Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky: Realigner metro. In 2024, voted R+44%. Democratic peak: D+48 in 1964.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+44MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- RealignerAkashic typology
- Population
- 102,7482024 5-year
- Median household income
- $64,0502024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 84.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 7.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 3.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+48 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+44 in 2016MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Paducah, KY-IL, 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 | 13,865 | 35,822 | 50,293 | ||
| R | 15,147 | 36,342 | 52,234 | ||
| R | 12,827 | 34,445 | 49,351 | ||
| R | 15,439 | 31,828 | 48,071 | ||
| R | 17,906 | 30,540 | 49,210 | ||
| R | 19,034 | 29,594 | 48,949 | ||
| R | 19,375 | 23,768 | 44,026 | ||
| D | 21,349 | 15,866 | 41,482 | ||
| D | 22,725 | 16,702 | 44,946 | ||
| D | 21,077 | 20,065 | 41,508 | ||
| R | 21,015 | 21,567 | 42,998 | ||
| D | 22,598 | 18,400 | 41,976 | ||
| D | 25,898 | 12,185 | 39,188 | ||
| R | 12,746 | 19,957 | 33,656 | ||
| D | 15,723 | 11,587 | 37,179 | ||
| D | 26,153 | 9,243 | 35,523 | ||
| D | 21,217 | 17,948 | 39,171 | ||
| D | 23,408 | 14,034 | 37,545 | ||
| D | 21,344 | 12,872 | 34,253 | ||
| D | 19,248 | 7,856 | 27,584 | ||
| D | 19,192 | 10,348 | 29,719 | ||
| D | 21,966 | 10,718 | 32,804 | ||
| D | 21,166 | 9,286 | 30,663 | ||
| D | 20,839 | 8,035 | 29,173 | ||
| R | 12,883 | 14,267 | 27,227 | ||
| D | 14,094 | 10,707 | 26,657 | ||
| D | 17,792 | 13,401 | 31,815 | ||
| D | 10,747 | 9,093 | 20,462 | ||
| D | 7,671 | 4,267 | 15,176 | ||
| D | 9,704 | 7,235 | 17,513 | ||
| D | 7,706 | 6,353 | 14,661 | ||
| D | 8,795 | 6,672 | 15,739 | ||
| D | 8,464 | 6,087 | 14,864 | ||
| D | 5,183 | 3,897 | 10,547 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
18.7%
German
11.6%
American
10.7%
Irish
8.7%
Scottish
1.8%
Italian
1.6%
French
1.4%
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: 43.2 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
$64,050
Paducah, KY-IL ranks near the middle of US counties.
Paducah, KY-IL$64,050
Kentucky$63,726
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
15.7%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1822.0%
Working age (18–64)14.2%
Seniors (65+)11.5%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.2%
speak English only
Spanish1.4%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.7%
Other Indo-European0.5%
Other languages0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 24.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Paducah's metro straddles the Kentucky-Illinois border where the Ohio and Tennessee rivers meet, giving it an unusual cross-state economic identity; McCracken County, its Kentucky core, has shifted toward double-digit Republican margins in presidential races over the past two decades.
The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin in Paducah, KY-IL peaked at forty-eight points in 1964; 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 ten points. By 2024, the margin had widened further.
The economic and demographic context is severe. The median household income of $64,050 is among the lowest at this geographic scale; 16% of residents live below the federal poverty line.
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/37140/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky vote in 2024?
In 2024, Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky voted Republican by 43.7 points (R+44), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 50,293 votes cast, 13,865 went Democratic and 35,822 went Republican.
What is Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky as a "Realigner" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 24 times, Republican 10 times, and other 0 times.
When did Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky?
Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky has a population of 102,748 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky?
Median household income in Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky is $64,050 — below the national median of $80,734. The Kentucky state median is $63,726.
What is the political history of Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Paducah, KY-IL, Kentucky from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 24 went Democratic and 10 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Realigner" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.