Cincinnati, Kentucky: Populist market. In 2024, voted R+19%. Republican peak: R+35 in 1972.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+19MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 2,460,3332024 5-year
- Median household income
- $80,6532024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 78.1%2024 5-year
- Black
- 10.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 4.4%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+17 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+35 in 1972MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Cincinnati, 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 | 488,505 | 720,636 | 1,228,585 | ||
| R | 505,205 | 713,378 | 1,238,489 | ||
| R | 422,656 | 654,158 | 1,149,162 | ||
| R | 451,853 | 639,737 | 1,115,774 | ||
| R | 471,161 | 633,223 | 1,119,698 | ||
| R | 408,888 | 668,474 | 1,082,722 | ||
| R | 333,508 | 547,190 | 906,382 | ||
| R | 331,974 | 443,060 | 847,275 | ||
| R | 297,412 | 425,898 | 887,012 | ||
| R | 272,653 | 502,598 | 780,768 | ||
| R | 256,057 | 530,453 | 791,060 | ||
| R | 265,357 | 426,782 | 733,478 | ||
| R | 289,436 | 388,556 | 689,415 | ||
| R | 212,826 | 452,340 | 678,502 | ||
| R | 237,809 | 331,743 | 676,332 | ||
| D | 379,429 | 291,459 | 671,166 | ||
| R | 315,356 | 401,400 | 716,860 | ||
| R | 229,722 | 397,815 | 628,199 | ||
| R | 273,207 | 369,991 | 643,533 | ||
| R | 260,141 | 260,823 | 524,939 | ||
| R | 267,110 | 279,024 | 546,610 | ||
| D | 291,177 | 285,127 | 576,711 | ||
| D | 305,673 | 212,557 | 548,344 | ||
| D | 271,727 | 225,183 | 509,313 | ||
| R | 208,109 | 300,451 | 510,480 | ||
| R | 115,216 | 225,549 | 406,447 | ||
| R | 190,724 | 220,817 | 423,573 | ||
| D | 126,680 | 116,987 | 252,047 | ||
| D | 102,514 | 75,540 | 229,283 | ||
| R | 116,484 | 124,851 | 249,372 | ||
| R | 84,712 | 125,464 | 223,866 | ||
| R | 110,595 | 115,790 | 230,690 | ||
| R | 107,668 | 119,219 | 228,902 | ||
| D | 99,411 | 90,616 | 196,842 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
25.2%
Irish
12.8%
English
12.1%
American
6.0%
Italian
3.7%
Scottish
1.4%
Polish
1.2%
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: 38.5 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
$80,653
Cincinnati ranks near the middle of US counties.
Cincinnati$80,653
Kentucky$63,726
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
12.0%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1814.8%
Working age (18–64)11.1%
Seniors (65+)11.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
92.8%
speak English only
Spanish2.7%
Other Indo-European2.2%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.5%
Other languages0.8%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 49.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Cincinnati's media market spans the Ohio-Kentucky state line, forcing campaigns to buy cross-state advertising while targeting an audience whose presidential margins have shifted by double digits over two decades.
The Democratic margin in Cincinnati peaked at seventeen points in 1936. By 1968 the market had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was nineteen points, the most Republican-leaning result in the market's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $80,653 sits well below state and national norms, and 12% 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.
Cincinnati, Kentucky — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/dma/515/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Cincinnati, Kentucky vote in 2024?
In 2024, Cincinnati, Kentucky voted Republican by 18.9 points (R+19), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 1,228,585 votes cast, 488,505 went Democratic and 720,636 went Republican.
What is Cincinnati, Kentucky's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Cincinnati, Kentucky as a "Populist" market based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the market has voted Democratic 7 times, Republican 27 times, and other 0 times.
When did Cincinnati, Kentucky last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Cincinnati, Kentucky voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Cincinnati, Kentucky?
Cincinnati, Kentucky has a population of 2,460,333 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Cincinnati, Kentucky?
Median household income in Cincinnati, Kentucky is $80,653 — below the national median of $80,734. The Kentucky state median is $63,726.
What is the political history of Cincinnati, Kentucky?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Cincinnati, Kentucky from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 7 went Democratic and 27 went Republican. The market's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.