Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas: Populist market. In 2024, voted R+50%. Republican peak: R+50 in 2024.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+50MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 402,0692024 5-year
- Median household income
- $58,1402024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 83.1%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.5%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 7.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+20 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+50 in 2016MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Joplin-Pittsburg, KSOne 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 | 42,112 | 130,617 | 175,667 | ||
| R | 43,191 | 129,319 | 176,037 | ||
| R | 36,609 | 117,862 | 163,737 | ||
| R | 48,459 | 105,322 | 157,326 | ||
| R | 58,956 | 106,248 | 167,888 | ||
| R | 54,556 | 109,743 | 165,741 | ||
| R | 53,519 | 89,653 | 147,709 | ||
| R | 54,532 | 69,301 | 141,988 | ||
| R | 56,464 | 62,338 | 152,440 | ||
| R | 57,927 | 77,856 | 136,677 | ||
| R | 48,692 | 97,164 | 146,564 | ||
| R | 56,769 | 86,431 | 149,905 | ||
| D | 72,004 | 69,089 | 142,686 | ||
| R | 41,957 | 95,766 | 139,212 | ||
| R | 51,966 | 71,981 | 138,964 | ||
| D | 84,466 | 63,259 | 148,148 | ||
| R | 65,224 | 95,078 | 160,654 | ||
| R | 62,766 | 93,599 | 156,662 | ||
| R | 65,029 | 104,684 | 170,291 | ||
| D | 73,715 | 73,090 | 148,326 | ||
| R | 64,334 | 85,142 | 149,967 | ||
| R | 86,784 | 97,361 | 185,025 | ||
| D | 98,644 | 81,700 | 181,213 | ||
| D | 94,940 | 62,202 | 160,114 | ||
| R | 45,553 | 105,469 | 152,627 | ||
| R | 47,032 | 75,927 | 141,603 | ||
| R | 55,092 | 79,662 | 140,226 | ||
| D | 63,284 | 52,279 | 125,045 | ||
| D | 33,329 | 23,385 | 85,024 | ||
| R | 40,383 | 43,311 | 90,848 | ||
| R | 26,963 | 44,448 | 80,802 | ||
| D | 44,187 | 40,952 | 87,101 | ||
| D | 43,694 | 32,362 | 76,845 | ||
| R | 13,056 | 31,399 | 67,788 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
17.7%
English
12.9%
Irish
11.5%
American
8.6%
Italian
2.1%
Scottish
2.0%
French
1.4%
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
$58,140
Joplin-Pittsburg ranks near the middle of US counties.
Joplin-Pittsburg$58,140
Kansas$74,275
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
16.5%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1820.7%
Working age (18–64)15.5%
Seniors (65+)12.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
93.8%
speak English only
Spanish3.9%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.0%
Other Indo-European1.0%
Other languages0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 51.3% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Straddling the Missouri-Kansas border, this market blends working-class mining-heritage communities with small agricultural towns, producing some of the most reliably wide Republican margins in either state's non-metro returns.
The Democratic margin in Joplin-Pittsburg peaked at twenty points in 1932. By 1980 the market had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was fifty points, the most Republican-leaning result in the market's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $58,140 sits well below state and national norms, and 17% 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.
Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/dma/603/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas vote in 2024?
In 2024, Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas voted Republican by 50.4 points (R+50), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 175,667 votes cast, 42,112 went Democratic and 130,617 went Republican.
What is Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas as a "Populist" market based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the market has voted Democratic 9 times, Republican 25 times, and other 0 times.
When did Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas voted Democratic was 1976.
How many people live in Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas?
Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas has a population of 402,069 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas?
Median household income in Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas is $58,140 — below the national median of $80,734. The Kansas state median is $74,275.
What is the political history of Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Joplin-Pittsburg, Kansas from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 9 went Democratic and 25 went Republican. The market's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.