Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill Media Market — Elections 1876–2024

Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia: Realigner market. In 2024, voted R+56%. Republican peak: R+56 in 2024.

Key facts

2024 presidential margin: R+56MIT Election Lab
Political archetype: RealignerAkashic typology
Population: 305,9742024 5-year
Median household income: $49,7352024 5-year
White (non-Hispanic): 90.6%2024 5-year
Black: 4.5%2024 5-year
Hispanic / Latino: 1.5%2024 5-year
Peak Democratic margin: D+49 in 1964MIT Election Lab
Peak Republican margin: R+56 in 2024MIT Election Lab

2024 results by constituent county

9 counties · 0 D · 9 R

R+60

D+60

One cell per constituent county. Ordered by 2024 D-vs-R margin (bluest first). Hover for county-level numbers.

38 presidential elections

Source · MIT Election Lab · ICPSR · VEST (precinct-level 2024).
Year	Won	Margin	Democratic	Republican	Total
2024	R	−55.8%	27,677	99,987	129,693
2020	R	−52.8%	31,744	104,789	138,297
2016	R	−52.8%	26,898	93,607	126,228
2012	R	−41.1%	33,729	82,512	118,647
2008	R	−20.1%	46,875	71,011	120,109
2004	R	−12.3%	56,242	72,169	129,396
2000	R	−1.0%	54,146	55,276	111,740
1996	D	+20.6%	60,843	37,971	110,926
1992	D	+20.3%	64,495	40,121	120,045
1988	D	+16.3%	68,493	49,248	118,271
1984	R	−0.7%	68,109	69,073	137,824
1980	D	+16.3%	78,502	55,866	139,099
1976	D	+27.7%	91,453	51,711	143,473
1972	R	−25.2%	49,700	83,245	133,007
1968	D	+23.6%	81,497	47,196	145,350
1964	D	+49.4%	108,775	36,869	145,649
1960	D	+27.7%	104,241	59,030	163,290
1956	D	+5.1%	86,718	78,251	165,049
1952	D	+22.4%	113,323	71,798	185,151
1948	D	+30.0%	101,993	54,766	157,573
1944	D	+24.5%	93,503	56,723	150,251
1940	D	+27.1%	117,771	67,592	185,371
1936	D	+35.7%	120,222	56,932	177,443
1932	D	+11.8%	86,415	68,089	155,300
1928	R	−10.8%	58,549	72,809	131,637
1924	R	−5.8%	50,616	57,342	116,948
1920	R	−13.4%	42,628	55,860	99,092
1916	R	−6.1%	26,699	30,217	57,649
1912	D	+14.5%	20,342	12,808	52,114
1908	R	−18.5%	18,594	27,336	47,176
1904	R	−21.1%	16,299	25,261	42,416
1900	D	+9.8%	20,636	16,922	37,743
1896	R	−10.8%	14,929	18,559	33,669
1892	D	+2.4%	13,085	12,460	26,243
1888	—	No data	—	—	—
1884	—	No data	—	—	—
1880	—	No data	—	—	—
1876	—	No data	—	—	—

Demographics

Race, ethnicity, and ancestry

Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.

English

21.6%

American

14.0%

Irish

10.1%

German

8.6%

Italian

2.2%

Scottish

1.7%

French

0.6%

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: 44.6 in this county, 39.1 nationally

Male

Age

Female

0.8%

85+

1.5%

3.2%

75–84

3.8%

6.6%

65–74

7.3%

6.6%

55–64

6.9%

6.4%

45–54

6.3%

6.0%

35–44

5.8%

25–34

5.4%

4.0%

18–24

3.4%

7.9%

5–17

7.4%

2.5%

2.4%

Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.

Median household income

2024 inflation-adjusted dollars

$49,735

Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill ranks near the middle of US counties.

Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill$49,735

West Virginia$59,608

United States$80,734

Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.

Poverty rate

All persons below federal poverty line

20.8%

Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.

Children under 1827.8%

Working age (18–64)19.7%

Seniors (65+)14.0%

Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.

Language at home

Population aged 5 and older

97.9%

speak English only

Spanish1.1%

Other Indo-European0.5%

Asian & Pacific Islander0.3%

Other languages0.2%

Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.

Religious adherents

Adherents per capita by tradition

Other Christian

11.8%

Baptist

9.8%

Pentecostal & Holiness

5.6%

Methodist

5.4%

Catholic & Orthodox

2.5%

Mainline Protestant

1.3%

Non-Christian

0.2%

Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 63.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Spanning the southern West Virginia coalfields, this market has shifted from a union-Democrat stronghold to one of the state's most reliably Republican regions over the past two decades, with presidential margins often exceeding 40 points.

The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin in Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill peaked at forty-nine points in 1964; it narrowed steadily over the late twentieth century. The 2000 election delivered the market to the Republican party for the first time in many years, by a margin of one points. By 2024, the margin had widened further.

The economic and demographic context is severe. The median household income of $49,735 is among the lowest at this geographic scale; 21% of residents live below the federal poverty line.

Cite this page

All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.

Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/dma/559/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.

License: CC BY 4.0

Frequently asked questions

How did Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia vote in 2024?

In 2024, Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia voted Republican by 55.8 points (R+56), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 129,693 votes cast, 27,677 went Democratic and 99,987 went Republican.

What is Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia's political archetype?

Akashic classifies Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia as a "Realigner" 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 Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia last vote Democratic?

The most recent presidential election in which Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia voted Democratic was 1996.

How many people live in Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia?

Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia has a population of 305,974 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.

What is the median household income in Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia?

Median household income in Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia is $49,735 — below the national median of $80,734. The West Virginia state median is $59,608.

What is the political history of Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia?

Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, West Virginia from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 18 went Democratic and 16 went Republican. The market's archetype — "Realigner" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.

For sixty-four years, Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill voted Democratic. Then it stopped.

Key facts

Demographics

Frequently asked questions