Payson, AZ, Arizona: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+38%. Democratic peak: D+51 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+38MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 53,7952024 5-year
- Median household income
- $61,9862024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 65.4%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.5%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 18.0%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+51 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+38 in 2024MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Payson, AZ, AZOne 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 | 8,504 | 18,901 | 27,698 | ||
| R | 8,943 | 18,377 | 27,735 | ||
| R | 7,003 | 14,182 | 22,515 | ||
| R | 7,697 | 13,455 | 21,595 | ||
| R | 7,884 | 14,095 | 22,333 | ||
| R | 8,314 | 12,343 | 20,877 | ||
| R | 7,700 | 9,158 | 17,736 | ||
| D | 8,577 | 6,407 | 17,411 | ||
| D | 7,571 | 5,781 | 18,478 | ||
| R | 7,147 | 7,861 | 15,299 | ||
| R | 6,509 | 8,543 | 15,249 | ||
| R | 5,068 | 7,405 | 13,399 | ||
| D | 6,440 | 5,136 | 11,962 | ||
| R | 4,295 | 5,673 | 10,372 | ||
| D | 4,831 | 3,610 | 9,706 | ||
| D | 6,821 | 3,713 | 10,537 | ||
| D | 5,251 | 3,806 | 9,065 | ||
| R | 4,026 | 4,234 | 8,260 | ||
| D | 4,928 | 3,770 | 8,698 | ||
| D | 4,780 | 2,329 | 7,265 | ||
| D | 4,818 | 2,260 | 7,107 | ||
| D | 5,752 | 2,624 | 8,407 | ||
| D | 4,859 | 1,526 | 6,568 | ||
| D | 4,625 | 1,865 | 6,718 | ||
| R | 3,341 | 3,436 | 6,790 | ||
| D | 2,218 | 2,193 | 6,348 | ||
| R | 2,894 | 3,311 | 6,205 | ||
| D | 3,686 | 1,495 | 5,733 | ||
| O | 779 | 210 | 2,045 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
Irish
12.9%
German
12.6%
English
11.5%
Scottish
6.3%
Italian
4.2%
American
4.2%
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: 51.1 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
$61,986
Payson, AZ ranks near the middle of US counties.
Payson, AZ$61,986
Arizona$79,964
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
16.9%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1825.1%
Working age (18–64)15.5%
Seniors (65+)12.4%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
86.0%
speak English only
Spanish7.1%
Other languages5.6%
Other Indo-European0.8%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.5%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 66.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Payson anchors Gila County's Mogollon Rim corridor, where an influx of Phoenix-area retirees has gradually shifted registration patterns while the area's rural, resource-economy roots remain a persistent counterweight.
The Democratic margin in Payson, AZ peaked at fifty-one points in 1936. By 2000 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was thirty-eight points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $61,986 sits well below state and national norms, and 17% 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.
Payson, AZ, Arizona — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/37740/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Payson, AZ, Arizona vote in 2024?
In 2024, Payson, AZ, Arizona voted Republican by 37.5 points (R+38), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 27,698 votes cast, 8,504 went Democratic and 18,901 went Republican.
What is Payson, AZ, Arizona's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Payson, AZ, Arizona as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 14 times, Republican 14 times, and other 1 times.
When did Payson, AZ, Arizona last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Payson, AZ, Arizona voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Payson, AZ, Arizona?
Payson, AZ, Arizona has a population of 53,795 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Payson, AZ, Arizona?
Median household income in Payson, AZ, Arizona is $61,986 — below the national median of $80,734. The Arizona state median is $79,964.
What is the political history of Payson, AZ, Arizona?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Payson, AZ, Arizona from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 14 went Democratic and 14 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.