North Carolina 3rd Congressional District, North Carolina: Old Confederacy district. In 2024, voted R+27%. Democratic peak: D+58 in 1932.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+27MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- Old ConfederacyAkashic typology
- Population
- 786,8452024 5-year
- Median household income
- $64,9722024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 65.4%2024 5-year
- Black
- 18.3%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 11.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+58 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+46 in 1972MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Congressional District 3, NCOne 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 | 142,319 | 251,834 | 398,488 | ||
| R | 143,590 | 231,440 | 380,713 | ||
| R | 121,371 | 199,767 | 331,952 | ||
| R | 130,042 | 187,282 | 320,796 | ||
| R | 132,763 | 177,801 | 312,923 | ||
| R | 94,849 | 157,786 | 253,493 | ||
| D | 130,684 | 87,475 | 219,751 | ||
| R | 77,991 | 94,586 | 185,259 | ||
| R | 77,902 | 85,239 | 190,709 | ||
| R | 66,612 | 93,254 | 160,281 | ||
| R | 66,576 | 106,536 | 173,444 | ||
| R | 70,306 | 72,935 | 146,917 | ||
| D | 69,960 | 53,213 | 123,960 | ||
| R | 29,935 | 81,804 | 113,222 | ||
| O | 36,170 | 33,805 | 122,889 | ||
| D | 64,437 | 42,468 | 106,904 | ||
| D | 62,078 | 34,874 | 96,952 | ||
| D | 54,727 | 28,220 | 82,947 | ||
| D | 53,404 | 26,024 | 79,427 | ||
| D | 43,398 | 12,638 | 59,111 | ||
| D | 41,622 | 14,928 | 56,551 | ||
| D | 46,717 | 13,747 | 60,463 | ||
| D | 49,679 | 13,393 | 63,072 | ||
| D | 42,808 | 11,361 | 54,590 | ||
| R | 23,876 | 24,895 | 48,771 | ||
| D | 22,825 | 11,846 | 35,024 | ||
| D | 27,808 | 19,628 | 47,436 | ||
| D | 16,827 | 11,159 | 28,023 | ||
| D | 14,909 | 1,486 | 23,747 | ||
| D | 14,416 | 10,702 | 25,189 | ||
| D | 13,676 | 7,620 | 21,419 | ||
| D | 17,933 | 13,795 | 31,935 | ||
| D | 21,101 | 15,747 | 37,066 | ||
| D | 14,833 | 11,010 | 31,805 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
14.0%
Irish
9.5%
German
9.4%
American
8.7%
Italian
3.6%
Scottish
1.7%
Polish
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: 38.4 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
$64,972
Congressional District 3 ranks near the middle of US counties.
Congressional District 3$64,972
North Carolina$72,388
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
14.7%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1820.0%
Working age (18–64)13.2%
Seniors (65+)12.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
89.7%
speak English only
Spanish8.0%
Other Indo-European1.2%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.9%
Other languages0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 55.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
North Carolina 3rd Congressional District sits in the Carolinas. For nearly a century after Reconstruction, the district voted Democratic — not because of New Deal politics, but because of the long memory of the Civil War. The Democratic party of the Solid South was the party of segregation, and in North Carolina 3rd Congressional District as throughout the former Confederacy, Republican identification was politically untenable until the second half of the twentieth century.
The shift began with civil rights. 2004 marked the realignment in North Carolina 3rd Congressional District, by a twenty-five points margin. The Republican margin reached its widest at forty-six points in 1972. The 2024 margin was twenty-seven points.
The political shift has tracked, in North Carolina 3rd Congressional District, the political shift of the South more broadly. A 65% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $64,972, and a 15% poverty rate describe the demographic context.
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Congressional District 3, North Carolina — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cd/3703/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Congressional District 3, North Carolina vote in 2024?
In 2024, Congressional District 3, North Carolina voted Republican by 27.5 points (R+27), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 398,488 votes cast, 142,319 went Democratic and 251,834 went Republican.
What is Congressional District 3, North Carolina's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Congressional District 3, North Carolina as a "Old Confederacy" district based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the district has voted Democratic 20 times, Republican 13 times, and other 1 times.
When did Congressional District 3, North Carolina last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Congressional District 3, North Carolina voted Democratic was 2000.
How many people live in Congressional District 3, North Carolina?
Congressional District 3, North Carolina has a population of 786,845 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Congressional District 3, North Carolina?
Median household income in Congressional District 3, North Carolina is $64,972 — below the national median of $80,734. The North Carolina state median is $72,388.
What is the political history of Congressional District 3, North Carolina?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Congressional District 3, North Carolina from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 20 went Democratic and 13 went Republican. The district's archetype — "Old Confederacy" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.