lafayette, LA$61,386
Louisiana$60,756
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
18.4%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1824.0%
Working age (18–64)16.5%
Seniors (65+)17.8%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
90.5%
speak English only
Other Indo-European4.9%
Spanish3.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.9%
Other languages0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 35.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Home to the University of Louisiana and a sprawling petrochemical corridor, the Lafayette metro has trended reliably Republican in federal races while its city core shows narrower margins, reflecting a younger, university-adjacent electorate.
The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin in Lafayette, LA peaked at eighty-four points in 1932; it narrowed steadily over the late twentieth century. The 2000 election delivered the metro to the Republican party for the first time in many years, by a margin of twenty-one points. By 2024, the margin had widened further.
The economic and demographic context is severe. The median household income of $61,386 is among the lowest at this geographic scale; 18% of residents live below the federal poverty line.
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Lafayette, LA, Louisiana — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/29180/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Lafayette, LA, Louisiana vote in 2024?
In 2024, Lafayette, LA, Louisiana voted Republican by 41.7 points (R+42), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 189,241 votes cast, 53,786 went Democratic and 132,766 went Republican.
What is Lafayette, LA, Louisiana's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Lafayette, LA, Louisiana as a "Realigner" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 19 times, Republican 13 times, and other 2 times.
When did Lafayette, LA, Louisiana last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Lafayette, LA, Louisiana voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Lafayette, LA, Louisiana?
Lafayette, LA, Louisiana has a population of 413,428 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Lafayette, LA, Louisiana?
Median household income in Lafayette, LA, Louisiana is $61,386 — below the national median of $80,734. The Louisiana state median is $60,756.
What is the political history of Lafayette, LA, Louisiana?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Lafayette, LA, Louisiana from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 19 went Democratic and 13 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Realigner" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.