Mount Vernon, IL, Illinois: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+48%. Republican peak: R+48 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+48MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 36,5502024 5-year
- Median household income
- $63,1182024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 84.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 6.2%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.8%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+28 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+48 in 2024MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Mount Vernon, IL, ILOne 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 | 4,240 | 12,189 | 16,662 | ||
| R | 4,608 | 12,476 | 17,436 | ||
| R | 4,425 | 11,695 | 16,999 | ||
| R | 6,089 | 9,811 | 16,320 | ||
| R | 7,462 | 9,302 | 17,141 | ||
| R | 6,713 | 10,160 | 16,948 | ||
| R | 6,685 | 8,362 | 15,360 | ||
| D | 7,263 | 5,937 | 14,981 | ||
| D | 8,665 | 5,497 | 17,597 | ||
| D | 7,729 | 7,624 | 15,426 | ||
| R | 7,200 | 9,642 | 16,885 | ||
| R | 6,761 | 8,972 | 16,340 | ||
| D | 8,989 | 7,422 | 16,520 | ||
| R | 6,396 | 9,448 | 15,905 | ||
| R | 6,476 | 7,367 | 15,467 | ||
| D | 9,653 | 6,248 | 15,901 | ||
| R | 7,784 | 9,841 | 17,625 | ||
| R | 8,090 | 9,637 | 17,727 | ||
| R | 8,698 | 9,841 | 18,558 | ||
| D | 8,928 | 7,393 | 16,321 | ||
| D | 8,496 | 7,916 | 16,551 | ||
| D | 10,887 | 8,692 | 19,715 | ||
| D | 10,240 | 7,290 | 17,668 | ||
| D | 9,495 | 5,333 | 15,005 | ||
| R | 5,905 | 7,326 | 13,301 | ||
| D | 6,258 | 5,406 | 12,130 | ||
| R | 4,772 | 5,711 | 10,660 | ||
| D | 6,685 | 6,028 | 12,996 | ||
| D | 3,237 | 1,834 | 6,614 | ||
| D | 3,377 | 3,210 | 6,787 | ||
| R | 2,462 | 3,063 | 5,967 | ||
| D | 3,332 | 2,805 | 6,343 | ||
| D | 3,588 | 2,603 | 6,307 | ||
| D | 2,332 | 1,949 | 5,234 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
19.2%
English
14.9%
Irish
10.6%
American
7.1%
Polish
2.8%
Italian
1.9%
Scottish
1.9%
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: 41.2 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
$63,118
Mount Vernon, IL ranks near the middle of US counties.
Mount Vernon, IL$63,118
Illinois$83,390
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
13.5%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1818.8%
Working age (18–64)12.2%
Seniors (65+)10.5%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.4%
speak English only
Other Indo-European1.5%
Spanish1.2%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.8%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 53.2% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Mount Vernon anchors Jefferson County in Illinois's historically Democratic but increasingly Republican "Little Egypt" region, where deindustrialization and demographic shifts have redrawn electoral coalitions over the past two decades.
The Democratic margin in Mount Vernon, IL peaked at twenty-eight points in 1932. By 2000 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. 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 $63,118 sits well below state and national norms, and 14% 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 Vernon, IL, Illinois — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/34500/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Mount Vernon, IL, Illinois vote in 2024?
In 2024, Mount Vernon, IL, Illinois voted Republican by 47.7 points (R+48), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 16,662 votes cast, 4,240 went Democratic and 12,189 went Republican.
What is Mount Vernon, IL, Illinois's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Mount Vernon, IL, Illinois as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 17 times, Republican 17 times, and other 0 times.
When did Mount Vernon, IL, Illinois last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Mount Vernon, IL, Illinois voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Mount Vernon, IL, Illinois?
Mount Vernon, IL, Illinois has a population of 36,550 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Mount Vernon, IL, Illinois?
Median household income in Mount Vernon, IL, Illinois is $63,118 — below the national median of $80,734. The Illinois state median is $83,390.
What is the political history of Mount Vernon, IL, Illinois?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Mount Vernon, IL, Illinois from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 17 went Democratic and 17 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.