Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia: Populist market. In 2024, voted R+47%. Republican peak: R+47 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+47MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 1,078,5642024 5-year
- Median household income
- $54,9882024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 92.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 2.1%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 1.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+30 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+47 in 2024MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Charleston-Huntington, 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 | 118,040 | 336,495 | 461,696 | ||
| R | 136,157 | 346,313 | 489,682 | ||
| R | 116,691 | 317,139 | 457,269 | ||
| R | 161,724 | 263,465 | 436,886 | ||
| R | 198,576 | 251,258 | 458,787 | ||
| R | 233,173 | 265,394 | 501,775 | ||
| R | 212,024 | 218,685 | 439,921 | ||
| D | 225,627 | 154,426 | 429,540 | ||
| D | 232,102 | 163,590 | 465,676 | ||
| D | 229,900 | 207,573 | 439,532 | ||
| R | 219,791 | 254,985 | 476,975 | ||
| D | 235,848 | 218,926 | 473,419 | ||
| D | 267,384 | 193,342 | 462,670 | ||
| R | 173,108 | 287,312 | 462,791 | ||
| D | 211,028 | 195,557 | 453,491 | ||
| D | 308,574 | 166,638 | 475,521 | ||
| R | 247,708 | 262,358 | 510,066 | ||
| R | 221,897 | 276,593 | 498,667 | ||
| R | 252,264 | 254,408 | 506,826 | ||
| D | 239,868 | 192,583 | 433,984 | ||
| D | 217,999 | 199,847 | 417,980 | ||
| D | 274,751 | 225,271 | 500,190 | ||
| D | 269,897 | 203,080 | 474,104 | ||
| D | 233,415 | 199,369 | 436,434 | ||
| R | 145,004 | 221,243 | 367,565 | ||
| R | 135,082 | 161,776 | 316,831 | ||
| R | 129,055 | 163,682 | 295,933 | ||
| R | 81,116 | 85,765 | 170,435 | ||
| D | 61,388 | 38,118 | 152,396 | ||
| R | 65,137 | 87,882 | 157,629 | ||
| R | 55,735 | 82,069 | 141,840 | ||
| R | 63,633 | 74,979 | 139,901 | ||
| R | 60,240 | 72,603 | 134,027 | ||
| R | 51,925 | 54,642 | 110,826 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
16.2%
Irish
11.3%
American
11.1%
German
10.2%
Scottish
2.0%
Italian
1.7%
French
0.7%
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: 42.9 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
$54,988
Charleston-Huntington ranks near the middle of US counties.
Charleston-Huntington$54,988
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
19.1%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1824.8%
Working age (18–64)18.0%
Seniors (65+)13.5%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
98.3%
speak English only
Spanish0.6%
Other Indo-European0.6%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.4%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 64.8% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
The Charleston-Huntington market spans a swath of southern West Virginia that shifted sharply toward Republicans over the past decade, with presidential margins now running 40-plus points in many counties despite a historically strong union-labor tradition.
The Democratic margin in Charleston-Huntington peaked at thirty points in 1964. By 2000 the market had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was forty-seven points, the most Republican-leaning result in the market's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $54,988 sits well below state and national norms, and 19% 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.
Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/dma/564/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia vote in 2024?
In 2024, Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia voted Republican by 47.3 points (R+47), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 461,696 votes cast, 118,040 went Democratic and 336,495 went Republican.
What is Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Charleston-Huntington, 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 13 times, Republican 21 times, and other 0 times.
When did Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia?
Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia has a population of 1,078,564 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia?
Median household income in Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia is $54,988 — below the national median of $80,734. The West Virginia state median is $59,608.
What is the political history of Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 13 went Democratic and 21 went Republican. The market's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.