akashic
1876–2024
Vermilion County, Illinois
Vermilion County·Illinois

Vermilion County was solidly one party for decades. In the last twenty years, it flipped.

Once a union stronghold, now among Illinois's most Republican counties

18762024·38 elections
Vermilion County, Illinois · Nyttend · Wikimedia Commons
Latest
R+36
in 2024
Archetype
Populist
since the recent cycles
Population
72,386
2024 ACS
Most similar
Cass County
IL · similarity 1.00
60 precincts · 29,549 votes cast
Trump · R+36
Margin
Turnout
Harris +50
Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
2024R
−35.6%
9,25419,77729,549
2020R
−32.9%
10,32320,72531,642
2016R
−29.4%
10,03919,08730,818
2012R
−13.2%
12,87816,89230,400
2008D
+0.6%
16,24616,05432,872
2004R
−11.9%
14,72618,73133,714
2000R
−1.2%
15,40615,78332,100
1996D
+11.2%
15,52512,01531,329
1992D
+17.4%
18,38311,70338,461
1988D
+2.8%
17,91816,94335,067
1984R
−16.2%
16,53022,93239,611
1980R
−20.4%
14,49822,57939,567
1976R
−3.4%
18,43819,75138,546
1972R
−26.5%
14,41324,86339,425
1968R
−11.9%
16,23821,39143,424
1964D
+11.9%
24,76519,50644,271
1960R
−14.8%
19,70226,57146,342
1956R
−19.2%
17,99126,53444,585
1952R
−14.9%
18,77125,36744,226
1948R
−7.9%
16,17318,99435,646
1944R
−6.1%
18,38720,79439,454
1940R
−0.4%
22,89123,05946,242
1936D
+15.1%
25,01618,35044,156
1932D
+20.6%
24,03215,64340,677
1928R
−25.6%
12,72821,61634,717
1924R
−34.9%
6,42417,82232,615
1920R
−32.4%
8,63418,17529,439
1916R
−7.6%
13,86416,33032,472
1912R
−0.5%
5,5765,65517,533
1908R
−27.9%
6,32011,72619,344
1904R
−45.1%
3,62011,17916,772
1900R
−22.2%
6,1479,85216,671
1896R
−20.4%
5,7498,76714,825
1892R
−15.2%
5,0016,89212,432
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.
American
100.0%
African American
11.8%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
0.0%
speak English only
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Other Christian
15.5%
Methodist
4.5%
Pentecostal & Holiness
4.0%
Mainline Protestant
3.7%
Catholic & Orthodox
3.3%
Baptist
2.7%
Non-Christian
0.8%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 65.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Vermilion County's heavy industrial and coal-mining past produced reliably Democratic margins for decades, but the county has shifted sharply rightward over the last three election cycles, posting an R+35.6 margin in 2024.

The Democratic margin in Vermilion County peaked at twenty-one points in 1932. By 2012 the county had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was thirty-six points, the most Republican-leaning result in the county's modern history.

The economic context is the key. Vermilion County's median household income of $56,877 sits well below state and national norms, and 18% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The shift here is part of a broader realignment of working-class places across the country. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Cass County and Marion County.