Leslie County, Kentucky: Republican loyalist county. In 2024, voted R+81%. Republican peak: R+89 in 1928.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+81MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- Republican loyalistAkashic typology
- Population
- 10,0792024 5-year
- Median household income
- $35,9342024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 96.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.2%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 0.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Republican margin
- R+89 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Holmes County, FL · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Leslie CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Leslie County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
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Margin—
Turnout—
Harris +50Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 382 | 3,908 | 4,358 | ||
| R | 446 | 4,321 | 4,813 | ||
| R | 400 | 4,015 | 4,492 | ||
| R | 433 | 4,439 | 4,953 | ||
| R | 766 | 3,574 | 4,397 | ||
| R | 1,266 | 3,661 | 4,964 | ||
| R | 1,210 | 3,159 | 4,434 | ||
| R | 1,466 | 2,296 | 4,090 | ||
| R | 1,591 | 2,879 | 4,936 | ||
| R | 1,105 | 3,280 | 4,409 | ||
| R | 1,075 | 3,385 | 4,475 | ||
| R | 1,327 | 3,536 | 4,921 | ||
| R | 1,478 | 3,770 | 5,271 | ||
| R | 913 | 3,299 | 4,236 | ||
| R | 828 | 2,615 | 3,679 | ||
| R | 1,795 | 1,971 | 3,774 | ||
| R | 795 | 3,894 | 4,689 | ||
| R | 531 | 3,770 | 4,315 | ||
| R | 705 | 3,239 | 3,959 | ||
| R | 783 | 2,397 | 3,211 | ||
| R | 499 | 2,679 | 3,178 | ||
| R | 626 | 3,292 | 3,921 | ||
| R | 618 | 2,716 | 3,337 | ||
| R | 569 | 2,810 | 3,387 | ||
| R | 159 | 2,806 | 2,971 | ||
| R | 223 | 2,052 | 2,308 | ||
| R | 142 | 2,576 | 2,734 | ||
| R | 133 | 1,516 | 1,655 | ||
| R | 105 | 606 | 1,144 | ||
| R | 95 | 1,399 | 1,506 | ||
| R | 71 | 953 | 1,035 | ||
| R | 110 | 1,186 | 1,300 | ||
| R | 81 | 913 | 999 | ||
| R | 76 | 528 | 606 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
12.0%
Irish
11.6%
American
9.2%
German
5.6%
Scottish
1.2%
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
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. 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: 42.3 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
$35,934
Leslie County ranks in the bottom 5% of US counties.
Leslie County$35,934
Kentucky$63,726
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
30.3%
Nearly half of children live in poverty.
Children under 1844.8%
Working age (18–64)26.7%
Seniors (65+)23.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
99.7%
speak English only
Spanish0.1%
Other Indo-European0.1%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 69.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Leslie County, tucked in the central Appalachian coalfields, delivered an R+80.9 margin in 2024 — among the most lopsided results of any county nationwide, reflecting a decades-long partisan realignment in rural eastern Kentucky.
The Republican margin in Leslie County reached its widest at eighty-nine points in 1928. The margin in 2024 was eighty-one points, in line with the county's deep historical pattern.
Its loyalty is rooted in its place. Median household income of $35,934, a 97% non-Hispanic-white share, and a population of 10,079 together describe a community whose political habits are deeply settled. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Holmes County and Sullivan County.
Most similar counties
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Leslie County, Kentucky — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://akashic.app/county/21131/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More republican loyalist counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Leslie County, Kentucky vote in 2024?
In 2024, Leslie County, Kentucky voted Republican by 80.9 points (R+81), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 4,358 votes cast, 382 went Democratic and 3,908 went Republican.
What is Leslie County, Kentucky's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Leslie County, Kentucky as a "Republican loyalist" county based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the county has voted Democratic 0 times, Republican 34 times, and other 0 times.
How many people live in Leslie County, Kentucky?
Leslie County, Kentucky has a population of 10,079 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Leslie County, Kentucky?
Median household income in Leslie County, Kentucky is $35,934 — below the national median of $80,734. The Kentucky state median is $63,726.
What is the political history of Leslie County, Kentucky?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Leslie County, Kentucky from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 0 went Democratic and 34 went Republican. The county's archetype — "Republican loyalist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.