Chattanooga, Tennessee: Populist market. In 2024, voted R+42%. Republican peak: R+48 in 1972.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+42MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 1,009,5672024 5-year
- Median household income
- $68,4532024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 78.9%2024 5-year
- Black
- 8.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 9.7%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+28 in 1940MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+48 in 1972MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Chattanooga, TNOne 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 | 131,870 | 324,882 | 462,293 | ||
| R | 131,554 | 298,726 | 437,411 | ||
| R | 98,275 | 247,285 | 362,860 | ||
| R | 110,661 | 225,919 | 343,366 | ||
| R | 123,968 | 230,299 | 358,725 | ||
| R | 119,941 | 214,645 | 337,071 | ||
| R | 115,746 | 170,606 | 291,120 | ||
| R | 109,369 | 132,118 | 263,066 | ||
| R | 110,711 | 130,238 | 276,478 | ||
| R | 84,781 | 154,362 | 240,231 | ||
| R | 86,643 | 156,836 | 244,481 | ||
| R | 101,468 | 121,128 | 227,356 | ||
| D | 114,219 | 95,093 | 210,953 | ||
| R | 41,669 | 124,029 | 170,746 | ||
| O | 45,870 | 68,200 | 186,704 | ||
| D | 87,318 | 83,605 | 170,949 | ||
| R | 65,362 | 81,924 | 148,845 | ||
| R | 62,124 | 72,995 | 137,750 | ||
| R | 59,897 | 62,120 | 122,504 | ||
| D | 46,479 | 31,920 | 84,243 | ||
| D | 48,131 | 28,304 | 76,857 | ||
| D | 51,658 | 28,722 | 80,577 | ||
| D | 46,876 | 27,486 | 74,646 | ||
| D | 36,941 | 22,552 | 60,183 | ||
| R | 21,422 | 36,535 | 58,096 | ||
| R | 22,069 | 22,979 | 46,925 | ||
| R | 23,935 | 29,584 | 54,173 | ||
| D | 19,288 | 15,619 | 36,782 | ||
| D | 13,719 | 6,244 | 28,800 | ||
| R | 13,507 | 15,711 | 30,000 | ||
| R | 12,294 | 14,335 | 27,849 | ||
| R | 13,972 | 16,138 | 30,981 | ||
| R | 16,387 | 17,744 | 34,873 | ||
| D | 15,903 | 13,639 | 31,699 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
16.2%
Irish
11.0%
American
10.2%
German
9.2%
Scottish
2.5%
Italian
2.2%
French
1.3%
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: 40.7 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
$68,453
Chattanooga ranks near the middle of US counties.
Chattanooga$68,453
Tennessee$69,595
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
13.5%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1819.3%
Working age (18–64)12.0%
Seniors (65+)11.4%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
90.4%
speak English only
Spanish7.3%
Other Indo-European1.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.7%
Other languages0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 44.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Chattanooga's media market stretches across the tri-state corner of Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama, creating an audience whose political composition blends suburban Hamilton County with rural districts that trend in sharply different directions.
The Democratic margin in Chattanooga peaked at twenty-eight points in 1940. By 1980 the market had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was forty-two points, the most Republican-leaning result in the market's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $68,453 sits well below state and national norms, and 14% 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.
Chattanooga, Tennessee — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/dma/575/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Chattanooga, Tennessee vote in 2024?
In 2024, Chattanooga, Tennessee voted Republican by 41.8 points (R+42), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 462,293 votes cast, 131,870 went Democratic and 324,882 went Republican.
What is Chattanooga, Tennessee's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Chattanooga, Tennessee as a "Populist" market based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the market has voted Democratic 10 times, Republican 23 times, and other 1 times.
When did Chattanooga, Tennessee last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Chattanooga, Tennessee voted Democratic was 1976.
How many people live in Chattanooga, Tennessee?
Chattanooga, Tennessee has a population of 1,009,567 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Chattanooga, Tennessee?
Median household income in Chattanooga, Tennessee is $68,453 — below the national median of $80,734. The Tennessee state median is $69,595.
What is the political history of Chattanooga, Tennessee?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Chattanooga, Tennessee from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 10 went Democratic and 23 went Republican. The market's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.