Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+42%. Republican peak: R+61 in 1924.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+42MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 49,8012024 5-year
- Median household income
- $61,5222024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 93.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.3%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 1.3%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+14 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+61 in 1924MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Oil City, PA, PAOne 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 | 7,624 | 18,883 | 26,809 | ||
| R | 7,585 | 18,569 | 26,528 | ||
| R | 6,309 | 16,021 | 23,530 | ||
| R | 7,945 | 13,815 | 22,257 | ||
| R | 9,238 | 13,718 | 23,307 | ||
| R | 9,024 | 14,472 | 23,659 | ||
| R | 8,196 | 11,642 | 20,541 | ||
| R | 8,205 | 8,398 | 19,549 | ||
| R | 8,230 | 8,545 | 21,554 | ||
| R | 8,624 | 11,468 | 20,263 | ||
| R | 9,114 | 13,507 | 22,725 | ||
| R | 7,800 | 11,547 | 20,604 | ||
| R | 8,653 | 12,270 | 21,311 | ||
| R | 6,302 | 13,991 | 20,794 | ||
| R | 8,319 | 12,323 | 21,949 | ||
| D | 13,065 | 9,873 | 23,022 | ||
| R | 8,064 | 17,193 | 25,280 | ||
| R | 5,594 | 17,107 | 22,715 | ||
| R | 6,356 | 17,006 | 23,566 | ||
| R | 5,144 | 11,920 | 17,536 | ||
| R | 6,426 | 14,916 | 21,646 | ||
| R | 6,873 | 17,728 | 24,658 | ||
| R | 9,212 | 17,676 | 27,565 | ||
| R | 6,174 | 12,230 | 19,088 | ||
| R | 4,531 | 17,450 | 22,089 | ||
| R | 1,886 | 10,841 | 14,592 | ||
| R | 2,669 | 7,718 | 11,746 | ||
| D | 3,938 | 3,856 | 9,410 | ||
| O | 2,507 | 1,660 | 9,092 | ||
| R | 2,815 | 4,868 | 9,788 | ||
| R | 1,747 | 5,892 | 10,278 | ||
| R | 4,014 | 5,931 | 11,244 | ||
| R | 4,599 | 5,133 | 10,304 | ||
| R | 3,288 | 4,099 | 8,313 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
30.9%
Irish
16.8%
English
11.5%
American
6.2%
Italian
4.5%
Polish
4.4%
Scottish
2.1%
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: 47.6 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
$61,522
Oil City, PA ranks near the middle of US counties.
Oil City, PA$61,522
Pennsylvania$77,971
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
13.2%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1820.1%
Working age (18–64)11.9%
Seniors (65+)9.2%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
98.0%
speak English only
Other Indo-European1.2%
Spanish0.5%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 55.6% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Venango County's Allegheny River corridor has shed roughly half its population since the mid-20th century, and Oil City anchors a district where working-class realignment has steadily widened Republican margins in statewide races over the past two decades.
The Democratic margin in Oil City, PA peaked at fourteen points in 1964. By 1968 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was forty-two points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $61,522 sits well below state and national norms, and 13% 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.
Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/36340/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania vote in 2024?
In 2024, Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania voted Republican by 42.0 points (R+42), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 26,809 votes cast, 7,624 went Democratic and 18,883 went Republican.
What is Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 2 times, Republican 31 times, and other 1 times.
When did Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania?
Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania has a population of 49,801 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania?
Median household income in Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania is $61,522 — below the national median of $80,734. The Pennsylvania state median is $77,971.
What is the political history of Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Oil City, PA, Pennsylvania from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 2 went Democratic and 31 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.