Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+49%. Republican peak: R+49 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+49MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 47,4762024 5-year
- Median household income
- $54,9522024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 93.3%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.9%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+40 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+49 in 2024MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Mount Sterling, KY, KYOne 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 | 5,271 | 15,906 | 21,510 | ||
| R | 5,953 | 15,290 | 21,570 | ||
| R | 5,219 | 12,948 | 18,818 | ||
| R | 6,519 | 10,157 | 16,968 | ||
| R | 7,720 | 9,336 | 17,363 | ||
| R | 8,398 | 9,131 | 17,677 | ||
| R | 6,958 | 8,007 | 15,241 | ||
| D | 6,237 | 4,518 | 12,147 | ||
| D | 7,226 | 4,406 | 13,960 | ||
| D | 6,277 | 5,719 | 12,049 | ||
| R | 5,227 | 6,669 | 11,967 | ||
| D | 6,531 | 4,879 | 11,659 | ||
| D | 6,295 | 3,274 | 9,661 | ||
| R | 3,736 | 5,383 | 9,219 | ||
| R | 3,356 | 3,899 | 9,156 | ||
| D | 6,686 | 2,867 | 9,571 | ||
| D | 5,684 | 5,156 | 10,840 | ||
| D | 6,062 | 4,908 | 11,005 | ||
| D | 6,272 | 4,356 | 10,653 | ||
| D | 6,130 | 2,794 | 9,115 | ||
| D | 5,494 | 3,630 | 9,143 | ||
| D | 6,459 | 3,818 | 10,307 | ||
| D | 6,512 | 3,933 | 10,483 | ||
| D | 7,144 | 3,565 | 10,753 | ||
| R | 4,493 | 5,697 | 10,217 | ||
| D | 5,313 | 4,129 | 9,535 | ||
| D | 6,658 | 4,741 | 11,465 | ||
| D | 4,231 | 2,924 | 7,203 | ||
| D | 3,735 | 2,014 | 6,581 | ||
| D | 4,136 | 3,227 | 7,456 | ||
| D | 3,710 | 3,058 | 6,881 | ||
| D | 4,270 | 3,657 | 7,977 | ||
| D | 4,051 | 3,422 | 7,579 | ||
| D | 3,425 | 2,447 | 6,100 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
26.1%
English
12.0%
Irish
8.5%
German
7.0%
Scottish
1.0%
Italian
0.9%
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: 40.7 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
$54,952
Mount Sterling, KY ranks near the middle of US counties.
Mount Sterling, KY$54,952
Kentucky$63,726
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
19.6%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1825.4%
Working age (18–64)17.7%
Seniors (65+)19.6%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
95.3%
speak English only
Spanish2.5%
Other Indo-European1.8%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.4%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 62.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Montgomery County anchors this compact metro at the eastern edge of the Bluegrass region, where Republican margins in federal races have widened steadily over the past two decades as coal-era economic anxieties reshaped voter alignment.
The Democratic margin in Mount Sterling, KY peaked at forty points in 1964. By 2000 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was forty-nine points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $54,952 sits well below state and national norms, and 20% 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.
Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/34460/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky vote in 2024?
In 2024, Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky voted Republican by 49.4 points (R+49), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 21,510 votes cast, 5,271 went Democratic and 15,906 went Republican.
What is Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 23 times, Republican 11 times, and other 0 times.
When did Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky?
Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky has a population of 47,476 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky?
Median household income in Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky is $54,952 — below the national median of $80,734. The Kentucky state median is $63,726.
What is the political history of Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Mount Sterling, KY, Kentucky from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 23 went Democratic and 11 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.