Billings, Montana: Populist market. In 2024, voted R+35%. Republican peak: R+41 in 1904.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+35MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 300,1812024 5-year
- Median household income
- $73,2182024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 84.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.5%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 5.7%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+29 in 1896MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+41 in 1904MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Billings, MTOne 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 | 47,335 | 101,699 | 153,587 | ||
| R | 50,773 | 100,982 | 155,814 | ||
| R | 37,325 | 83,778 | 133,477 | ||
| R | 45,529 | 81,797 | 131,018 | ||
| R | 55,163 | 74,925 | 133,874 | ||
| R | 41,504 | 81,556 | 125,658 | ||
| R | 35,193 | 71,407 | 112,910 | ||
| R | 42,116 | 54,919 | 111,029 | ||
| R | 37,356 | 44,805 | 111,581 | ||
| R | 41,775 | 58,975 | 102,221 | ||
| R | 37,139 | 71,242 | 109,625 | ||
| R | 29,668 | 59,374 | 98,914 | ||
| R | 37,392 | 53,025 | 91,781 | ||
| R | 27,323 | 55,710 | 85,789 | ||
| R | 25,171 | 44,832 | 75,601 | ||
| D | 41,161 | 36,738 | 78,160 | ||
| R | 31,321 | 46,019 | 77,595 | ||
| R | 27,490 | 46,717 | 74,207 | ||
| R | 24,720 | 49,596 | 74,554 | ||
| R | 29,045 | 30,465 | 60,989 | ||
| R | 27,221 | 29,352 | 56,878 | ||
| D | 33,506 | 30,357 | 64,383 | ||
| D | 36,381 | 20,833 | 58,946 | ||
| D | 29,877 | 23,239 | 54,939 | ||
| R | 16,920 | 32,530 | 49,949 | ||
| R | 7,577 | 23,453 | 45,664 | ||
| R | 13,434 | 30,929 | 46,590 | ||
| D | 21,378 | 17,430 | 40,570 | ||
| O | 6,619 | 5,659 | 20,732 | ||
| R | 5,902 | 9,454 | 16,471 | ||
| R | 3,057 | 8,056 | 12,060 | ||
| R | 4,110 | 5,346 | 9,602 | ||
| D | 5,436 | 3,008 | 8,484 | ||
| R | 2,689 | 3,190 | 6,453 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
26.5%
English
13.1%
Irish
12.6%
American
5.6%
Italian
3.2%
Scottish
2.9%
French
2.0%
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: 41.2 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
$73,218
Billings ranks near the middle of US counties.
Billings$73,218
Montana$72,509
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
10.7%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1812.1%
Working age (18–64)10.2%
Seniors (65+)10.6%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
95.4%
speak English only
Spanish1.5%
Other languages1.4%
Other Indo-European1.1%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.5%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 63.2% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Billings DMA stretches across southeastern Montana and northern Wyoming, reaching ranching communities where Republican margins routinely exceed 30 points and low population density makes television still the dominant campaign medium.
The Democratic margin in Billings peaked at twenty-nine points in 1896. By 1968 the market had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was thirty-five points, the most Republican-leaning result in the market's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $73,218 sits well below state and national norms, and 11% 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.
Billings, Montana — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/dma/756/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Billings, Montana vote in 2024?
In 2024, Billings, Montana voted Republican by 35.4 points (R+35), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 153,587 votes cast, 47,335 went Democratic and 101,699 went Republican.
What is Billings, Montana's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Billings, Montana as a "Populist" market based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the market has voted Democratic 6 times, Republican 27 times, and other 1 times.
When did Billings, Montana last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Billings, Montana voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Billings, Montana?
Billings, Montana has a population of 300,181 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Billings, Montana?
Median household income in Billings, Montana is $73,218 — below the national median of $80,734. The Montana state median is $72,509.
What is the political history of Billings, Montana?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Billings, Montana from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 6 went Democratic and 27 went Republican. The market's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.