Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia: Populist market. In 2024, voted R+46%. Republican peak: R+46 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+46MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 301,3492024 5-year
- Median household income
- $58,0852024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 91.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 2.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 1.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+40 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+46 in 2024MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Wheeling-Steubenville, WVOne 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 | 37,309 | 101,513 | 140,920 | ||
| R | 42,114 | 106,002 | 150,283 | ||
| R | 37,917 | 96,045 | 143,092 | ||
| R | 58,535 | 78,335 | 141,625 | ||
| R | 70,318 | 76,608 | 150,214 | ||
| R | 76,731 | 79,623 | 157,373 | ||
| D | 69,067 | 67,165 | 143,608 | ||
| D | 78,095 | 44,098 | 144,199 | ||
| D | 83,253 | 45,717 | 160,742 | ||
| D | 87,809 | 64,978 | 153,775 | ||
| D | 87,669 | 81,856 | 170,505 | ||
| D | 82,585 | 72,080 | 164,260 | ||
| D | 97,987 | 71,677 | 171,049 | ||
| R | 69,092 | 104,421 | 174,664 | ||
| D | 97,189 | 68,395 | 181,513 | ||
| D | 136,438 | 58,640 | 195,078 | ||
| D | 110,075 | 97,614 | 207,689 | ||
| R | 88,480 | 106,351 | 194,831 | ||
| D | 107,581 | 95,464 | 203,045 | ||
| D | 100,199 | 71,810 | 174,042 | ||
| D | 99,317 | 78,663 | 177,980 | ||
| D | 119,989 | 89,741 | 209,730 | ||
| D | 123,396 | 72,498 | 197,256 | ||
| D | 89,973 | 75,409 | 170,017 | ||
| R | 53,626 | 98,841 | 154,081 | ||
| R | 41,477 | 75,216 | 132,205 | ||
| R | 52,266 | 71,721 | 127,571 | ||
| R | 33,750 | 35,919 | 73,180 | ||
| D | 27,059 | 22,049 | 69,088 | ||
| R | 33,571 | 38,445 | 75,571 | ||
| R | 24,806 | 39,480 | 68,218 | ||
| D | 33,573 | 33,366 | 68,462 | ||
| R | 29,441 | 35,211 | 65,626 | ||
| R | 26,793 | 26,986 | 57,140 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
19.5%
Irish
14.8%
English
11.1%
Italian
9.0%
American
5.7%
Polish
5.3%
Scottish
1.9%
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: 45.0 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
$58,085
Wheeling-Steubenville ranks near the middle of US counties.
Wheeling-Steubenville$58,085
West Virginia$71,389
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
16.0%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1822.6%
Working age (18–64)14.6%
Seniors (65+)12.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
98.0%
speak English only
Other Indo-European0.9%
Spanish0.7%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.3%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 59.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
This media market spans the northern West Virginia panhandle and eastern Ohio, where decades of deindustrialization have driven some of the steepest Democratic-to-Republican vote shifts recorded in Appalachian media markets since 2008.
The Democratic margin in Wheeling-Steubenville peaked at forty points in 1964. By 2004 the market had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was forty-six points, the most Republican-leaning result in the market's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $58,085 sits well below state and national norms, and 16% 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.
Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/dma/554/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia vote in 2024?
In 2024, Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia voted Republican by 45.6 points (R+46), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 140,920 votes cast, 37,309 went Democratic and 101,513 went Republican.
What is Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia as a "Populist" market based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the market has voted Democratic 18 times, Republican 16 times, and other 0 times.
When did Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia voted Democratic was 2000.
How many people live in Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia?
Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia has a population of 301,349 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia?
Median household income in Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia is $58,085 — below the national median of $80,734. The West Virginia state median is $71,389.
What is the political history of Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Wheeling-Steubenville, West Virginia from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 18 went Democratic and 16 went Republican. The market's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.